Robert Cummings

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For other people named Robert Cummings, see Robert Cummings (disambiguation).
Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings (1979).jpg
Cummings in 1979
Born Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings
(1910-06-09)June 9, 1910
Joplin, Missouri, USA
Died December 2, 1990(1990-12-02) (aged 80)
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Cause of death Renal failure; Pneumonia
Resting place Entombment at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California
Other names Bob Cummings
Blade Stanhope Conway
Bruce Hutchens
Alma mater American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Occupation Actor
Years active 1931–1990
Political party Republican[1]
Spouse(s) Emma Myers (m. 1931–1933)
Vivian Janis (m. 1933–1945)[2]
Mary Elliott (m. 1945–1970)
Regina Young[2] (m. 1971–?)
Martha "Jane" Burzynski (m. 1989–1990)


Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990), mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings,[3][4] was an American film and television actor.

Cummings performed mainly in comedies, but was effective in his few dramas, especially two Alfred Hitchcock films, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954).[5]

Contents

Early life and career[edit]

Bob Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri, a son of Dr. Charles Clarence Cummings and the former Ruth Annabelle Kraft.[6] His father was a surgeon, who was part of the original medical staff of St. John's Hospital in Joplin. He was the founder of the Jasper County Tuberculosis Hospital in Webb City, Missouri.[7][8] Cummings' mother was an ordained minister of the Science of Mind.[6]

While attending Joplin High School, Cummings was taught to fly by his godfather, Orville Wright, the aviation pioneer.[5][7][8] His first solo was on 3 March 1927.[9] During high school, Cummings gave Joplin residents rides in his plane for $5 per person.[7][8] When the government began licensing flight instructors, Cummings was issued flight instructor certificate No. 1, making him the first official flight instructor in the United States.

Cummings studied briefly at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, but his love of flying caused him to transfer to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[8] He studied aeronautical engineering for a year before he dropped out because of financial reasons. His family having lost heavily in the 1929 stock market crash.[8] Since the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City paid its male actors $14 a week, Cummings decided to study there.[2]

He studied drama for two years before appearing on Broadway in 1931.[8] As British actors were heavily in demand, Cummings traveled to England and learned to mimic an upper-class English accent.[8] He had a brief career on Broadway under the name Blade Stanhope Conway, posing as an Englishman.[2][8]

In 1933, he met and married his second wife, the actress Vivian Janis. They were both appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies, with Cummings as the male lead opposite comedian Fanny Brice.[8][10] In 1934, he moved to Hollywood, where he acted at first under the name Bruce Hutchens, having assumed the persona of a wealthy Texan.[2][8] He made his film debut the following year in The Virginia Judge.[8]

Cummings then began to use his own name, acting throughout the 1930s as a contract player in a number of supporting roles.[8]

Achieving stardom[edit]

Robert Cummings in the trailer for Saboteur

He achieved stardom in 1939 in Three Smart Girls Grow Up, opposite Deanna Durbin. His many film comedies include: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) with Jean Arthur, and The Bride Wore Boots (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck and Moon Over Miami (1941).

Cummings gave memorable performances in three notable dramas. In Kings Row (1942), he played the lead role Parrish Mitchell alongside friend Ronald Reagan, Claude Rains, Ann Sheridan and an all-star cast. In spite of its mixed critical reaction, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture.

Robert Cummings also starred in the spy thriller Saboteur (1942) with Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd. He played Barry Kane, an Aricraft worker wrongfully accused of murder, trying to clear his name.

He appeared in another Hitchcock film: Dial M for Murder (1954), in which he played Mark Halliday with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. The film was a box-office smash.[5][8] Cummings also starred in You Came Along (1945), which featured a screenplay by Ayn Rand. The Army Air Forces pilot Cummings played ("Bob Collins") died off camera, but was resurrected ten years later for his television show.

Cummings was chosen by producer John Wayne as his co-star to play airline pilot Captain Sullivan in The High and the Mighty, partly due to Cummings's flying experience. However, director William A. Wellman overruled Wayne and hired Robert Stack for the part.[11]

Cummings made his mark in the CBS Radio network's dramatic serial entitled Those We Love, which ran from 1938 to 1945. Cummings played the role of David Adair, opposite Richard Cromwell, Francis X. Bushman, and Nan Grey.

World War II[edit]

In November 1942, Cummings joined the United States Army Air Corps.[12] During World War II, he served as a flight instructor.[5][8] After the war, Cummings served as a pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve, where he achieved the rank of Captain.[13] For a time he was the owner of a Porterfield 35-70 aircraft, named "Spinach",[14] which is still airworthy in the USA.[15]

Television career[edit]

Cummings began a long career on television in 1952, starring in the comedy My Hero. He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of "Juror Number Eight," in the first televised performance of Twelve Angry Men, a live production which aired in 1954 (Henry Fonda played the same role in the feature film adaptation).[8] Cummings was one of the anchors on ABC's live broadcast of the opening day of Disneyland on July 17, 1955.

