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Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79

24 Mar 10 - 06:10 PM (#2871067)
Subject: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Genie

Cosby's 'I Spy' costar, Robert Culp, dead at age 79

Apparently, he fell and died of a concussion.   


I loved this show.   So sorry to see him gone so soon.


24 Mar 10 - 06:41 PM (#2871086)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: catspaw49

I loved Culp. A good actor who played well in slightly off-center characters, I think his role in a Raquel Welch vehicle named "Hannie Caulder" was typical of his parts. A scientific gunfighter who wears glasses and passes out philosophy and fast draw/killing instruction in equal measure. The three villains in that one are equally fine with Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, and Strother Martin, as three vicious and idiot brothers.

Robert Culp gave us some fine TV roles with his last as the fatther in law on "Everybody Loves Raymond."

He was also a good friend of Hugh Hefner and that couldn't have been all bad!


Spaw


24 Mar 10 - 06:54 PM (#2871092)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Bat Goddess

"We master spies have our sources. In this case, it happens to be the front page of the New York Times."

I enjoyed everything I've ever seen him in. Sorry to lose him.

Linn


24 Mar 10 - 06:59 PM (#2871096)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Don Firth

Oh, damn!!

I went to school with Robert Culp. He was a drama student at the University of Washington. I didn't know him all that well, but I remember seeing him in a couple of student productions. One of "Sherlock Holmes" at the U. of W.'s Showboat Theater. He played Holmes (made a good one, too—deerstalker cap, greatcoat, the whole bit) and a fellow named Bart Tollefson played Watson.

Then, it the late 1950s, I flipped on the TV and there was a new Western. "Trackdown." And there was Robert Culp.

Hey, fantastic! I thought. Looks like he's made it!

Jeez! All my contemporaries are falling off the twig. . . .

Don Firth


24 Mar 10 - 07:43 PM (#2871149)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: kendall

Hot Damn! he was only 4 years older than I!


24 Mar 10 - 07:54 PM (#2871157)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Genie

Well, Culp didn't die of old age. He fell and hit his head and died from the injury.   People die from head injuries at all ages.   DK if his age had anything to do with why he fell, but if you hit your head on concrete, it's not good for your health.


24 Mar 10 - 08:01 PM (#2871162)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Genie

ETA: So far it's unclear whether the fall caused Culp's death. The coroner is investigating.
He did fall while on a walk, but it's possible he fell after having a heart attack. The news reports are inconsistent and unclear.


24 Mar 10 - 09:48 PM (#2871203)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Mrrzy

My sister went to college with his daughter who apparently had anorexia before it was recognized as a disease - they used to call her Bones.

RIP whatever killed him.


25 Mar 10 - 02:59 AM (#2871317)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: katlaughing

Not that old and another of the good ones. I always enjoyed him, too. I didn't get to see I, Spy, as we only had CBS available at the time. I've seen reruns, though, and always loved it.Neat info on it at WIKI.

I hope he was happy in life and rests in peace.

kat


25 Mar 10 - 04:12 AM (#2871332)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: GUEST,Tunesmith

I didn't like Robert Culp! Well, actually, I never met the chap, but - apart from playing a good guy in I Spy - I always think of him playing unsavory, unattractive characters. And, of course, he played those roles beautifully.


25 Mar 10 - 02:49 PM (#2871721)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Ebbie

Tunesmith, that reminds me: Years ago, when we were quite young, my brother and I agreed that we didn't like Eddie Albert- based on the character he played in 'Battle Cry'. We decided no decent person could present such an unsavory character so believably without being unsavory himself. lol


25 Mar 10 - 07:20 PM (#2871982)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: kendall

I felt the same way about Trevor Howard. Had I been Christian I might well have "run him through".


26 Mar 10 - 01:11 AM (#2872176)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Genie

Ah, but the usually loveable Henry Fonda did a superb job of playing a heinous cad (who killed a child in cold blood) in a movie western. Really good actors can convincingly play characters who are very different from themselves.


26 Mar 10 - 03:07 AM (#2872204)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: bseed(charleskratz)

And the great Gregory Peck played Doctor Joseph Mengele in "The Boys From Brazil." He was head of a project trying to raise clones of Hitler and control their early lives so one might grow up to be der Fuhrer reborn.


26 Mar 10 - 04:27 AM (#2872235)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Don Firth

Robert Culp played hero types pretty well. But the really fun parts to play are the "heavies," and I think he really enjoyed doing those rules.

Max Von Sydow, the great Swedish actor, is said to have really enjoyed playing Ming the Merciless in the movie version of "Flash Gordon." It gave him a chance to snarl and roar for a change.

If you didn't like Robert Culp after seeing him play a villain, that just shows how good a job he did in the part.

Don Firth


26 Mar 10 - 04:35 AM (#2872245)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Don Firth

That should read "roles" rather than "rules." I'm trying out the latest version of a voice recognition program (Just dictate, and the words appear on the screen. But sometimes it mishears. Still gotta proof read).

Don Firth he


26 Mar 10 - 08:51 AM (#2872369)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: GUEST,Tunesmith

Ebbie: I think you were thinking of "Attack" a great war movie starring Jack Palance - and the cowardly Eddie Albert!


26 Mar 10 - 06:35 PM (#2872861)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Ebbie

Nope, Tunesmith. In Battle Cry, Albert played an officer. (Noq I have to go check.)


26 Mar 10 - 06:43 PM (#2872867)
Subject: RE: Obit: Actor Robert Culp, age 79
From: Ebbie

"The film Attack! (1956) provided Albert with a dark role as a cowardly, psychotic Army captain whose behavior threatens the safety of his company." wikipedia

It appears that Tunesmith is correct. I would have said that I've seen very few war movies but apparently I used to have different views. :)

Battle Cry is the first movie I ever saw, other than a tearjerker in third grade, before my parents were warned.