Monday, August 16, 2010

Remembering Robert Culp

Robert Martin Culp was born on August 16, 1930 in Oakland, California. His father was a lawyer and his mother worked for a chemical company. During his teen years he was a cartoonist and he offset his loneliness by working in local playhouses. After High School Culp received an athletic scholarship for track and field and attended several colleges but never earned his degree. Married five times, among them Eurasian actress France Nuyen [1939- ] whom he met on his TV series “I Spy” with Bill Cosby. Culp had five children, three boys and two girls. He worked in off-Broadway plays in the early 1950s before first coming to the attention of TV audiences when he starred in the TV series “Trackdown”. After this series he continued working in TV on several series including “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Then came his most memorable series “I Spy” from 1965-1968. Later he co-starred in “The Greatest American Hero”. He first appeared in film in 1963's “PT109” as Jack Kennedy's crew mate. Probably his most famous film role was in 1969's “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”. During the 1950s he appeared in almost every western series on television. In his career he gave 100s of performances but only one Euro-western in 1971's “Hannie Caulder” as bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price. His final film appearance “The Assignment” is still in post production scheduled for release in 2011. Culp died of an apparent heart attack outside his home on March 24, 2010. Today we remember Robert Culp on what would have been his 80th birthday.

1 comment:

  1. He was great in the movie "Hannie Caulder". He once owned the Trackdown Ranch in Los Angeles from 1960 to 1998 and the new owner Lenny Ball bought the ranch in 2012. He has been living there ever since. RIP Robert Culp.

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