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Robert Cummings

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For other people named Robert Cummings, see Robert Cummings (disambiguation).

Robert Cummings
Cummings in 1956
Born
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings

(1910-06-09)June 9, 1910
Joplin, Missouri U.S.
DiedDecember 2, 1990(1990-12-02) (aged 80)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park
Other namesBob Cummings
Blade Stanhope Conway
Bryce Hutchens
Alma materAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts
OccupationActor
Years active1931–1990
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Emma Myers
​
​
(m. 1931; div. 1933)​
​
​
(m. 1935; div. 1943)​
Mary Elliott
​
​
(m. 1945; div. 1970)​
Gina Fong
​
​
(m. 1971; div. 1987)​
Martha Burzynski
​
(m. 1989)​

Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990)[1] was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954).[2] He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries,[1] at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street.[3] He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death.[4]

Early life

Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri, a son of Dr. Charles Clarence Cummings and the former Ruth Annabelle Kraft.[5] His father was a surgeon, part of the original medical staff of St. John's Hospital in Joplin, and the founder of the Jasper County Tuberculosis Hospital in Webb City, Missouri.[6] Cummings's mother was an ordained minister of the Science of Mind.[5]

While attending Joplin High School, Cummings was taught to fly by his godfather, aviation pioneer Orville Wright.[2] His first solo was on March 3, 1927.[7] During high school, Cummings gave Joplin residents rides in his aircraft for $5 per person.[6]

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.[7][8]

Education

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. He studied aeronautical engineering for a year before he dropped out for financial reasons, his family having lost heavily in the 1929 stock market crash.[6][9]

Cummings became interested in acting while performing in plays at Carnegie Tech, and decided to pursue it as a career.[10] Since the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City paid its male actors $14 a week, Cummings decided to study there.[11] He stayed only one season, but later said he learned "three basic principles of acting. The first – never anticipate; second – take pride in my profession. And third – trust in God. And that last is said in reverence."[12]

Early acting career

Blade Stanhope Conway

Cummings started looking for work in 1930, but couldn't find any roles, forcing him to get a job at a theatrical agency.[6] Realizing that, at the time, "three quarters of Broadway plays were from England"[13] and that English accents and actors were in demand, Cummings decided to cash in an insurance policy and buy a round-trip ticket there.[14]

He was driving a motorbike through the countryside, picking up the accent and learning about the country, when his bike broke down at Harrogate. While waiting for repairs, he devised a plan. He invented the name "Blade Stanhope Conway" and bribed the janitor of a local theatre to put on the marquee: "Blade Stanhope Conway in Candida". He then had a photo taken of himself in front of the marquee and had 80 prints made. In London, he outfitted himself with a new wardrobe, composed a letter introducing the actor-author-manager-director "Blade" of Harrogate Repertory Theatre, and sent it off to 80 New York theatrical agents and producers.[13]

As a result, when Cummings returned to New York, he was able to obtain several meetings.[11][6]

One of the producers to whom he sent letters, Charles Hopkings, cast him in a production of The Roof by John Galsworthy, playing the role of the Hon. Reggie Fanning. Also in the cast was Henry Hull.[15] The play ran from October to November 1931 and Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times listed "Conway" among the cast who provided "some excellent bits of acting."[16]

In November 1932, "Conway" replaced Edwin Styles in the Broadway revue Earl Carroll's Vanities[17] after studying song and dance by correspondence course.[18]

Cummings later encouraged an old drama school classmate, Margaret Kies, to use a similar deception – she became the "British" Margaret Lindsay.[10] He later said pretending to be Conway broke up his first marriage, to a girl from Joplin. "She couldn't stand me."[19]

He was an extra in the Laurel and Hardy comedy film Sons of the Desert (1933)[20] and in the musical short Seasoned Greetings (1933).

