Conrad Nagel

Conrad Nagel. . , Conrad Nagel was born in Keokuk, Iowa on March 16, 1897. The son of Frank, a musician, and Frances, a talented singer, it is no surprise Nagel grew up to be a famous silent and sound movie star. , The Nagel family was well known in Keokuk as brewers. Pechstein and Nagel Beer was brewed in Keokuk from 1860 until 1916. The brewery was located at 14th and Main Streets, later the site of the Keokuk High School and Keokuk Middle School. , When Nagel was three his family moved to Des Moines where his father had gotten a job as the dean of Highland Park College. Nagel himself attended Highland Park and after graduating moved to California to pursue acting. In 1918, the six foot tall Nagel with his blue eyes and blond hair was cast in the silent movie Little Women. Nagle’s real break came in the 1920’s with the silent movie The Fighting Chance. In 1925, Nagel starred in the silent movie Excuse Me, which was based on a play written by Rupert Hughes, who had also moved to Hollywood from Keokuk. , Nagel transitioned smoothly into the era of “talkies” and in 1928 appeared in one of the first, a movie titled Glorious Betsy. He also appeared on television, had a radio show, and was a game show host. He is remembered with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for his work in movies, another for his work in television, and a third for his work in radio. In 1927, Nagel helped to create the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and its Oscar Awards. Nagel was the President of the Academy from 1932-1933 and hosted the third Academy Awards in 1930 and the fifth Academy Awards in 1932. Twenty-one years later, he and Bob Hope co-hosted the first televised Oscars on March 19, 1953. In 1940 Nagel received an Honorary Academy Award for his “progressive leadership in the film industry” by helping to establish the Motion Picture Relief Fund. The fund, originally intended to help actors not able to transition to talkies, helps motion picture actors who have fallen on hard times. , Nagel died February 24, 1970 at age 72 in New York City. His body was cremated and the ashes interred at the Lutheran Cemetery in Warsaw, Illinois