Robert Culp
Encyclopedia
Robert Martin Culp was an American
actor
, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television
. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage
series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby
played a pair of secret agent
s. He also had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond
. In all, Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.
, and graduated from Berkeley High School, where he was a pole vault
er, taking second place at the 1947 CIF California State Meet
. He attended the College of the Pacific, Washington University in St. Louis
, San Francisco State College
, and the University of Washington School of Drama
, but never completed an academic degree
.
television series Trackdown
, in which he played Texas Ranger
Hoby Gilman. Trackdown was a spin-off of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
, also on CBS. Culp's character was introduced in an episode titled "Badge of Honor". Culp later appeared in two other episodes of Zane Grey Theater — "Morning Incident" and "Calico Bait" (both 1960) playing different roles. Trackdown then had a CBS spin-off of its own: Wanted: Dead or Alive, with Steve McQueen
as bounty hunter
Josh Randall.
After his series ended in 1959, 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
. He also appeared on the NBC
anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show
. Moreover, Culp was cast as Captain Shark in a first season episode of NBC's The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
(1964). Among his more memorable performances were in three episodes of the science-fiction anthology series The Outer Limits
(1963–1965), including the classic "Demon with a Glass Hand
", written by Harlan Ellison
. In the 1961–1962 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 the episode, he got into a boxing
match with series co-star Ryan O'Neal
.
Culp then played secret agent
Kelly Robinson, who operated undercover
as a touring tennis
professional, for three years on the hit NBC series I Spy (1965–68), with co-star Bill Cosby
. Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes, one of which he also directed. One 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.
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
.
Culp is also remembered as the special guest murderer in three separate Columbo episodes (in 1971, 1972, and 1973) and also appeared in a 1990 episode, then as the father of one of two young murderers.
In 1973, Culp almost took the male lead in the TV sci-fi 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. Culp 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 a voice-over on the stop-motion sketch comedy Robot Chicken
.
In 1987, he reunited with Bill 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.
When contract negotiations with Larry Hagman
over his character, J.R. Ewing, on the TV series Dallas
faltered, it was rumored that Culp was ready to step into the role. However, this turned out to be untrue. Culp said in interviews that he was never contacted by anyone from Dallas about the part. He was working on The Greatest American Hero at the time and stated that he would not have left his role as Maxwell even if it had been offered.
Culp also 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.
, as legendary gunslinger
Wild Bill Hickok
in The Raiders and as the debonair fiance of Jane Fonda
in the romantic comedy Sunday in New York
.
He went on to star in the provocative Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
in 1969, probably the height of his movie career. 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 he and Cosby 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 1994 murder mystery The Pelican Brief
starring Denzel Washington
and Julia Roberts
.
in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2
. This was not his first video game role, however: he also appeared in the 1993 game Voyeur
.
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 Richard "Segal" Heredia.
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".
actress France Nguyen, whom he had met when she guest-starred on I Spy. She appeared in four episodes, two of them written by Culp himself.
Culp wrote scripts for a total of seven episodes, one of which he also directed. He also wrote scripts for other television series, including Trackdown and The Rifleman.
apartment. On the morning of March 24, 2010, Culp left the apartment to go for a walk. A jogger found him lying on the sidewalk near the lower entrance of Runyon Canyon. Police and paramedics were summoned, but were unable to revive him. Culp was pronounced dead at a little after 11:00 a.m. at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center
. Although initial police reports indicated that Culp died from striking his head when he fell, it was later determined that he collapsed and died due to a massive heart attack. The only injury from the fall was a minor cut on his head. On April 10, 2010, a private memorial service was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles with Culp's family, friends and fans attending. At the time of his death Culp had just completed filming a supporting role in The Assignment. He was working on several screenplays. One of those screenplays, an adaptation of Terry and the Pirates
, had already received financing and was scheduled to begin shooting later this year in Hong Kong with Culp directing. Terry and the Pirates
was Culp's favorite comic strip as a child and it was his lifelong dream to make a film based on it.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965–1968), the espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
played a pair of secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
s. He also had a recurring role as Warren Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...
. In all, Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.