Bryce Hutchens

Cummings decided to change his approach, when in the words of one report, "suddenly the bottom dropped out of the John Bull market; almost overnight, demand switched from Londoners to lassoers."[13]

In 1934, Cummings changed his name to "Bryce Hutchens".[11][6][21] He appeared under this name in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, which ran from January to June in 1934.[22][23] He had a duet with Vivi Janiss, a native of Nebraska, with whom he sang "I Like the Likes of You".[24] Cummings and Janiss went with the show when it went on tour after the Broadway run, and they married towards the end of the tour.[9]

Paramount

The tour of Ziegfeld ended in Los Angeles in January 1935. Cummings enjoyed the city and wanted to move there.[25][9] He returned to New York, then heard King Vidor was looking for Texan actors for So Red the Rose (1935). He auditioned, pretending to be a Texan, having acquired his own version of a Texan accent by listening to cowboy bands on the radio.[13] His ruse was exposed, but Vidor nevertheless cast him, under his actual name.[18][26][14] In their review, The New York Times said that Cummings "does a fine bit" and "has the only convincing accent in the whole film."[27]

He followed this with a part in Paramount's The Virginia Judge (1935).[28] In July, the studio signed Cummings to a long-term contract.[29] Before his first two Paramount films were released, he was also cast in a supporting part in Millions in the Air (1935).[6][30]

Cummings appeared as one of the leads in the Western Desert Gold (1936), then had a supporting role in Forgotten Faces (1936) and a starring part in Three Cheers for Love (1936).[31] He also appeared in:

Beyond Flight (1936)
Hollywood Boulevard (1936)
The Accusing Finger (1936)
Hideaway Girl (1936)
Arizona Mahoney (1936)
The Last Train from Madrid (1937).[32][18]

Most of these were B pictures. He had a small role in an A picture, Souls at Sea (1937), then appeared in Sophie Lang Goes West (1937), Wells Fargo (1937) and College Swing (1938). He had a small role in You and Me (1938) (directed by Fritz Lang), and was in The Texans (1938) and Touchdown, Army (1938).

Eventually, Paramount dropped their option on him. "I was poison", he said. "No agent would look at me."[19] In June, Paramount announced he would return for King of Chinatown with Anna May Wong, but he does not appear in the final film.[33] In September he was cast at Republic, playing the lead in the crime movie I Stand Accused (1938). Cummings said it was "...a fluke hit—so at least I could get inside the casting agents again."[19]

Universal

Cummings and Peggy Moran, Spring Parade (1940)

In November 1938, Cummings auditioned for the romantic lead in Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), starring Deanna Durbin, for producer Joe Pasternak.[34] Pasternak was reluctant to cast him, preferring to find a musician, but Cummings told him, "I could fake it". He later said, "I'd had a lot of experience faking things harder than that. He let me try it and he signed me up."[19]

On 21 November Cummings gave Universal an option on a seven-year contract starting at $600 a week, going up to $750 a week the following year, then ultimately up to $3,000 a week.[35] His first film for them, Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) was a big success, and in March 1939 Universal took up their options on the actor. The film was directed by Henry Koster, who called Cummings "brilliant, wonderful… I made five pictures with him. I thought he was the best leading man I ever worked with. He had that marvelous comedy talent and also a romantic quality."[36] Reviewing the film, The New York Times said Cummings "displays a really astonishing talent for light comedy—we never should have suspected it from his other pictures."[37] Pasternak used him again, supporting another singing star, Gloria Jean, in The Under-Pup (1939).[38] (He was meant to reteam with Jean in Straight from the Heart, but it appears not to have been made.[39]) In August 1939 Columbia wanted him for the lead in Golden Boy, but could not come to terms with Universal.[40] Cummings supported Basil Rathbone and Victor McLaglen in Rio (1939), then was borrowed by 20th Century Fox to romance Sonia Henie in Everything Happens at Night (1939). At Universal he had a key role in Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939), then was borrowed by MGM to play the lead in a B movie with Laraine Day, And One Was Beautiful (1940). Back at Universal, Cummings was the romantic male lead in a comedy, Private Affairs (1940); then he romanced Durbin again in Spring Parade (1940). Cummings made his mark in the CBS Radio network's dramatic serial titled Those We Love, which ran from 1938 to 1945. He also played the role of David Adair in the serial drama Those We Love, opposite Richard Cromwell, Francis X. Bushman and Nan Grey.

