even learned to fly.

The CBS series was enjoyed by male viewers but not so much by women and it was dropped after its first season. It was revived in December 1977 as “Black Sheep Squadron,” after the network’s new shows failed to find audiences. It continued on for another season.

Conrad, meanwhile, interspersed his long, successful TV career with numerous roles in films. After a couple of small parts, his TV fame elevated him to stardom, starting in 1966 with “Young Dillinger,” in which he played Pretty Boy Floyd. Other films included “Murph the Surf,” “The Bandits” (which he also directed), “The Lady in Red” (this time as John Dillinger) and “Wrong Is Right.”

At the same time, he found plenty of time for arguments.

Throughout Hollywood, Conrad had a reputationas a tough customer and was sued more than a half-dozen times as a result of fistfights. Playing himself in a 1999 episode of the TV series “Just Shoot Me,” he lampooned his threatening, tough-guy persona. He was also featured in 1970s commercials for Eveready Batteries, with a battery on his shoulder, a menacing stare and a popular catchphrase, “I dare you to knock this off.”

“I’m only about 5-feet-8 and only weigh 165 pounds as of this morning, so I’m not the world’s meanest guy,” he told an interviewer in 2008.

His daughter Nancy Conrad, who appeared in some of his pictures, explained it this way: “Dad is a hard worker. If people drag their feet, he gets impatient. He starts ranting and raving. It takes a while to