Early life
Culp was born in Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and graduated from Berkeley High School, where he was a pole vault
Pole vault
Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...
er, taking second place at the 1947 CIF California State Meet
CIF California State Meet
The CIF California State Meet is the annual championship track and field meet for the California Interscholastic Federation. The meet was started in 1915 for boys and 1974 for girls. Every athlete in every high school in California has a direct qualification path that can reach the state meet...
. He attended the College of the Pacific, Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
, San Francisco State College
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, and the University of Washington School of Drama
University of Washington School of Drama
The University of Washington School Of Drama is a degree-granting institution founded in 1940 as a division of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington located in Seattle, Washington, USA....
, but never completed an academic degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
.
Television performances
Culp first came to national attention very early in his career as the star of the 1957–1959 WesternWestern (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series Trackdown
Trackdown
Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. The series offered more than seventy episodes and was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio...
, in which he played Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
Hoby Gilman. Trackdown was a spin-off of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
, also on CBS. Culp's character was introduced in an episode titled "Badge of Honor". Culp later appeared in two other episodes of Zane Grey Theater — "Morning Incident" and "Calico Bait" (both 1960) playing different roles. Trackdown then had a CBS spin-off of its own: Wanted: Dead or Alive, with Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
as bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
Josh Randall.
After his series ended in 1959, 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
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
. He also appeared on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show
The Barbara Stanwyck Show
The Barbara Stanwyck Show is an American anthology drama television series which ran on NBC from September 1960 to September 1961. Barbara Stanwyck served as hostess, and starred in all but four of the half-hour productions. The four she did not star in were actually pilot episodes of potential...
. Moreover, Culp was cast as Captain Shark in a first season episode of NBC's The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
(1964). Among his more memorable performances were in three episodes of the science-fiction anthology series The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
(1963–1965), including the classic "Demon with a Glass Hand
Demon with a Glass Hand
"Demon with a Glass Hand" is an episode of The Outer Limits television series, the second to be based on a script by Harlan Ellison, which Ellison wrote specifically with actor Robert Culp in mind for the lead role...
", written by Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
. In the 1961–1962 season, he guest starred on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's crime drama Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors!
Target: The Corruptors! is a 35-episode crime drama starring Stephen McNally as newspaper reporter Paul Marino, which aired on ABC from September 29, 1961 to June 8, 1962. The character Jack Flood, Marino's undercover agent, was portrayed by Robert Harland...
In the 1962–1963 season, he guest starred in NBC's modern Western series Empire
Empire (1962 TV series)
Empire, an hour-long Western television series set on a 1960s ranch in New Mexico, starred Richard Egan , Terry Moore , and Ryan O'Neal . It ran on NBC for a season between September 25, 1962, and May 14, 1963...
starring Richard Egan
Richard Egan (actor)
Richard Egan was an American actor. In some films he is credited as Richard Eagan.-Career:Born in San Francisco, California, Egan served in the United States Army as a judo instructor during World War II...
. In the episode, he got into a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
match with series co-star Ryan O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal
Charles Patrick Ryan O'Neal , better known as Ryan O'Neal, is an American actor best known for his appearances in the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place and for his roles in such films as Paper Moon , Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon , A Bridge Too Far , and Love Story , for which he received...
.
Culp then played secret agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
Kelly Robinson, who operated undercover
Undercover
Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...
as a touring tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
professional, for three years on the hit NBC series I Spy (1965–68), with co-star Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
. Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes, one of which he also directed. One 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.
In 1968 Culp also made an uncredited cameo appearance as an inebriated Turkish waiter on Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
, the spy-spoof comedy series, in an I Spy parody episode titled "Die Spy". In this, secret agent Maxwell Smart played by Don Adams
Don Adams
Don Adams was an American actor, comedian and director. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart in the television situation comedy Get Smart , which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Smart...
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
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
, Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
, and Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...
each stepped in to take turns with Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...
's rotation of NBC's series The Name of the Game
The Name of the Game (TV series)
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s...
after Franciosa was fired, alternating a lead role of the lavish 90-minute show about the magazine business with Gene Barry
Gene Barry
Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City and The War of The Worlds and for his portrayal of the title character in the TV series Bat Masterson, among many roles.-Personal life:Barry was born...
and Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
.
Culp is also remembered as the special guest murderer in three separate Columbo episodes (in 1971, 1972, and 1973) and also appeared in a 1990 episode, then as the father of one of two young murderers.