A series of classic films

Saboteur, 1942

Cummings and Allan Jones were cast as the comic team leads in the film One Night in the Tropics (1940), but were overshadowed by the performances (as supporting actors, in their first film) by Abbott and Costello.[citation needed]. MGM borrowed Cummings a second time, to play opposite Ruth Hussey in Free and Easy (1941). In the same period, he was borrowed by a company established by Norman Krasna and Frank Ross, who were making a comedy from a script by Krasna for release through RKO: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941). Cummings played a union leader, Jean Arthur's love interest, under the direction of Sam Wood. Cummings shot the film at the same time as Free and Easy.[41] Free and Easy lost money for MGM, but Devil and Miss Jones was a critical and commercial success. 20th Century Fox borrowed him for Moon Over Miami (1941), starring Don Ameche and Betty Grable; Fox was willing to postpone the film so Cummings could finish Devil and Miss Jones.[42] In January 1941 Louella Parsons wrote, "is that boy going places in 1941. From the looks of things it's a Cummings year – because all his troubles with Universal are ironed out and almost every studio in town wants to borrow him.[43] Back at Universal, Pasternak used Cummings as the romantic male lead in It Started with Eve (1941), from a script by Krasna, opposite Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton. Meanwhile, Sam Wood was directing an adaptation of the novel Kings Row (1942), over at Warner Bros, where the head of production was Hal Wallis. Wallis did not have any contract players at Warner Bros who were considered ideal for the role of Paris, and, after trying desperately to get Tyrone Power, he tried to borrow Cummings, who had done an impressive test.[44] However, Cummings was busy on It Started with Eve and the actor had to drop out. Then the schedule was rearranged and Cummings was able to make both films.[45] Production of Kings Row did have to be suspended for a week so Cummings could return to Universal to do reshoots for Eve.[46] Both films were huge successes. Hal Wallis said Cummings "was actually too old for the part" in Kings Row "not quite right, but he was helped considerably by an extraordinary support cast."[47] Back at Universal, Cummings starred in the Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller Saboteur (1942), made at Universal, with Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd. He played Barry Kane, an aircraft worker wrongfully accused of espionage, trying to clear his name.[48] In December 1941, John Chapman said Cummings was among "the most sought-after leading men in town" and was one of his "stars for 1942".[49] Universal announced Cummings for Boy Meets Baby with Deanna Durbin,[50] which became Between Us Girls (1942) with Diana Barrymore. He filmed it concurrently with a Hal Wallis movie at Warner Bros, and Princess O'Rourke (made 1942, released 1943), Norman Krasna's directorial debut. Cummings was meant to be in We've Never Been Licked (1943) for Walter Wanger at Universal,[51] but did not appear in the film.

World War II

In December 1941, Cummings joined the fledgling Civil Air Patrol, an organization of citizens and pilots interested in helping support the U.S. war effort. In February 1942, he helped establish Squadron 918-4 located in Glendale, California, at the Grand Central Air Terminal, becoming its first commanding officer. Two weeks later, he and other members of the squadron went in search of the Japanese submarine that had attacked the oil refinery at Goleta, California. During the war, Cummings participated in search and rescue missions, courier missions, and border and forestry patrols around the Western United States. For this work he used his own aircraft, Spinach I, a 1936 Porterfield, and Spinach II, a Cessna 165 Airmaster. The squadron he established still operates as San Fernando Senior Squadron 35 and is based at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima, Los Angeles. In November 1942, Cummings joined the United States Army Air Forces.[52] During World War II, he served as a flight instructor.[2][6] After the war, Cummings served as a pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve, where he achieved the rank of captain.[53] Cummings played aircraft pilots in several of his postwar film roles. During the war service, he had small roles in the all-star Forever and a Day (1943) and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), but he was effectively off screen for two years.[54]

Suspension from Universal

Cummings was meant to be in Fired Wife with Teresa Wright, Charles Coburn, and Eddie Anderson and a director "comparable with" Leo McCarey. However, when he found out these actors would not be in the film, and the director would be Charles Lamont, he refused to be in it. (Filming began in April 1943 with Robert Paige taking Cummings's role.[55]) Universal put him on suspension for five weeks, refused to give him a new part, or pay his weekly salary of $1,500 after the suspension had been lifted. Cummings notified the studio in May 1943 that he considered himself no longer under contract. In September 1943, Cummings sued the studio for withheld wages of $10,700, also arguing that for some time, Universal tried to put him in minor roles to "run him ragged" and "to teach him a lesson".[56] In March 1944, the court ruled in Cummings's favor, saying Universal had voided its contract with the actor and owed him $10,700. This decision happened in the same fortnight as another court case involving Olivia de Havilland, which also ruled in the actor's favor.[57][58]

