Basic Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name (as recorded) | Joan Kenlay (sometimes listed as Marjorie Joan Kenlay) |
| Known relationship | First wife of actor Robert Conrad |
| Reported date of death | January 6, 1998 (widely reported in family records) |
| Children | Commonly listed as five children (names appear in public family trees) |
| Notable descendants | Grandchild: Jesse Erwin (listed in family histories) |
| Parents (genealogical records) | Floyd Marion Kenlay; Marjorie O’Brien (appears in family-tree entries) |
| Public profile | Primarily documented in family and genealogy records rather than an independent public career |
A Portrait in Family Light
I like to think of Joan Kenlay the way a film editor thinks of a cut — not necessarily the star of the scene, but the one who holds the sequence together. Joan’s name drifts through the pages of Hollywood lore as the connective tissue of a family that has threaded itself into entertainment and memory. She’s the quiet frame around Robert Conrad’s headline-making life; yet the family records that preserve her—birth names, marriage entries, a reported death date—reveal a woman whose influence is measured less in tabloid flash and more in the lineage that followed.
The records point to a domestic life rooted in mid-century America: a marriage to Robert Conrad, children who grew up under a mix of celebrity and ordinary domesticity, and grandchildren who carried the family forward. If Hollywood stories are often quick close-ups, Joan’s presence is the long take—the steady thing you only notice when it’s missing.
Family Members — Introductions and Roles
| Name | Relationship to Joan Kenlay | Short introduction |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Conrad | Former husband | The actor whose career cast a wide shadow over the family narrative; Joan is recorded as his first wife and the mother of his children. |
| Shane Conrad | Son | One of the children listed in family records—part of the next generation that links Joan’s name to the entertainment community. |
| Joan Conrad | Daughter | A daughter who, in genealogical listings, is recorded as marrying Timothy Erwin and as the mother of Jesse Erwin. |
| Jesse Erwin | Grandchild | Listed as a grandchild—an explicit example of Joan’s legacy continuing into grandchildren. |
| Other children (commonly listed) | Children | Various records list up to five children (names vary across different family-tree sources); they form the immediate web of Joan’s maternal life. |
| Floyd Marion Kenlay & Marjorie O’Brien | Parents | Recorded as Joan’s parents in genealogical databases, grounding her in a specific familial line. |
When I say “introduce,” I mean the small, human details we can gather: Joan the mother, Joan the spouse, Joan the daughter. These roles might sound prosaic, but they are the scaffolding of a family saga—imperfect, shifting, and intensely real. You can almost imagine a black-and-white home movie: school recitals, a stovetop conversation, the brief hush when a camera gets pointed their way.
Career, Public Life, and Net Worth (What the Records Say — and Don’t)
If you’re coming for a glossy résumé, you’ll be disappointed. Joan Kenlay—spelled exactly as you asked—is not documented in the public record as an entertainment professional with credits, agents, or press clippings of her own. Instead, her presence in the public sphere is domestic and genealogical: marriage records, family trees, and obituaries.
Net worth? There’s no credible public estimate attached to Joan’s name. Unlike a celebrity who leaves a ledger of contracts and endorsements, Joan’s economic footprint in public databases is, practically, invisible. That doesn’t make her life any less consequential; it simply means the ledger we’d like to read was never made public.
Timeline & Numbers (A Family Ledger)
| Year / Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Mid-20th century | Marriage to Robert Conrad (the family’s foundational public tie) |
| 1950s–1970s (approx.) | Birth of children (family records indicate five children in aggregate across sources) |
| January 6, 1998 | Reported date of death in genealogical entries (age ~63 is commonly reported) |
| 1990s–2000s | Growth of grandchildren, including Jesse Erwin, who appears in family trees |
Numbers are blunt tools, but they help: five children, one reported death date, a lineage that includes multiple grandchildren—these are the metrics of a private life that touched public memory when it intersected with a famous spouse.
Public Mentions, Media, and the Quiet Internet Trail
What you’ll mostly find about Joan Kenlay in the wilds of the web are genealogical footprints: family-tree entries, obituary-style notes, fan pages about Robert Conrad that mention her in passing, and social reposts that recycle the same biographical crumbs. She is a peripheral figure in celebrity bios—never the headline, always the context—so the online chatter tends to be anecdotal, sometimes contradictory, and often sparse.
That’s not scandal or malice; it’s the simple fact of who gets photographed, who gets profiled, and who becomes the subject of a PR machine. Joan’s story is the counter-narrative to celebrity: influence not recorded in press kits but alive in family photographs and the memories told at Thanksgiving.
Why the Name Matters (A Quick Aside in First Person)
I’m a collector of small histories—those human marginalia that reveal more than any press release. Joan Kenlay’s name matters because it marks a human life at the heart of a more famous story. Think of Joan as the off-screen character in a noir film whose life you retrofit with meaning once the credits roll and you realize someone had to sew the costumes, call the shots, and keep the family ledger balanced.
FAQ
Who was Joan Kenlay married to?
She is recorded as the first wife of actor Robert Conrad and the mother of his children.
How many children did Joan Kenlay have?
Family records commonly list five children, though names vary across different entries.
Is Joan Kenlay still alive?
Genealogical entries report a date of death of January 6, 1998.
Does Joan Kenlay have any famous descendants?
Her family includes children and grandchildren—one grandchild commonly listed is Jesse Erwin, tying her to the next generation.
Did Joan Kenlay have a public career?
No substantial public career is documented under the spelling Joan Kenlay; most mentions are familial and genealogical.
Is there a net worth estimate for Joan Kenlay?
There is no reliable public net-worth figure attributed to Joan Kenlay in available records.
Are there social-media accounts for Joan Kenlay?
No active, verifiable social-media profiles tied to Joan Kenlay (by that spelling) appear in public records; most online mentions are reposted biographical snippets.
