Patrick Douglas Conway, born on January 9, 1931, in Los Angeles, California, was the son of Hollywood royalty, film actor/director/producer Hugh "Jack" Ryan Conway and his second wife, Virginia C. Bushman Conway, daughter of famous silent screen star Francis X. Bushman.
Growing up on his father's 125-acre Pacific Palisades ranch, Pat learned to ride and rope before the age of 10 and helped with his father's cattle herd. After graduating from Menlo Junior College at San Francisco, he studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and then traveled to London to study Shakespearean theater for six months at the famous Old Vic.
Before pursuing his acting career, Pat served a hitch in the U.S. Marine Corps and returned to Hollywood with a contract from MGM. He began playing various roles in movies and television shows in the early 1950s.
At the age of 26, Conway landed the role for which he is best known, that of Sheriff Clay Hollister, the young, tough but fair sheriff of Tombstone in pre-statehood Arizona, in the weekly TV series "Tombstone Territory." He was originally cast to play the deputy but was promoted to the starring role when the director saw his potential, requiring the reshoot of the first episode.
The series ran from October 16, 1957, to July 1960, with Conway starring in all 92 episodes. Published interviews from the era describe the young actor as "nice", "shy", and "serious" about his acting.
In his free time, Pat enjoyed reading, cooking, music, sailing, and skin diving, admitting to being a solitary individual. After "Tombstone Territory" ended, he made numerous guest appearances in western series, including "Gunsmoke", "Rawhide", and "Bonanza," as well as appearing in two movies, "Geronimo" in 1962 and "Brighty of the Grand Canyon" in 1967.
Conway's final appearances were in 1975 in "The Streets of San Francisco" and the television movie "The Abduction of Saint Anne." He passed away on April 24, 1981, at the age of 50 in Santa Barbara County, California.
