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Robert Martin Culp 1930 - 2010

Robert Martin Culp of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California was born on August 16, 1930, and died at age 79 years old on March 24, 2010.

Robert Martin Culp

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California 90068

August 16, 1930

March 24, 2010

Male

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Robert Martin Culp Robert Culp (1930 - 2010)

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Robert Martin Culp's History: 1930 - 2010

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Introduction

Selected filmography 1957-1960 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre (TV Series) as Shad Hudson / Deputy Sam Applegate / Hoby Gilman 1957-1959 Trackdown (TV Series) as Hoby Gilman 1957 Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) as Clarence 1960 Outlaws (TV Series) as Sam Yadkin 1960 The Westerner (TV Series) as Shep Prescott 1960-1962 The Rifleman (TV Series) as Dave Foley / Colly Vane 1961 Hennesey (TV Series) as Dr. Steven Gray 1961 Rawhide (TV Series) as Craig Kern 1961 The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (TV Series) as Herbert Sanders 1961 87th Precinct (TV Series) as Curt Donaldson 1961 Bonanza (TV Series) as Ed Payson in the episode "Broken Ballad" 1961 Target: The Corruptors! (TV Series) as Meeker 1963 Empire (TV Series) as Jared Mace 1963 PT 109 as Ensign George 'Barney' Ross 1963 Sunday in New York as Russ Wilson 1963-1964 The Outer Limits (TV Series) as Trent / Paul Cameron / Allen Leighton 1964 Rhino! as Dr. Jim Hanlon 1964 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series) as Captain Shark 1964 Gunsmoke (TV Series) as Joe Costa 1965-1968 I Spy (TV Series) as Kelly Robinson / Chuang Tzu 1968 Get Smart (TV Series) as Waiter (uncredited) 1969 Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice as Bob Sanders 1970 Married Alive (TV Series) as Colonel Peter Jardine 1970 The Name of the Game (TV Series) as Paul Tyler 1971-1990 Columbo (TV Series) as Jordan Rowe / Dr. Bart Kepple / Paul Hanlon / Investigator Brimmer 1971 Hannie Caulder as Thomas Luther Price 1971 See the Man Run (TV Movie) as Ben Taylor 1972 Hickey & Boggs (director) as Frank Boggs 1972 What's My Line? (TV Series) 1973 A Cold Night's Death (TV Movie) as Robert Jones 1973 A Name for Evil as John Blake 1973 Shaft (TV Series, premiere episode) as Marshall Cunningham 1973 Outrage (TV Movie) as Jim Kiler 1973 Match Game (TV Series) as Himself - Team Captain 1974 Houston, We've Got a Problem (TV Movie) as Steve Bell 1974 The Castaway Cowboy as Calvin Bryson 1975 A Cry for Help (TV Movie) as Harry Freeman 1975 Inside Out as Sly Wells 1975 Police Story (TV Series) as Detective John Darrin 1976 Sky Riders as Jonas Bracken 1976 Breaking Point as Frank Sirrianni 1976 The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday as Jack Colby 1976 Flood! (TV Movie, Irwin Allen Production) as Steve Brannigan 1976 Silver Streak as FBI Agent (uncredited) 1977 Spectre (TV Movie) as William Sebastian 1979 Hot Rod (TV Movie) as T.L. Munn 1979 Goldengirl as Steve Esselton 1980 The Dream Merchants (TV Mini-Series) as Henry Farnum 1981-1983 The Greatest American Hero (TV Series) as Bill Maxwell 1983 National Lampoon's Movie Madness as Paul Everest (segment "Success Wanters") 1985 Turk 182 as Mayor Tyler 1986 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) as Norman Amberson 1986 The Gladiator (TV Movie) as Lieutenant Frank Mason 1986 The Blue Lightning (TV Movie) as Lester Mclnally 1986 Combat High as General Woods 1987 The Cosby Show (TV Series) as Scott Kelly 1987 Big Bad Mama II as Daryl Pearson 1989 Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog as Gregor 1990 The Golden Girls (TV Series) as Simon 1991 Timebomb as Mr. Phillips 1993 The Nanny (TV Series) as Stewart Babcock 1993 The Pelican Brief as The President of The United States 1994 Wings (TV Series) as 'Ace' Galvin 1995 Panther as Charles Garry 1995 Xtro 3: Watch the Skies as Major Guardino 1996 Spy Hard as Businessman 1996-2004 Everybody Loves Raymond (TV Series) as Warren Whelan 1997 Most Wanted as Dr. Donald Bickhart 1998 Conan the Adventurer (TV Series) as King Vog 1998 Holding the Baby (TV Series) 1998 The Secret Files of the Spy Dogs (TV series) as Additional voices 1998 Wanted as Father Patrick 1999 Unconditional Love as Karl Thomassen 2000 Innocents as Judge Winston 2000 Farewell, My Love as Michael Reilly 2000 NewsBreak as Judge McNamara 2000 Chicago Hope (TV Series) as Benjamin Quinn 2000 Running Mates (TV Movie) as Senator Parker Gable 2001 Hunger as Chief 2003 The Dead Zone (TV Series) as Jeffrey Grissom 2004 The Almost Guys as Colonel 2004 Half-Life 2 (Video Game) as Dr. Wallace Breen (voice) 2005 Santa's Slay as Grandpa 2006 Half-Life 2: Episode One (Video Game) as Dr. Wallace Breen (voice) 2007 Robot Chicken (TV Series) as Bill Maxwell / Sheriff of Nottingham (voice) 2010 The Assignment as Blakesley (final film role)
08/16

