Actor Robert Culp dies of heart attack
Wednesday, March 24th 2010, 11:20 PM
Veteran actor Robert Culp, who teamed with Bill Cosby to break down racial barriers on the hit 1960s show “I Spy,” died Wednesday after collapsing outside his Hollywood home.
The 79-year-old actor was found on the ground by a jogger who called 911, cops said.
The actor’s son was told he died of a heart attack, stated Culp’s manager, Hillard Elkins.
Culp was a versatile actor known for his dramatic and comedic work on stage, tv and movies.
He was debonaire and easily pulled off the man-in-charge look, making him perfect for his roles as the arrogant mayor of New York in 1985′s “Turk 182″ - and as the corrupt president in 1993′s “The Pelican Brief.”
But he first came into national prominence with “I Spy,” a tv milestone that ran from 1965-68. It was the first integrated tv show featuring a black actor as one of the leads.
Culp and Cosby traded quips as the show’s cool co-stars, combining humor and adventure in a style copied for decades.
He and Cosby were also involved in civil rights causes, and when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 the pair travelled to Memphis, Tenn., to join the striking garbage workers King had been organizing.
One of his most acclaimed film roles was as Bob in the 1969 sex comedy, “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.”
On tv he appeared for three seasons in the 1980s as an FBI agent for three seasons on “The Greatest American Hero.” And from 2000 to 2004, he had a recurring role on the hit “Everybody Loves Raymond” as Ray Barone’s father-in-law.
Culp also worked as a director, and had dozens of tv credits across his half-century in the business.
He was married five times, to Nancy Ashe, Elayne Wilner, France Nuyen, Sheila Sullivan and Candace Faulkner. He had four kids with Ashe and one with Faulkner.
In honor of Culp’s work in “I Spy” and “The Greatest American Hero”, Fancast.com will have all 82 episodes of “I Spy” and 42 episodes of “The Greatest American Hero” available online.
lmcshane@nydailynews.com
With News Wire Services
source : feeds.nydailynews.com
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Submited at Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 11:00 pm on news by Lilay
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