Legendary comedian and Carol Burnett Show star Tim Conway is reportedly battling severe dementia that has left him “almost entirely unresponsive.”
According to The Blast, Conway’s daughter Kelly has petitioned the court with a request that she be made the legal conservator for her father in order to be able to oversee his medical needs “for the care and treatment of dementia.”
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Kelly alleges that her father’s current wife, Charlene, plans “to move him out of the excellent skilled nursing facility he is currently at” and into one where he will not have access to “registered nurses at all times and his 24-hour caregiver and speech therapist (to help with swallowing).”
Conway has been married to Charlene since 1984, though Kelly is one of six children the actor had with his first wife, Mary Anne Dalton.
At this time there is no word on the court’s ruling, nor does Charlene appear to have responded to Kelly’s claims.
Conway is most well-known for his time on The Carol Burnett Show, as well as the films he starred in with Don Knotts (The Private Eyes, The Apple Dumpling Gang, etc.). In recent years he has been less active due to his failing health.
However, in 2010 Conway gave an interview to Bullz-Eye where he discussed some of the more recent TV projects he’d taken on, specifically citing his guest appearance on 30 Rock.
“Tina Fey called and said, ‘We want you to play this character on 30 Rock,’ but I looked at it, and I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, Tina, it’s really a straight part. Don’t you want me to play a character or something?’ She said, ‘No, just be yourself and do it,’ ” Conway recalled. “I said, ‘But it doesn’t make any sense? Not for me, but for you. People are going to expect one thing, and they’re going to see something else, and they’re going to be confused. And I don’t want that responsibility to fall on you. Let it fall on me!‘ “
“She said, ‘No, just do it!’ So I did it. And I won an Emmy for it. So that’ll show you how much I know,” he added with a laugh. “And CSI was the same way. I said, ‘Geez, guys, this is really just a straight part…’ ‘Nah, c’mon, it’s kind of a diversion from what you’ve been doing. Just come in and do it.’ Which I did.”
At this time, Conway’s final performance credit is from the 2016 holiday film, Chip and Bernie Save Christmas with Dorf.
