Robert Culp RIP

Forums: Obituaries, Actors, Robert Culp, I Spy
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Robert Martin Culp (August 16, 1930 " March 24, 2010) was an American actor and scriptwriter, perhaps best known for his work in television. Culp earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (1965-1968), the espionage series, where he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents and for playing Ray Barone's father-in-law on Everybody Loves Raymond.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Culp

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@djjd62,

Rest in peace, indeed. Remember him well from I Spy, a semi-comedy well ahead of its time which, co-incidentally, also gave Bill Cosby his start in TV.

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@Merry Andrew,

Ditto.

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Damn. He so personified the Swinging 60's for me. RIP Kelly Robinson.

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@eoe,

I remember liking I Spy a lot.. it's been a while. I'll have to look up more about Robert Culp on wiki, etc.
Rest in Peace, Robert Culp.

I thought then that the writing on I Spy was good. Wonder if Culp was involved in that, and if Cosby was.

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@djjd62,

I never would have thought him to be nearly 80

RIP

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@ossobuco,

Ah, I see he did write some episodes.

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don't really remember i-spy, would have only been 5 when i went off the air

i'm thinking i remember him from some commercials, but i might be wrong

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cool, this i did not know

Culp lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2.

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One of my favorite trivia questions concerning Culp has to do with Steve McQueen's introduction to TV audiences as Josh Randall, the bounty hunter, on Wanted -- Dead or Alive. That show was a spin-off from an episode in a very short-lived Western series which starred Robert Culp as a Texas Ranger. Name of show, if memory serves, was Trackdown.

Edit: posted that before I looked at the linked Wikipedia obit.

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@djjd62,

Loved him in the I Spy series.

Here's some of the other stuff he's done from IMdb:

Robert Culp

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTYzMDc4NjIxNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTYyMjg4Mg@@._V1._CR0,0,298,298_SS90_.jpg

Good guy.

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@djjd62,

Smart, witty, good-looking. He had it all.

RIP, Mr. Culp.

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Yep. Sad to see another one go.

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@djjd62,

My favorite piece of his work was the great Outer Limits episode called "The Demon with the Glass Hand," written by Harlan Ellison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_with_a_Glass_Hand

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@kuvasz,

kuvasz wrote:

My favorite piece of his work was the great Outer Limits episode called "The Demon with the Glass Hand," written by Harlan Ellison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_with_a_Glass_Hand

Just what I intended to post when I saw the title of this thread.

I'm not sure how to interpret this.

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Not sure he was much more than a journeyman actor, but he certainly had a very distinctive style, and for what he did, that was a form of greatness.

In addition to I-Spy and the Outer Limits episode, he did a good turn on that TV show about a hapless superhero - Greatest American Hero(?).

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I had a crush on Robert Culp when he played in I Spy. He was so handsome. I remember him in a show that Lee Merriweather was also in (I think it was a TV movie). He played a spoiled playboy type. I didn't like him in that part. He played it too well.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

Finn said

Quote:

Just what I intended to post when I saw the title of this thread.

I'm not sure how to interpret this.

Don't worry, its not like we're dating.

But that episode was an amazing thing to see as a 10 year old.

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Here's the CNN obit. Apparently he died after falling down but it's not clear whether there's any connection between the two events.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/24/obit.robert.culp/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

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@kuvasz,

It sure was.

I was enthralled then and remember the feeling still. It blew my 10 year old mind.
(And that's probably the only time I've ever used that phrase --- but it's apt)

I haven't seen it since though. I wonder if it has held up over all these years.

When I was a kid, the William Shatner-Gremlin Twilight Zone episode scared the hell out of me. When I saw it as an adult I was so disappointed I sorely regretted watching it.

Gives me an idea for a separate thread.

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Robert Culp RIP

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