Image Credit: Everett CollectionRobert Culp, who perfected a suave cleverness most famously as Bill Cosby’s partner in espionage in the TV series I Spy, died on Wednesday after a fall in his Hollywood home. He was 79. Culp in his prime had twinkling eyes, a sly smile, and a rapid, crisp way of delivering a line: he seemed to be a hyper-articulate wiseguy, a charming devil, whether he was playing tennis-pro Kelly Robinson in I Spy (1965-68) or simply himself on a talk- or game-show.
Culp’s TV career started in the late ’50s with the taut Western Trackdown. He gave many memorable performances as his television career took off in the ’60s, including a starring role in a classic Outer Limits episode, “Demon With A Glass Hand,” written by Harlan Ellison.
But it was as Kelly Robinson, a spy who used the identity of a globe-trotting tennis pro in I Spy, that made Culp a star. Co-star Cosby became the first black actor to star in a TV drama. Culp wrote and directed a number of episodes, and he and Cosby became close friends outside of the show.
You can watch episodes of I Spy on Hulu.com and Fancast. com:
Culp was also one of the best guest stars in the long-running Peter Falk series Columbo; Culp played a murderer on three separate occasions, all fan-favorites. Culp’s biggest movie role was in the 1969 Paul Mazursky film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, considered racy for its time.
But perhaps Culp’s finest achievement was one of the ’70s most underrated movies, a tough little crime film called Hickey & Boggs, which Culp also directed from a script by Walter Hill. In it, Culp and Cosby played bleak, tougher variations on their I Spy characters, a pair of cynical private eyes hired to find a missing girl. As Hickey and Boggs, Culp and Cosby played men who were burned-out-cases themselves, capable of deceit and betrayal. Culp’s low-key direction was superb. Go rent this film immediately. (As luck would have it, Hickey & Boggs is currently showing on Comcast On Demand.)
Culp also appeared in shows ranging from The Greatest American Hero to Everybody Loves Raymond.
In one sense, Culp was an actor who never found a regular place on the big screen, where he was most often given merely lightweight roles. But in another sense, he was one of the best actors ever seen on television, because the small screen caught all of his quick, witty gestures and cleverly muttered asides. He was never less than a pure pleasure to watch.
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He has always been one of my favorite TV actors. He was so good in I Spy with Bill Cosby. I will miss seeing him on TV and in movies, as he continued to contribute throughout the years.
Absolutely loved him on Columbo!
Wait, wait — you can’t leave out the fact that he was a gifted writer as well! He scripted the very first episode of “I Spy” and did maybe a dozen others during the series’ three years (including the unusual and very intense episode where a wounded Kelly and Scott sought refuge at a remote farmhouse). A way cool guy, and you’re right — a joy to watch.
Oh, crap. You did mention it. Sorry.
That was my favorite episode and I still remember it very well. I didn’t know that he had written it.
I always think of him as Debra’s dad on Everybody Loves Raymond. Man… Peter Boyle’s gone from that show too. So sad.
It is worth remembering that, although “I Spy” goes down in history as the first drama with a black actor getting equal billing, that was NOT the original plan. When the show went into production, Culp was the star, and Cosby only had supporting billing. After a few days of shooting, apparently, Culp went to the producers and said that if they had equal roles, they should get equal billing, and insisted that Cosby be star-billed beside him. A lot of people in Hollywood pay lip service to diversity; Culp actually gave up sole star billing because he knew it was right. I’ve always thought he should’ve gotten more credit for that.
Ken, you can’t just toss of Greatest American Hero like that! He was the co-star, and Bill Maxwell, FBI, is the crazy funhouse mirror of an older Kelly Robinson. I can’t read “scenario” to this day without hearing Bob Culp in my head.
My first thought…
Agreed and agreed. I grew up with Hero and have always loved him because of it. When I eventually watched I Spy, it was because of Hero (and Cos of course).
Thank you! I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember what the word was that Maxwell always said.
AMEN! That’s where a lot of us in our late 20s, early 30s and beyond know him from. GAH was one of my earliest favorite TV shows. Good catch cV73!
One of my all time faves, too. The first thing I remember ever seeing him in.
