At night, I was taking acting classes from Charles Conrad, whom my father suggested because he once hired him years earlier to coach Gardner McKay, the star of Adventures in Paradise. Dad had discovered him, literally in a coffee shop, and persuaded him to play the lead even though he had no acting experience or even interest in acting. Charles Conrad was highly thought of among working actors, though his lack of respect for the written word was suspicious. His technique was to have the students bring in scenes without studying them beforehand, and when performing, look down at the line and
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