In 1973, Culp almost took the male lead in the TV sci-fi series Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
. During negotiations with creator and executive producer Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson
Gerry Anderson MBE is a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
, 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
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
.
Culp co-starred in The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama television series that aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981...
as tough veteran FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
Special Agent Bill Maxwell, who teams up with a high school teacher who receives superpowers from extraterrestrials. Culp 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 a voice-over on the stop-motion sketch comedy Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken
Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
.
In 1987, he reunited with Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, playing Dr. Cliff Huxtable's old friend Scott Kelly. The name was a combination of their I Spy characters' names.
When contract negotiations with Larry Hagman
Larry Hagman
Larry Martin Hagman is an American film and television actor, producer and director known for playing J.R. Ewing in the 1980s primetime television soap opera Dallas and Major Anthony "Tony" Nelson in the 1960s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early life and career:Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas...
over his character, J.R. Ewing, on the TV series Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
faltered, it was rumored that Culp was ready to step into the role. However, this turned out to be untrue. Culp said in interviews that he was never contacted by anyone from Dallas about the part. He was working on The Greatest American Hero at the time and stated that he would not have left his role as Maxwell even if it had been offered.
Culp also had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...
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
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
titled "Broken Ballad", as well as The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
, The Nanny
The Nanny
Nanny may refer to:* Nanny, a child's caregiver* A grandmother * A Cajun word for godmother * A female goat* Nanny , a 1981–83 British drama series starring Wendy Craig* Nanny of the Maroons...
, The Girls Next Door
The Girls Next Door
The Girls Next Door, also known as The Girls of the Playboy Mansion, is an American reality television series broadcast on the E! cable television network...
and Wings. He was the voice of the character Halcyon Renard in the Disney adventure cartoon Gargoyles
Gargoyles (TV series)
Gargoyles is an American animated series created by Greg Weisman. It was produced by Greg Weisman and Frank Paur and aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Gargoyles is known for its dark tone, complex story arcs and melodrama...
.
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.
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 109PT 109 (film)
PT 109 is a 1963 biographical film which depicts the actions of John F. Kennedy in command of Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 as an officer of the United States Navy during World War II. The movie was adapted by Vincent Flaherty and Howard Sheehan from the book PT 109: John F. Kennedy in World War II by...
, as legendary gunslinger
Gunslinger
Gunfighter, also gunslinger , is a 20th century word, used in cinema or literature, referring to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun...
Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
in The Raiders and as the debonair fiance of Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
in the romantic comedy Sunday in New York
Sunday in New York
Sunday in New York, filmed in Metrocolor, is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Peter Tewksbury and starring Jane Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Rod Taylor. It was one of Fonda's earliest films, and she was called "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses" by Newsday...
.
He went on to star in the provocative Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a 1969 comedy-drama film directed by Paul Mazursky. It stars Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon....
in 1969, probably the height of his movie career. Another memorable role came as another gunslinger, Thomas Luther Price, in Hannie Caulder
Hannie Caulder
Hannie Caulder is a 1971 British Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine.-Plot:Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife whose husband is murdered by the Clemens brothers, a trio of rather inept outlaw brothers .After a disastrous bank raid, the...
(1971) opposite Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
. A year later, Hickey & Boggs
Hickey & Boggs
Hickey & Boggs is a 1972 neo-noir detective movie written by Walter Hill and directed by Robert Culp. The film marks the first reunion of Culp and Bill Cosby since they starred together in the 1960s television series I Spy.-Plot:...
reunited him with Cosby for the first time since I Spy. Culp also directed this feature film, in which he and Cosby 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 1994 murder mystery The Pelican Brief
The Pelican Brief (film)
The Pelican Brief is a 1993 legal crime thriller based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Julia Roberts in the role of young law student Darby Shaw and Denzel Washington as Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham...
starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
and Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
.
Other appearances
Culp lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonistAntagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
. This was not his first video game role, however: he also appeared in the 1993 game Voyeur
Voyeur (video game)
Voyeur and Voyeur II were full motion video games released in 1993 and 1996 respectively. The first game was originally released as the "flagship" product for the short lived Philips CD-i multimedia system/video game console...
.
The video clip of "Guilty Conscience
Guilty Conscience
"Guilty Conscience" is a song released in 1999 by rap artist Eminem featuring his mentor, Dr. Dre. It was the third single from his major label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, also released in 1999...