1930

Birthday

August 16, 1930

Birthdate

Unknown

Birthplace

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Professional Career

Career Television performances As Ranger Gilman in the 1957-59 TV Western Trackdown Culp came to national attention early in his career as the star of the 1957–1959 CBS Western television series Trackdown, in which he played Ranger Hoby Gilman, based in the town of Porter, Texas, of which he is also a Texas Ranger. It was one of Culp's many appearances in TV Westerns. The pilot for Trackdown was "Badge of Honor", a 1956 episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, entitled , in which Culp starred as Gilman. In 1960 he appeared in two more episodes of Zane Grey Theater, playing different roles in "Morning Incident" and "Calico Bait". After Trackdown ended in 1959 after two seasons, Culp continued to work in television, including a guest-starring role as Stewart Douglas in the 1960 episode "So Dim the Light" of CBS's anthology series The DuPont Show with June Allyson. In the summer of 1960, he guest-starred on David McLean's NBC Western series Tate. He played Clay Horne in the series finale, "Cave-In", of the CBS Western Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durant. In 1961, Culp played the part of Craig Kern, a morphine-addicted soldier, in the episode "Incident on Top of the World" in the CBS series Rawhide. About this time, Culp was cast on the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show and in the NBC Civil War drama, The Americans. Culp was cast as Captain Shark in a first-season episode of NBC's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Some of his more memorable performances were in three episodes of the science-fiction anthology series on The Outer Limits (1963–65), including the classic "Demon with a Glass Hand", written by Harlan Ellison. In the 1961 season, he guest-starred on NBC's Western Bonanza. In the 1961–62 season, he guest-starred on ABC's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!. In the 1962–1963 season, he guest-starred in NBC's modern Western series Empire starring Richard Egan. In 1964, Culp played Charlie Orwell, an alcoholic veterinarian, in an episode of The Virginian (NBC 1962-71) titled "The Stallion". That same year, he appeared in yet another Western, Gunsmoke. In the series' episode "Hung High", he portrays an outlaw named Joe Costa, who attempts to frame Matt Dillon for lynching a prisoner who had killed the marshal's friend. In 1965, he was cast as Frank Melo in "The Tender Twigs" of James Franciscus's NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak. Culp then played perhaps his most memorable character, CIA secret agent Kelly Robinson, who operated undercover as a touring tennis professional, for three years on the hit NBC series I Spy (1965–1968), with co-star Bill Cosby. Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes, one of which he also directed and an episode earned him an Emmy nomination for writing. For all three years of the series, he was also nominated for an acting Emmy (Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series category), but lost each time to Cosby. Culp with Kamala Devi in I Spy, 1966 In 1968, Culp also made an uncredited cameo appearance as an inebriated Turkish waiter on Get Smart, the spy-spoof comedy series, in an, I Spy parody episode titled "Die Spy". In this, secret agent Maxwell Smart played by Don Adams in effect assumes Culp's Kelly Robinson character, as he pretends to be an international table-tennis champion. The episode faithfully recreates the I Spy theme music, montage graphics, and back-and-forth banter between Robinson and Scott, with actor/comedian Stu Gilliam imitating Cosby. In 1971, Culp, Peter Falk, Robert Wagner, and Darren McGavin each stepped in to take turns with Anthony Franciosa's rotation of NBC's series The Name of the Game after Franciosa was fired, alternating a lead role of the lavish, 90-minute show about the magazine business with Gene Barry and Robert Stack. Also in 1971, he portrayed an unemployed actor, the husband of ambitious Angie Dickinson, in the TV movie "See the Man Run". Culp played the murderer in three Columbo episodes ("Death Lends a Hand" in 1971, "The Most Crucial Game" in 1972, "Double Exposure" in 1973) and also appeared in the 1990 episode "Columbo Goes to College" as the father of one of two young murderers. He also played the murderer in the pilot episode of Mrs. Columbo starring Kate Mulgrew in the title role. In 1973, Culp almost took the male lead in the sci-fi television series Space: 1999. During negotiations with creator and executive producer Gerry Anderson, Culp expressed himself to be not only an asset as an actor, but also as a director and producer for the proposed series. The part instead went to Martin Landau. Culp co-starred in The Greatest American Hero as tough veteran FBI Special Agent Bill Maxwell, who teams up with a high-school teacher who receives superpowers from extraterrestrials. He wrote and directed the second-season finale episode "Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell", with free rein to do the episode as he saw fit. The show lasted three years from 1981 to 1983. He reprised the role in the spin-off pilot "The Greatest American Heroine" and a voice-over on the stop-motion sketch comedy Robot Chicken. During that time, Culp was rumored to replace Larry Hagman as J. R. Ewing in Dallas. However, Culp firmly denied this, insisting he would never leave his role as Bill Maxwell. In 1987, he reunited with Cosby on The Cosby Show, playing Dr. Cliff Huxtable's old friend Scott Kelly. The name was a combination of their I Spy characters' names. Culp had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, the father of Debra Barone and father-in-law of Ray Barone. He appeared on episodes of other television programs, including a 1961 season-three episode of Bonanza titled "Broken Ballad", as well as The Golden Girls, The Nanny, The Girls Next Door, and Wings. He was the voice of the character Halcyon Renard in the Disney adventure cartoon Gargoyles. In I Spy Returns (1994), a nostalgic television movie, Culp and Cosby reprised their roles as Robinson and Scott for the first time since 1968. Culp and Cosby reunited one last time on the television show Cosby in an episode entitled "My Spy" (1999), in which Cosby's character, Hilton Lucas, dreams he is Alexander Scott on a mission with Kelly Robinson. Robert Culp also appeared on Walker, Texas Ranger as Lyle Pike in the episode "Trust No One" (February 18, 1995). In 1997, he played a CIA agent and the father of Dr. Jesse Travis on Diagnosis Murder along with Barbara Bain, Robert Vaughn, and Patrick McNee. Film performances Culp worked as an actor in many theatrical films, beginning with three in 1963: As naval officer John F. Kennedy's good friend Ensign George Ross in PT 109, as legendary gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders, and as the debonair fiancé of Jane Fonda in Sunday in New York. He starred in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in 1969, with Natalie Wood. Another memorable role came as another gunslinger, Thomas Luther Price, in Hannie Caulder (1971) opposite Raquel Welch. A year later, Hickey & Boggs reunited him with Cosby for the first time since I Spy. Culp also directed this feature film, in which Cosby and he portray over-the-hill private eyes. In 1986, he had a primary role as General Woods in the comedy Combat Academy. Culp played the U.S. President in Alan J. Pakula's 1993 murder mystery, The Pelican Brief. Other appearances Culp appeared in the 1993 live-action video game Voyeur as the game's villain, industrialist/politician Reed Hawke. He lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2. The video clip of "Guilty Conscience" features Culp as an erudite and detached narrator describing the scenes where Eminem and Dr. Dre rap lyrics against each other. He only appears in the music video. In the album version, the narrator is Mark Avery. On November 9, 2007, on The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly interviewed Culp about the actor's career and awarded Culp with the distinction "TV Icon of the Week". Culp played "Simon", Blanche's beau, in the episode "Like the Beep Beep Beep of My Tom Tom" when Blanche needs a pacemaker on The Golden Girls. Writer Culp wrote scripts for seven I Spy episodes, one of which he also directed. He later wrote and directed two episodes of The Greatest American Hero, including the series finale. Culp also wrote scripts for other television series, including Trackdown, a two-part episode from The Rifleman, and Cain's Hundred. Personal life Culp married five times and is the father of five children. With his second wife, Nancy Wilner, he had sons Joshua (1958), Jason (1961), and Joseph (1963), and daughter Rachel (1964). With his last wife, he had another daughter Samantha (1982). Culp was married to Vietnamese-French actress France Nguyen (known as France Nuyen), from 1967 to 1970, whom he met when she guest-starred on I Spy. She appeared in four episodes, two of them written by Culp. Culp and Nuyen also co-hosted the second episode of the infamous TV comedy Turn-On in 1969, but the program was never shown, as the series was cancelled after its first airing. Culp's grandson, Elmo Kennedy O'Connor, is a rapper and performs under the alias Bones. Death Culp died of a heart attack on March 24, 2010, near his Hollywood Hills home. He was buried at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito. A memorial service was held at Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles on April 10, 2010. At the time of his death Culp had just completed performing a supporting role as "Blakesley" in the film The Assignment. He was also working on several screenplays, including an adaptation of the story of Terry and the Pirates that had already been accepted for filming and was scheduled to start production in Hong Kong in 2012, with Culp directing. Terry and the Pirates had been Culp's favorite comic strip as a boy, and it was his long-time wish to make a film based on it. Selected filmography
03/24

