I Spy

Background:

Actor, writer and director Robert Culp (born in 1930, died in 2010) is perhaps best remembered for his role of Kelly Robinson on the NBC series “I Spy” (1965-1968), for which he wrote and directed some of the episodes. He picked up three Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe nomination for his acting and an additional Emmy nomination for his writing effort. He also starred in the series “Trackdown” (CBS, 1957-1959) and “The Greatest American Hero” (ABC, 1981-1983) and had a recurring on the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond” from 1996 to 2004. Widely known for his work on television, Culp also appeared in many feature films, including “P.T. 109” (1963), “The Raiders” (1964), “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” (1969), “The Castaway Cowboy” (1974), “Turk 182” (1985), “The Pelican Brief” (1993), “Farewell, My Love” (2001) and “Santa's Slay” (2005). On stage, Culp won an Obie award for his performance in “He Who Gets Slapped” (1956). His Broadway credits include “The Prescott Proposals,” “Diary of a Scoundrel” and “A Clearing in the Woods.”

Culp was the father of five. He had three sons and one daughter with second wife Nancy Asch (together from 1957 to 1966) and one daughter with his fifth and last wife Candace Faulkner (together from 1981 until his death in 2010).

Athlete

Childhood and Family:

Robert Culp was born Robert Martin Culp on August 16, 1930, in Oakland, California, to Crozie Culp, an attorney, and Bethel Collins, an employment counselor for a chemical firm in Berkeley. Growing up an only child, he found performing helped ease his loneliness. Young Robert also displayed a talent for art and earned extra money as a cartoonist for local magazines and newspapers in high school. A graduate of Berkeley High School, he received an athletic scholarship to six universities thanks to his skill at track and field, but chose the relatively small College of the Pacific in Stockton because of its theater department. He transferred to San Francisco State College in San Francisco in 1949 and went on to attend Washington University in St. Louis and the University Of Washington School Of Drama, but never completed an academic degree. After performing in theater productions in the San Francisco area, he moved to Seattle and then to New York in 1951. In New York, he studied acting under noted coach Herbert Berghof at the HB Studio and supported himself teaching theater speech and phonetics.

Robert had been married five times. He married Elayne Carroll in 1951 but they later divorced. He was married to Nancy Asch from May 1957 to September 1966. The marriage produced three sons, Joshua (born April 1958), Jason (born January 1961) and Joseph (born January 9, 1963) and one daughter, Rachel (born November 1964). Robert was married to his third wife, French actress France Nuyen, from December 9, 1967, to November 10, 1970. His fourth wife was Sheila Sullivan, to whom he was married to from December 1971 to December 1981. He married his fifth wife, Candace Faulkner, on December 31, 1981, and they remained married until his death. The couple had one daughter named Samantha (born 1982).

On March 24, 2010, Robert died of a massive heart attack in Los Angeles, California. That morning, he had left his apartment to go for a walk and a jogger found him lying unconscious on the sidewalk. He was pronounced dead by Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Career:

Robert Culp made his Broadway debut in the comedy “The Prescott Proposals.” Directed by Howard Lindsay, the production ran for 125 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre between December 1953 and April 1954. He returned to Broadway with “Diary of a Scoundrel,” starring Blanche Yurka and Roddy McDowall, in 1956 and with the notable role of Pete in Arthur Laurent's “A Clearing in the Woods,” opposite Tom Hatcher, Joan Lorring, Lin McCarthy, Barbara Myers, Anne Pearson and Pernell Roberts in 1957. During this time Culp won an Obie award for Best Actor for his role in an off-Broadway production of “He Who Gets Slapped” (1956). He also appeared in the plays “Easter” and “Daily Life.”

Culp, who landed his first television gig in a 1953 episode of “You Are There,” resurfaced on television with guest spots in TV shows like “Star Tonight,” “Robert Montgomery Presents,” “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and “The United States Steel Hour.” His first big break on television arrived when he won the starring role of Texas Ranger Hobie Gilman on the popular western series “Trackdown.” The show ran on CBS from October 1957 to September 1959. He also wrote an episode called “Back to Crawford” (1959).

In early 1960, Culp guest starred in numerous TV series, including “The DuPont Show with June Allyson,” “Johnny Ringo,” “The Westerner,” “Shirley Temple Theatre,” “Rawhide,” “The Barbara Stanwyck Show,” “Death Valley Days,” “Bonanza,” Wagon Train,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “The Virginian,” “Ben Casey,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Outer Limits” and “Gunsmoke,” to list just a few. He also wrote scripts for shows like NBC's “Cain’s Hundred” and ABC's “The Rifleman.”

Meanwhile in 1963, Culp made his feature debut in the movie “P.T. 109,” starring Cliff Robertson. He was reunited with Robertson in the Peter Tewksbury directed “Sunday in New York” (1963), in which he played Jane Fonda's fiancé Russ Wilson. He was then cast as legendary gunslinger James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok in the western “The Raiders” (1964), opposite Brian Keith and Judi Meredith, and costarred with Harry Guardino and Shirley Eaton in the film “Rhino” (1964). His made his TV film debut in “The Hanged Man” (1964), a NBC drama directed by Don Siegel.

