{"id":10420,"date":"2026-03-04T10:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=10420"},"modified":"2026-03-04T10:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T10:55:14","slug":"we-didnt-even-know-our-dad-was-famous-we-just-knew-he-was-the-quiet-man-who-sometimes-turned-ordinary-days-into-secret-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=10420","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWE DIDN\u2019T EVEN KNOW OUR DAD WAS FAMOUS \u2014 WE JUST KNEW HE WAS THE QUIET MAN WHO SOMETIMES TURNED ORDINARY DAYS INTO SECRET OPERATIONS.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kelly Conway used to tease her dad, comedian Tim Conway, by asking him which of his children was his favorite. \u201cHe\u2019d go, \u2018I can\u2019t say that. I have six of you,\u2019\u201d recalls the star\u2019s eldest child and only daughter. \u201cHe did divide his time evenly, but dads and daughters have a special bond. We hung out a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/1200\/675\/TimConway_Children_KellyConway.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"Tim Conway's daughter recalls legal battle with stepmom over 'Carol Burnett Show' star's care: 'It was a mess' | Fox News\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In his long career, Tim appeared in more than 100 TV shows and films, created iconic characters, including Dorf, but is best remembered for his years on The Carol Burnett Show. Despite her father\u2019s fame, growing up in the then-remote San Fernando Valley, Kelly had a very normal, un-Hollywood childhood. \u201cMy dad was so low-key that I don\u2019t think we realized that he really was famous until we got older,\u201d recalls Kelly, whose memoir, My Dad\u2019s Funnier Than Your Dad: Growing Up With Tim Conway in the Funniest House in America, is out now. \u201cMy dad\u2019s from outside of Cleveland, and my mom\u2019s from Detroit. They raised us like we were in the Midwest \u2014 simple, nothing fancy. Nobody ever got a car on their 16th birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"tauVH6aj\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/f1pgDh84g_Q\/maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Tim Conway\u2019s Daughter Reveals the Sad Truth of His Final Days\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But there were perks, like attending dress rehearsals at CBS on Thursday nights. \u201cThursdays were so fun,\u201d says Kelly, who recalls dropping in on the sets of The Sonny &amp; Cher Show and Three\u2019s Company, which were also filmed on the same lot, with the children of Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman. \u201cI had the luckiest, best childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tim Conway\u2019s Daughter Reveals the Sad Truth of His Final Days\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f1pgDh84g_Q\" width=\"350\" height=\"235\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"350\" data-origheight=\"235\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"6j4DDW1n\"><\/div>\n<p>At the end of every season, The Carol Burnett Show\u2019s cast, directors, producers and their families took a group trip to Hawaii. \u201cHe loved the Kahala Hotel in Hawaii,\u201d recalls Kelly. \u201cIt\u2019s where he seemed the most relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tim Conway\u2019s daughter recalls legal battle with stepmom over \u2018Carol Burnett Show\u2019 star\u2019s care: \u2018It was a mess\u2019 | Fox News<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/1200\/675\/Getty_KellyConway.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"Tim Conway's daughter recalls legal battle with stepmom over 'Carol Burnett Show' star's care: 'It was a mess' | Fox News\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At home, Tim spent a lot of time at the typewriter in his den dreaming up sketches. \u201cHis mind was always writing things, putting himself in situations, and looking around to see what he could make funny. He had a brilliant, brilliant mind,\u201d says Kelly. Beyond writing, Tim, a skilled carpenter and tailor, created his own props and costumes. \u201cHe built a lot of stuff in our house. He had a workshop out back and taught us all how to build things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When it came to raising kids, Tim tended to let Kelly\u2019s mother handle the discipline. He loved to be the fun dad \u2014 sometimes even secretly spiriting the kids off to spend a day at the race track he loved. \u201cWe kind of grew up at the track,\u201d Kelly confides. \u201cMy dad would take us out of school for opening day at Santa Anita Park, which was just before Christmas, without my mom knowing about it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even when Tim was out with his family, he made time for his fans. \u201cI think what you see in my dad is exactly what he was. He was very approachable, so people weren\u2019t afraid to say hi,\u201d says Kelly, who lost Tim in 2019 at age 85. \u201cFans would look at us and go, \u2018Your kids are so well-behaved.\u2019 My dad would say, \u2018Them? They\u2019re not! They\u2019re wild!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kelly Conway used to tease her dad, comedian Tim Conway, by asking him which of his children was his favorite. \u201cHe\u2019d go, \u2018I can\u2019t say that. I&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10422,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420\/revisions\/10422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}