Conrad Stafford Bain (born
February 4 1923) is a
Canadian-
American actor, best known to TV audiences as Phillip Drummond from the sitcom
Diff'rent Strokes.
Biography
Personal life
Bain was born in
Lethbridge,
Alberta, the son of Jean Agnes (
née Young) and Stafford Harrison Bain, who was a wholesaler. Bain studied at the
Banff School of Fine Arts before serving in the
Canadian Army during
World War II. He then studied in
New York at the
American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where his classmates included actor
Charles Durning and comedian
Don Rickles; he became a
naturalized citizen of the United States in 1946 then he graduated in 1948.
Bain has three children with Monica Sloan, whom he has been married to since 1945. His identical twin brother is Bonar Bain, who once played his fictional evil twin ("Hank Bain") on an episode of SCTV.
Career
After a stint at the
Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival, Bain had further success as a stage actor in the 1956
Broadway revival of
Eugene O'Neill's "
The Iceman Cometh".
The New York Times reviewer noted that his role was "especially well acted. Bain's other
Broadway theatre credits include
Candide,
Advise and Consent,
An Enemy of the People,
Uncle Vanya, and
On Borrowed Time.
In the early 1970s, Bain appeared in New York-based films like Lovers and Other Strangers and Woody Allen's Bananas before achieving national recognition for his work in television. He is best known for his roles as Dr. Arthur Harmon in Maude (1972-78) and Phillip Drummond in Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86). Bain also appeared in Dark Shadows as the hotel clerk, Mr. Wells.
References
External links