Emmy-winning actor Tim Conway’s wife and daughter, who are at odds over whether he should be placed under a conservatorship, may be close to settling their differences, an attorney for the entertainer’s spouse told a judge Tuesday.
Jeffrey Forer, who represents Charlene Conway, said a mediator is scheduled to hear arguments on behalf of his client and her husband’s daughter, Kelly, on March 1.
“I have high hopes … that everything will be wrapped up,” Forer told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan, in the first hearing since the case was transferred to him.
Cowan judge scheduled another hearing for March 26. The judge said that if the mediator does not resolve the case, both Charlene and Kelly Conway should be present at the March court session.
Kelly Conway maintains her 85-year-old father has dementia and that she should be named his permanent conservator. Charlene Conway says her husband does not need to be placed under a conservatorship, but that if a judge decides he needs such protection, she should be the person selected as conservator.
On Sept. 14, Judge Robert Wada rejected Kelly Conway’s petition for a temporary conservatorship, finding that her concerns about her stepmother’s medical decisions regarding her father were moot at the time because he was hospitalized Sept. 3 and underwent brain surgery.
The actor/comedian is bedridden and cannot speak, according to conclusions reached by his doctor and detailed in court papers previously submitted by Forer. Conway is under 24-hour care at a rehabilitation facility.
Dr. Maurice Zagha said he evaluated the entertainer on Jan. 5. According to Zagha, Conway understands what people are saying to him, but is unable to reply. Zagha said the verbal impediment makes it hard for him to determine Conway’s overall mental capacity, but that over time he has been able to read the actor’s facial expressions.
Conway was a cast member on the 1961-62 ABC variety series, “The Steve Allen Show,” before landing the role of Ensign Charles Beaumont Parker on the 1962-66 ABC comedy “McHale’s Navy.” In the 1970s, he became a cast member on “The Carol Burnett Show.”
In addition to Kelly, Conway and his first wife Mary Anne Dalton had five other children, including KFI-AM (640) talk show host Tim Conway Jr. They divorced in 1978.