2010

Death

March 24, 2010

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Unknown
Death location

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Obituary

ROBERT CULP OBITUARY 8/16/1930 - 3/24/2010| LOS ANGELES (AP) - Robert Culp, the actor who teamed with Bill Cosby in the racially groundbreaking TV series "I Spy" and was Bob in the critically acclaimed sex comedy "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," died Wednesday after collapsing outside his Hollywood home, his manager said. Culp was 79. Manager Hillard Elkins said the actor was on a walk when he fell. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead just before noon. The actor's son was told he died of a heart attack, Elkins said, though police were unsure if the fall was medically related. Los Angeles police Lt. Robert Binder said no foul play was suspected. Binder said a jogger found Culp, who apparently fell and struck his head. "I Spy" greatly advanced the careers of Culp and Cosby and forged a lifelong friendship. Cosby said Wednesday Culp was like an older brother to him. "The firstborn in every family is always dreaming of the older brother or sister he or she doesn' t have, to protect, to be the buffer, provide the wisdom, shoulder the blows and make things right," he said. "Bob was the answer to my dreams. Candace Culp, the actor's ex-wife, said she was devastated. "He was a wonderful, creative man who contributed so much to his business, as an actor, as a writer, as a director," she said. Robert Culp lately had been working on writing screenplays, Elkins said. "I Spy," which aired from 1965 to 1968, was a television milestone in more ways than one. Its combination of humor and adventure broke new ground, and it was the first integrated television show to feature a black actor in a starring role. Culp played Kelly Robinson, a spy whose cover was that of an ace tennis player. (In real life, Culp actually was a top-notch tennis player who showed his skills in numerous celebrity tournaments.). Cosby was fellow spy Alexander Scott, whose cover was that of Culp's trainer. The pair traveled the world in the service of the U.S. government. Culp followed "I Spy" with his most prestigious film role, in "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice." The work of first-time director Paul Mazursky, who also co-wrote the screenplay, lampooned the lifestyles of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Bob and Carol (Culp and Natalie Wood) introduced wife-swapping to their best friends, Ted and Alice (Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon). Culp also had starring roles in such films as "The Castaway Cowboy," "Golden Girl," "Turk 182!" and "Big Bad Mama II." His teaming with Cosby, however, was likely his best remembered role. Cosby won Emmys for actor in a leading role all three years that "I Spy" aired, and Culp, who was nominated for the same award each year, said he was never jealous. "I was the proudest man around," he said in a 1977 interview. Both he and Cosb y were involved in civil rights causes, and when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 the pair traveled to Memphis, Tenn., to join the striking garbage workers that King had been organizing. Culp and Cosby also costarred in the 1972 movie "Hickey and Boggs," which Culp also directed. This time they were hard-luck private detectives who encountered multiple deaths. Audiences who had enjoyed the lightheartedness of "I Spy" were disappointed, and the movie flopped at the box office. "His proudest moments were when he was writing and directing 'I Spy' and 'Hickey and Boggs,'" Cosby said. "Bob was meticulous and committed." After years of talking up the idea, they finally re-teamed in 1994 for a two-hour CBS movie, "I Spy Returns." In his first movie role Culp played one of John Kennedy's crew in "PT 109." His first starring TV series, "Trackdown" (1957-1959) was a Western based partly on files of the Texas Rangers. In the 1980s, he starred as an FBI agent in the fantasy "The Greatest American Hero." He remained active in movies and TV. Among his notable later performances was as a U.S. president in 1993's "The Pelican Brief." More recently, he had a recurring role as Patricia Heaton's father in the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond" and appeared in such shows as "Robot Chicken," "Chicago Hope" and an episode of "Cosby." Robert Martin Culp, born in 1930 in Oakland, led a peripatetic existence as a college student, attending College of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., Washington University in St. Louis and San Francisco State College before landing at the University of Washington drama school. Then at age 21, a semester removed from his degree, he moved to New York, where he began landing roles in off-Broadway plays. One of them was in "He Who Gets Slapped." "I saw it in college in Seattle, and I said, 'My God, that's my part, that's my part,'" he once told an interviewer. After he won the role in a Greenwich Village production "the floodgates opened," he said. Good reviews and an Obie award led to offers from Hollywood. Culp was married five times, to Nancy Ashe, Elayne Wilner, France Nuyen, Sheila Sullivan and Candace Culp. He had four children with Ashe and one with Candace Culp.

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