John Conte(1915-2006)

Abandoned his acting career in the 1960s and became the founder and owner of KMIR-TV in Palm Desert, California, along with his third wife Sirpuhe Philibosian. They launched the NBC affiliate in 1968 and sold it to Journal Communications of Milwaukee in 1999.

[on working with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Sperduti nell'harem (1944)] It was a joy to watch them. I recall that whenever they went into one of their classic bits in the film, the entire company would gather round behind the cameras and watch. There was a lot of interest in Bud and Lou, and it was a sort of built-in habit of the actors who were not busy working on films of their own who could get away and visit the various working sets. I recall a number of visitors would love to come to the set and be contained on the sidelines and watch these guys go to work. It was a treat.