" features Culp as an erudite and detached narrator describing the scenes where Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
and Dr Dre rap lyrics against each other. He only appears in the music video. In the album version, the narrator is Richard "Segal" Heredia.
On November 9, 2007 on The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor, originally titled The O'Reilly Report from 1996 to 1998 and often called The Factor, is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political issues with guests.The program was the most watched...
, host Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
interviewed Culp about the actor's career and awarded Culp with the distinction "TV Icon of the Week".
Personal life
Culp married five times and was the father of three sons, Joshua (1958), Jason (1961) and Joseph (1963), and two daughters, Rachel (1964) and Samantha (1982). From 1967 to 1970, he was married to EurasianEurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
actress France Nguyen, whom he had met when she guest-starred on I Spy. She appeared in four episodes, two of them written by Culp himself.
Culp wrote scripts for a total of seven episodes, one of which he also directed. He also wrote scripts for other television series, including Trackdown and The Rifleman.
Death
The 79-year-old Culp often went hiking at Runyon Canyon, a park near his Hollywood HillsHollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
apartment. On the morning of March 24, 2010, Culp left the apartment to go for a walk. A jogger found him lying on the sidewalk near the lower entrance of Runyon Canyon. Police and paramedics were summoned, but were unable to revive him. Culp was pronounced dead at a little after 11:00 a.m. at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, formerly known as Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, is a private hospital located at 1300 North Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The hospital has 434 beds.-History:...
. Although initial police reports indicated that Culp died from striking his head when he fell, it was later determined that he collapsed and died due to a massive heart attack. The only injury from the fall was a minor cut on his head. On April 10, 2010, a private memorial service was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles with Culp's family, friends and fans attending. At the time of his death Culp had just completed filming a supporting role in The Assignment. He was working on several screenplays. One of those screenplays, an adaptation of Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates is the title of:* Terry and the Pirates , the comic strip created by Milton Caniff* Terry and the Pirates , a radio serial based on the comic strip...
, had already received financing and was scheduled to begin shooting later this year in Hong Kong with Culp directing. Terry and the Pirates
Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)
Terry and the Pirates was an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, had admired Caniff’s work on the children's adventure strip Dickie Dare and hired him to create the new adventure strip,...
was Culp's favorite comic strip as a child and it was his lifelong dream to make a film based on it.
Selected filmography
- The RiflemanThe RiflemanThe Rifleman is an American Western television program that starred Chuck Connors as homesteader Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son, Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show, filmed in black-and-white with a half hour running time, ran...
(1962) - Sammy the Way Out Seal as Chet Loomis (1962)
- PT 109 (1963)
- Sunday in New YorkSunday in New YorkSunday in New York, filmed in Metrocolor, is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Peter Tewksbury and starring Jane Fonda, Cliff Robertson, and Rod Taylor. It was one of Fonda's earliest films, and she was called "the loveliest and most gifted of all our new young actresses" by Newsday...
(1963) - GunsmokeGunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
(TV - 1 episode) (1964) - Bob & Carol & Ted & AliceBob & Carol & Ted & AliceBob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a 1969 comedy-drama film directed by Paul Mazursky. It stars Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon....
(1969) - Married Alive (TV) (1969)
- Hannie CaulderHannie CaulderHannie Caulder is a 1971 British Western film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring Raquel Welch, Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine.-Plot:Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife whose husband is murdered by the Clemens brothers, a trio of rather inept outlaw brothers .After a disastrous bank raid, the...
(1971) - Hickey & BoggsHickey & BoggsHickey & Boggs is a 1972 neo-noir detective movie written by Walter Hill and directed by Robert Culp. The film marks the first reunion of Culp and Bill Cosby since they starred together in the 1960s television series I Spy.-Plot:...
(1972) - A Name for EvilA Name for EvilA Name for Evil is a 1973 American horror film starring Samantha Eggar and Robert Culp.-Plot:Dissatisfied with the family architectural business, a man and his wife pack up and move out to his great-grandfather's old house in the country...
(1973) - A Cold Night's DeathA Cold Night's DeathA Cold Night's Death is a 1973 made for television movie in the United States. The film was shown on January 30, 1973, on the ABC network....
