Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder is telling you that it's high time we all start appreciating William Conrad for the hunk that he is.

What other dreamboat could give us characters like the original Marshal Matt Dillon, who Conrad voiced in the radio series Gunsmoke? Lest we forget Frank Cannon of Cannon, the private eye that captured the hearts of audiences everywhere.

Don't buy it? We've got proof. According to an interview with the Newhouse News Service, William Conrad actually won an award for sex symbol of the year while on a trip abroad in Germany. "Yes, I've been a sex symbol for years," Conrad said. "Actually, it is totally confusing to me. But I accept the responsibility."

Confusion aside, numbers simply don't lie, and the article reported that Conrad's series, Cannon was overwhelmingly popular with the female demographic.

Conrad also spoke on this very important matter in the Beckley Post-Herald & The Raleigh Register. There, he still seemed surprised by the warm response to his character, but appreciative, nonetheless.

"I'll have to admit I wasn't quite prepared for the type of public response the character of Frank Cannon has received during the first season of Cannon on the CBS television network," he wrote.

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Conrad also reasoned that the appeal of Frank Cannon was in the realism of the character. "I guess Cannon is the kind of guy that a lot of people can identify with: a nonglamorous, rather portly private eye who has a weight problem and doesn't always outwit the villain," Conrad wrote. "And for some unaccountable reason, these same qualities seem to make him a favorite of the ladies too."

While it seemed that Conrad never fully understood his appeal, audiences everywhere, especially of the feminine variety, seemed to love him anyhow.

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