Favorite Bill Maxwell line:
“If it’s trouble you’re looking for, you’ve just come across the West Coast distributor.”
I so loved I Spy as a kid & had a big crush on Robert Culp. He was one of those actors who was good in everything he did. One of my favorite episodes of the Cosby Show was when Culp & Cosby were reunitd as friends, the chemistry was still there.
Very sad loss… I loved Robert Culp in the I Spy series… And in his other roles throughout his stellar career… he was much admired and known in the business as such a class act!
He was just right for tv. Talented, and maybe the sexiest man on tv (in the 60s). Somehow that did not transfer over to movie roles. (He was the weakest
link in “Bob and Carol. . .” But great on tv nevertheless.
I used to love Robert in G.A.H. ! I would watch it with my dad and at the time and even now, years later, I never was comfortable around my dad for reasons I will leave off of this message board. But I remember that I would watch Robert and wish HE was my dad actually. I remember that it was one of the few things my dad and I did together – I was the “Greatest American Hero” (so I thought when I was a kid) and my dad would be Maxwell. Good times. I will miss this man, his talent and his goodness.
I didn’t know the man, but I’m really kind of upset. I loved his work…he was sooo cool on I-Spy, not to mention one fine looking man. RIP.
let’s not forget his brilliant turn in Tim Burton’s brilliant “Beetlejuice”
He wasn’t in Beetlejuice? I’m pretty sure anyway. If you think so what role did he play? Robert Goulet was in that movie.
I don’t really know anything of his TV or film work, great as it may be. I’m just not that well versed in that kind of thing. So I mean absolutely no disrespect when I say that I know him from one of my favorite games of all time: Half-Life 2. He was the voice of Dr. Wallace Breen, and he did a fantastic job. Honestly, all the voice acting in that game was phenomenal, but Dr. Breen was the Big Bad Guy of the game and it makes me sad that the person who gave him life has passed. It’s not every big name actor that will decide to take part in a computer game’s cast. From that and from what people have been saying about him, he sounds like he was a great guy, so I hope he is at peace and his family will find peace.
Growing up, I was a huge fan of G.A.H. Yes, the show was campy, even then. But it was fun, and personally, I think that Robert Culp totally made that show. He was also a good person by all accounts. Something that is very rare in Hollywood these days. Most importantly, I was named after Kelly Robinson, his character on “I Spy”. So thank you Mr. Culp, for years of great entertainment, and for the great name.
Memorial for Robert Culp. Express your memories
http://lifestrand.net/robert_culp
Ken,
I enjoyed your article on Robert Culp. So many actors have passed away lately. You mentioned his break-out role on the late ’50s western “Trackdown.”
Robert always maintained a diverse film career, especially in the 1960s & 1970s, appearing in many westerns that still show to this day.
Some I might recommend include:
1. A 1961 Bonanza episode entitled “Broken Ballad” that airs regulary each year on TVLand, featuring Pernell Roberts
2. Several roles on The Rifleman Chuck Connors tv series
3. A 1961 Rawhide (starring Clint Eastwood) episode entitled “Incident At The Top Of The World,” available on DVD
4. A 1964 episode of The Virginian entitled “The Black Stallion;” (series is now on Encore Westerns)
5. A 1964 episode of “Gunsmoke” entitled “Hung High,” now airing on Encore Westerns
6. The western film “Hannie Caulder,” starring Raquel Welch, released in 1971; he has a full beard here & plays a seasoned gunfighter; the movie’s violent, but it’s a good role
7. The 1976 western/comedy film “The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday,” starring Lee Marvin & Oliver Reed, often airing on Encore Westerns (the cast alone is worth checking out)
8. A 1987 role in Michael Landon’s “Highway To Heaven,” entitled “Parents’ Day,” which often airs in syndication
Finally, although he’s remembered for “I Spy,” he had 163 roles in tv & film, according to the Internet Movie Database, & he kept working all the way through 2005, thus working 50 years in front of the camera
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191685/
And if you REALLY want to get obscure, check out his role as a modern pirate who shanghai’ed ship passengers with very specific skills, in “The Shark Affair” from the first season of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” — “Are there any amongst you who can tune a piano?”
And to think I was going to talk to smooene in person about this.