1. Robert Martin Culp was an American actor and screenwriter widely known for his work in television.
38 Facts About Robert Culp
1. 2.
Robert Culp gave hundreds of performances in a career spanning more than 50 years.
3.
Robert Culp was born on August 16,1930, in either Oakland, California, or Berkeley, California.
4.
Robert Culp was the only child of Crozier Cordell Culp, an attorney, and his wife, Bethel Martin Culp.
5.
Robert Culp graduated from Berkeley High School, where he was a pole vaulter and took second place at the 1947 CIF California State Meet.
6.
Robert Culp attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and later Washington University in St Louis, San Francisco State, and the University of Washington School of Drama, but never completed an academic degree.
7.
Robert Culp received acting training at HB Studio in New York City.
8.
Robert Culp played Clay Horne in the series finale, "Cave-In", of the CBS Western Johnny Ringo, starring Don Durant.
9.
In 1961, Robert 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.
10.
About this time, Robert Culp was cast on the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show and in the NBC Civil War drama, The Americans.
11.
In 1964, Robert Culp played Charlie Orwell, an alcoholic veterinarian, in an episode of The Virginian titled "The Stallion".
12.
Robert Culp then played perhaps his most memorable character, American secret agent Kelly Robinson, who operated undercover as a touring tennis professional, for three years on the hit NBC series I Spy, with co-star Bill Cosby.
13.
Robert Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes, one of which he directed and an episode earned him an Emmy nomination for writing.
14.
In 1968, Robert Culp 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".
15.
Robert Culp played the murderer in three Columbo episodes and appeared in the 1990 episode "Columbo Goes to College" as the father of one of two young murderers.
16.
Robert Culp played the murderer in the pilot episode of Mrs Columbo starring Kate Mulgrew in the title role.
17.
In 1973, Robert Culp almost took the male lead in the sci-fi television series Space: 1999.
18.
Robert 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.
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Robert Culp wrote and directed the second-season finale episode "Lilacs, Mr Maxwell", with free rein to do the episode as he saw fit.
20.
Robert Culp reprised the role in the spin-off pilot The Greatest American Heroine.
21.
However, Robert Culp firmly denied this, insisting he would never leave his role as Bill Maxwell.
22.
Robert Culp reunited with Cosby on The Cosby Show in the episode "Bald and Beautiful", playing Dr Cliff Huxtable's old friend Scott Kelly.
23.
Robert Culp appeared on Walker, Texas Ranger as Lyle Pike in the episode "Trust No One".
24.
From 1996 to 2004, Robert Culp had a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, the father of Debra Barone and father-in-law of Ray Barone.
25.
Robert Culp played a CIA agent and the father of Dr Jesse Travis on Diagnosis: Murder in the episode "Discards", along with Barbara Bain, Robert Vaughn, and Patrick Macnee.
26.
Robert Culp directed this feature film, in which Cosby and he portray over-the-hill private eyes.
27.
Robert Culp lent his voice to the digital character Dr Wallace Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2.
28.
Robert Culp wrote scripts for seven I Spy episodes, one of which he directed.
29.
Robert Culp later wrote and directed two episodes of The Greatest American Hero, including the series finale.
30.
Robert Culp wrote scripts for other television series, including Trackdown, a two-part episode from The Rifleman, and Cain's Hundred.
31.
Robert Culp was married five times: to Elayne Carroll, Nancy Ashe, French actress France Nuyen, whom he met when she guest-starred on I Spy, Sheila Sullivan, and Candace Faulkner.
32.
Robert Culp had three sons and a daughter with his second wife, and a daughter with his fifth wife.
33.
Robert Culp's son Joseph Culp is an actor and director; his son Jason Culp is a voice actor who has narrated many audiobooks.
34.
Robert Culp's grandson, Elmo Kennedy O'Connor, is a rapper and performs under the alias Bones.
35.
On March 24,2010, Robert Culp died at age 79 after a fall while walking near Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles.
36.
Robert Culp was buried at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito.
37.
At the time of his death, Robert Culp had just completed performing a supporting role as Blakesley in the film The Assignment.
38.
Robert Culp was 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.