From 1955 through 1959, Cummings starred on a successful NBC sitcom, The Bob Cummings Show (list of episodes) (known as Love That Bob in reruns), in which he played Bob Collins, an ex-World War II pilot who became a successful professional photographer. As a bachelor in 1950's Los Angeles, the character Bob Collins considered himself to be quite the ladies' man. This sitcom was noted for some very risque humor for its time. A popular feature of the program was Cummings' portrayal of his elderly grandfather. His co-stars were Rosemary DeCamp, as his sister, Margaret MacDonald, and Dwayne Hickman, as his nephew, Chuck MacDonald. Cummings also was a guest on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood.[8]

Bob Cummings and Julie Newmar in a publicity still for My Living Doll

In 1960, Cummings starred in "King Nine Will Not Return," the opening episode of the second season of CBS's The Twilight Zone.

The New Bob Cummings Show (list of episodes) followed on CBS for one season, from 1961 to 1962. Cummings is depicted as the owner and pilot of Aerocar N102D[16] and this aircraft was featured on his show.[17][18]

He also starred in 1964-1965 on another CBS sitcom, My Living Doll (list of episodes), which co-stars Julie Newmar as Rhoda the robot. Cummings' last significant role was the 1973 television movie, Partners in Crime, co-starring Lee Grant. He also appeared in 1979 as Elliott Smith, the father of Fred Grandy's Gopher on ABC's The Love Boat.

In 1986, he hosted the televised 15th Anniversary Celebration of Walt Disney World in Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

Robert Cummings' last public appearance was on The 35th Anniversary Special of Disneyland in 1990.

Personal life[edit]

Cummings married five times and fathered seven children. He was a staunch advocate of natural foods and a healthy diet and in 1960 authored a book, Stay Young and Vital, which focuses upon health foods and exercise.[19]

Cummings' son, Tony Cummings, played Rick Halloway in the NBC daytime serial Another World in the early 1980s.

Death[edit]

On December 2, 1990, Cummings died of kidney failure and complications from pneumonia at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.[20] He was interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Filmography[edit]

Stage[edit]

  • The Roof (1931)
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 (1934)
  • Faithfully Yours (1951)
  • The Wayward Stork (1966)

Films[edit]

Robert Cummings, Judy Canova, unknown person, Fritz Feld and his spouse Virginia Christine at the 1979 National Film Society Convetion

This filmography as actor is believed to be complete. Cummings also served as producer on 1948's Let's Live a Little.

Television[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Republicans of Classic Hollywood". fan.tcm.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Christopher Lyon, James Vinson, Susan Doll, Greg S Faller. "The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers", page 164. St. James Press, 1987.
  3. ^ "Robert O. Cummings. DOB: June 9, 1910. DOD: December 2, 1990". California Death Index. Accessed April 19, 2009.
  4. ^ "Robert Cummings. DOB: June 9, 1910. DOD: December 2, 1990". Social Security Death Index. Accessed October 3, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d James E. Wise & Paul W. Wilderson. "Stars in Khaki: Movie Actors in the Army and the Air Aervices," Page 189. Naval Institute Press, 2000
  6. ^ a b Bob Cummings Biography.
  7. ^ a b c "John Watson: A tour of Joplin Museum Complex", Cleburne Times Review (Cleburne, TX) Published May 11, 2009. Accessed June 1, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Christensen, Lawrence O. Dictionary of Missouri Biography, page 225. University of Missouri Press, 1999.
  9. ^ "Meet Bob Cummings...Pilot, Actor, Businessman". Flying, March 1960, p. 45.
  10. ^ H.W. Wilson Company. "Current Biography", page 17. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1956.
  11. ^ McGivern, Carolyn, The Lost Films of John Wayne, Nashville, Cumberland House, 2006, p. 82
  12. ^ Ashbu, LeRoy. "With Amusement For All", page 265. Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2006
  13. ^ Cummings, Robert Orville ("Bob"), Capt. Togetherweserved.com Inc. (a California corporation; entity number C2551443). Retrieved 16 October 2012.
  14. ^ N17029, 1936 Porterfield 35-70 FLYABOUT 'Spinach', Rev. 1. "Of interest - 'Spinach' was once owned, flown by the late actor Robert Cummings".
  15. ^ Airworthiness of N17029.
  16. ^ Photographs of and registration data for Aerocar N102D.
  17. ^ Gilmore, Susan. "Tired of the commute? All you need is $3.5 million". The Seattle Times, September 5, 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  18. ^ Video of Robert Cummings piloting Aerocar N102D during an episode of The New Bob Cummings Show, 1961.
  19. ^ Flint, Peter B. (1990-12-04). "Robert Cummings Is Dead at 82; Debonair Actor in TV and Films". nytimes.com. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2011. 
  20. ^ Flint, Peter B. (1990-12-04). "Robert Cummings Is Dead at 82; Debonair Actor in TV and Films". nytimes.com. p. 1. Retrieved 7 September 2011. 

External links[edit]

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