(TV) (1973) - Sky RidersSky RidersSky Riders is a 1976 American action film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring James Coburn, Susannah York and Robert Culp. A woman and her children are kidnapped in Athens and held in a mountain-top monastery as hostages by a revolutionary terrorist movement...
(1976) - SpectreSpectre (film)Spectre is a 1977 made-for-television movie produced by Gene Roddenberry. It was co-written by Roddenberry and Samuel A. Peeples, and directed by Clive Donner.-Plot summary:...
(TV) (1977) - Turk 182Turk 182Turk 182! is a 1985 film starring Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, Kim Cattrall, Robert Culp and Peter Boyle. It is also one of the first movies to receive a PG-13 rating.-Film synopsis:...
as The Mayor (1985) - Xtro 3: Watch the SkiesXtro 3: Watch the SkiesXtro 3: Watch the Skies is the third film in the low-budget British science fiction/horror Xtro series.-Plot:For years, the government has successfully covered up very real proof of U.F.O.s...
(1995) - Most Wanted (1997) as Donald Bickhart
- Conan (television series) as King Vog (1 episode, 1998)
- Holding the BabyHolding the BabyHolding the Baby was a 1997 UK sitcom television series produced by Granada Television. It lasted for two seasons. The series' average audience in 1997 was 6.85 million viewers, making it the 16th-highest rated British sitcom that year....
(1 episode, 1998) - Unconditional Love (1999) as Karl Thomassen
- Wanted (1999/I) as Fr. Patrick
- CosbyCosbyCosby is a situation comedy television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, 1996 to April 28, 2000, loosely based on the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave. The program starred Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashād...
as Kelly Robinson (1 episode, 1999) - Dark Summer (2000) as Judge Winston
- Chicago HopeChicago HopeChicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
as Benjamin Quinn (1 episode, 2000) - NewsBreak (2000) as Judge McNamara
- Running MatesRunning Mates (film)Running Mates is a 2000 American political comedy/drama television film directed by Ron Lagomarsino and starring Tom Selleck. The film follows the presidential election campaign of James Pryce, a Democratic Party presidential candidate, who has a hard time deciding on whom to pick as his...
(2000) (TV) as Sen. Parker Gable - Eminem: E (2000) (V) as Narrator (segment "Guilty Conscience")
- Hunger (2001 film)Hunger (2001 film)Hunger is a 2001 film written and directed by Maria Giese, based upon the 1890 novel of the same title by Norwegian author Knut Hamsun....
(2001) as The Chief - Farewell, My LoveFarewell, My LoveFarewell, My Love is a 2001 action film by Randall Fontana starring Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Phillip Rhys and Robert Culp....
(2001) as Michael Reilly - Blind Eye (2003) (V) as Isaac
- The Dead ZoneThe Dead Zone (TV series)The Dead Zone, aka Stephen King's Dead Zone is an American-Canadian science fiction/suspense series starring Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, who discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma...
as Jeffrey Grissom (1 episode, 2003) - The Almost Guys (2004) as The Colonel
- Half-Life 2Half-Life 2Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
(2004) (VG) (voice) as Dr. Wallace Breen - Early BirdEarly BirdEarly Bird may refer to:*A "lark", or "morning person", who usually gets up early in the morning and goes to bed early in the evening*An "early bird sale", also known as a Doorbuster...
(2005) (TV) - Santa's SlaySanta's SlaySanta's Slay is a 2005 Christmas Black comedy horror film that stars former professional wrestler Bill Goldberg as Santa Claus. The movie was written and directed by David Steiman, a former assistant to Brett Ratner....
(2005) as Grandpa - Half-Life 2: Episode OneHalf-Life 2: Episode OneHalf-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a series of episodes that serve as the sequel for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the game was later renamed to Episode One...
(2006) (VG) (voice) as Dr. Wallace Breen - Robot ChickenRobot ChickenRobot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created and executive produced by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show...
as Bill Maxwell / Sheriff of Nottingham (1 episode, 2007) - The Assignment (2010 film)The Assignment (2010 film)The Assignment is an upcoming family film that was written and directed by Timothy J. Nelson. It was filmed in American Fork, Utah, USA on 2010. The film is slated for DVD release in December 2011. Nelson himself died during the post-production of The Assignment.-Cast:*Linsey Godfrey as Eliza*Jake...
as Blakesley