Culp's bi breakthrough arrived when he was cast as Kelly Robinson in the espionage series “I Spy,” opposite Bill Cosby. Developed by David Friedkin and Morton Fine, the show premiered on NBC on September 15, 1965, and ran until April 15, 1968. Culp was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and Best TV Star - Male at the 1967 Golden Globe Awards for his work on the series. Culp also wrote the scripts for seven episodes and directed one. In 1967, he shared an additional Emmy nomination for his writing contribution to the series

In 1969, Culp revisited the big screen with the Paul Mazursky feature “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” where he costarred with Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon. It was followed by a turn as bounty hunter Thomas Price in the western “Hannie Caulder” (1971), opposite Raquel Welch, before he was reunited with “I Spy” costar Bill Cosby in the film “Hickey & Boggs” (1972). The film also marked Culp's feature directorial debut. Subsequent film roles included “A Name for Evil” (1973, with Samantha Eggar), “The Castaway Cowboy” (1974, with James Garner and Vera Miles), “Inside Out” (1975), “Sky Riders” (1976, with James Coburn and Susannah York), “Breaking Point” (1976), “The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday” (1976), “Cry for Justice” (1977) and “Goldengirl” (1979, as Steve Esselton). Culp also appeared in a number of TV movies throughout the 1970s, including “See the Man Run” (1971), “The Lie” (1973), “A Cold Night's Death” (1973), “Outrage” (1973), “Give Me Liberty” (1974), “A Cry for Help” (1975), “Spectre” (1977) and “Women in White” (1979), to name a few, while making guest appearances in such television shows as “Columbo,” “Shaft,” “Police Story” and “A Man Called Sloane.”

In 1981, Culp returned to series television when he was cast as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell in the ABC series “The Greatest American Hero,” opposite William Katt, Connie Sellecca, Michael Paré and Faye Grant. The show, which was created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, ran until February 1983. Culp also directed and wrote episodes of the series. While working on the show, Culp appeared in the TV films “The Dream Merchants” (1980), “The Night the City Screamed” (1980), “Killjoy” (1981), “Thou Shalt Not Kill” (1982) and the motion picture “National Lampoon's Movie Madness” (1982).

In 1985, Culp portrayed Mayor Tyler in the action comedy “Turk 182,” opposite Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich and Kim Cattrall. The same year, he also appeared in the TV films “Brothers-in-Law” and “The Key to Rebecca.” 1986 to 1989 found roles in TV films like “The Gladiator,” “Highway to Heaven,” “The Blue Lightning,” “Combat High” and “What Price Victory” and appearances in episodes of “Murder, She Wrote,” “Hotel,” “Matlock,” “Doctor Doctor” and “Who's the Boss?” In addition, Culp was reunited with Bill Cosby for an episode of the NBC series “The Cosby Show” (1987). The same year, Culp played Daryl Pearson in the film “Big Bad Mama II,” the sequel to the 1974 film “Big Bad Mama,” starring Angie Dickinson.

Between 1990 and 1995, Culp made guest appearances in television series like “The Golden Girls,” “The Ray Bradbury Theater,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “The Nanny,” “ Wings,” “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “Lonesome Dove: The Series,” “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and “Burke's Law.” He also appeared in several TV films during this period, including “Voyage of Terror: The Achille Lauro Affair” (1990), “Perry Mason: The Case of the Defiant Daughter” (1990), “The Poetry Hall of Fame” (1993) and “Favorite Deadly Sins” (1995). He also reprised his role of Kelly Robinson on the CBS television movie “I Spy Returns” (1994), with Bill Cosby. Culp then provided the voice of Halcyon Renard in several episodes of “Gargoyles” during 1995 to 1996. Meanwhile on the big screen, Culp portrayed Gregor in “Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog” (1990), Mr. Phillips in “Timebomb” (1991), opposite Michael Biehn, Patsy Kensit and Tracy Scoggins, the President in “The Pelican Brief” (1993), starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts, Charles Garry in “Panther” (1995) and Major Guardino in the low budget film “Xtro 3: Watch the Skies” (1995), with Andrew Divoff, Daryl Haney and Jim Hanks.

It was in 1996 that Culp began his notable recurring role of Warren Whelan on the CBS sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” starring Ray Romano. Culp went on to guest star in “Spy Game” (1997), “Viper” (1997), “Diagnosis Murder” (1997), “Conan” (1998) and “Holding the Baby” (1998) before reuniting with Bill Cosby for an episode of his CBS series “Cosby” called “My Spy” (1999). Culp also appeared in such films as “Spy Hard” (1996), “Mercenary” (1997, TV), “Most Wanted” (1997), starring Keenen Ivory Wayans (who also wrote the film), and Steven Rush's action film “Unconditional Love” (1999).

Entering the new millennium, Culp portrayed Judge Winston in the thriller “Innocents” (2000), Judge McNamara in the film “NewsBreak” (2000), and appeared in the movie “Wanted” (2000), alongside Tracey Gold and Michael Sutton. He was also seen in the TV film “Running Mates” (2000) and Randall Fontana's “Farewell, My Love” (2001). In addition, he appeared as Benjamin Quinn in an episode of “Chicago Hope” called “Devoted Attachment” (2000) and Jeffrey Grissom in an episode of “Stephen King's Dead Zone” (2003). During the next few years, Culp was cast in Eric Fleming's comedy “The Almost Guys” (2004) and as Grandpa in “Santa's Slay” (2005), a comedy directed and written by David Steiman. In 2007, he reprised the role of Bill in a voiceover role in an episode of the comedy “Robot Chicken” called “Yancy the Yo-Yo Boy.”

At the time of his death, in 2010, Culp had just completed filming “The Assignment,” a movie written and directed by Timothy J. Nelson that starred Linsey Godfrey, Jake Thomas and French Stewart.

Awards:

• Obie: Best Actor, “He Who Gets Slapped,” 1956