Biography
Richard M. Cangey was born on July 9, 1933, in a little apartment above a large bus garage in the town of Mahoningtown, a suburb of the city of New Castle, in western Pennsylvania. He graduated from New Castle High School in 1951 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue a boxing career while serving a Tool & Diemaker apprenticeship. In May 1953, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and took his basic training in Breckenridge, Kentucky. The Korean War ended during Cangey's fourteenth week of training and he was sent to Aberdeen, Maryland, for the remainder of his time -- most of it spent in a office pounding a typewriter. Following his basic training in October, Cangey returned home long enough to marry his high school sweetheart, Mary Ann Medina, from Yougstown, Ohio, and go on a brief honeymoon. Cangey was discharged in February 1955 and moved back to Cleveland with his wife to resume his apprenticeship and boxing career.
Cangey began a boxing career at the age of 13 and quit the ring in 1959 with 43 wins and 3 loses. Shortly thereafter, Cangey packed up and moved to Lakewood, California, where he landed a job at what is now Rockwell International. He was terminated a second time in 1962 for Union activity; this time the company offered Cangey one year's salary, tax free, not to return. He took the offer.
Working as a bouncer in one of Long Beach's more popular bars, Cangey eventually purchased and ran his own bar until 1965. During this time, he was introduced to actor Peter Breck, who offered him a job on the TV series "The Big Valley." After one season, Cangey and Breck parted company and for the next several months Cangey was idle. In the new filming season, Cangey was called to the set of "The Wild Wild West" where he met with Robert Conrad and began his relationship with Conrad as a stand-in, stuntman and eventually a close friend. Following "Wild Wild West," Cangey worked for Conrad through a short lived series called "The D.A.," and a couple movies-of-the-week. In June 1972, he went to Austria to work on the Conrad series called "Assignment: Vienna." Cangey returned to the States in October 1972 and opened a pizza store and restaurant.