Freelance star

Hal Wallis

Cummings was considered free of Universal since August 1944. In January he signed a four-year exclusive contract with Hal Wallis, who had left Warner Brothers to become an independent producer.[59] Shortly after, he took leave from the Air Force to star in You Came Along (1945) for Hal Wallis, directed by John Farrow with a screenplay by Ayn Rand. The Army Air Forces pilot Cummings played, Bob Collins, died off camera, but was resurrected 10 years later for Cummings's television show. Cummings was under contract to Wallis for four years.[54][60] Also for Wallis—who had now moved to Paramount—he did The Bride Wore Boots (1946), a comedy with Barbara Stanwyck. He was announced for Dishonorable Discharge for Wallis from a story by John Farrow, but it appears to have not been made.[61] Neither was Its Love Love Love, which was announced by RKO,[62] or Dream Puss, which Wallis announced for Cummings at Paramount.[63]

In 1946, Cummings said, "Often I play the boyfriend of a girl young enough to be my daughter. I'm 36, and whenever I start drooping, I run one of my pictures and feel like a kid again."[64] Around this time, he also said he was more interested in producing and directing, and hoped to act in only one film per year.[65]

United California Productions

With Michèle Morgan in The Chase (1946)

Cummings had the leads in two films for Nero Films, a company of Seymour Nebenzal and Eugene Frenke, who released through United Artists: a film noir, The Chase (1946); and a Western, Heaven Only Knows (1947).

Cummings decided to form his own production company with Frenke and Philip Yordan, which they called United California. (They originally called it United World, but it was too similar to another company's name.[66][67]) In December 1946, it was announced that Cummings had signed an exclusive contract with United California Productions, and that his deal with Wallis was for one film a year for seven years.[68][69] They announced Bad Guy from a script by Yordan.[70] They were also going to do Joe MacBeth[71] (which was ultimately made by others).

In 1947, Cummings had reportedly earned $110,000 in the preceding12 months.[72] The Lost Moment (1947) with Susan Hayward was a film noir for Walter Wanger at Universal based on The Aspern Papers by Henry James. It was a resounding flop at the box office. Cummings was initially meant to follow it with The Big Curtain for Edward Alperson at Fox but that picture was never produced.[73]

Cummings appeared in Sleep, My Love (1948), another noir, directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Mary Pickford.

United California eventually brought in manufacturer Frank Hale as partner. Its first film, Let's Live a Little (1948), was a romantic comedy with Hedy Lamarr, released through United Artists.

Cummings announced a series of projects for United California: Ho the Fair Wind from a novel by IAR Wylie, The Glass Heart by Mary Holland, Poisonous Paradise (a docudrama for which some footage had been shot called Jungle), Passport to Love by Howard Irving Young, and a remake of Two Hearts in Three Quarter Time. Cummings was also trying to interest Norman Krasna into writing the story of how Cummings broke into acting, to be called Pardon My Accent.[74][75][76]

Cummings did The Accused (1949) for Hal Wallis at Paramount, supporting Loretta Young.

Reign of Terror (1949) was a thriller set in the French Revolution for director Anthony Mann; Eagle Lion co-produced with United California.[77]

Cummings did a comedy at Universal, Free for All (1949).

Columbia

In July 1949, Cummings signed a three-picture deal with Columbia.[78] He made Tell It to the Judge (1949), with Rosalind Russell, for them. He did one for Wallis at Paramount, Paid in Full (1950) (originally Bitter Victory), then went back to Columbia for The Petty Girl (1950) a musical with Joan Caulfield.

Cummings did announce he would make The Glass Heart for his own company and release through Columbia, but this did not happen.[79]

Cummings supported Clifton Webb in For Heaven's Sake (1950) at Fox, then played a con man in The Barefoot Mailman (1950), his third film for Columbia.

Cummings began working in television, appearing in Sure as Fate ("Run from the Sun") and Somerset Maugham TV Theatre ("The Luncheon").

He was in a Broadway play Faithfully Yours (originally The Philemon Complex), which had a short run in late 1951.[80][81]

At Columbia, he was in The First Time (1952), the first feature directed by Frank Tashlin. On TV, he was in Lux Video Theatre ("The Shiny People", "Pattern for Glory"), Betty Crocker Star Matinee ("Sense of Humor"), and Robert Montgomery Presents ("Lila My Love").

Cummings was one of the four stars featured in the short-run radio version of Four Star Playhouse.

He was offered Battle in Spain, the story of El Cid, with Linda Darnell, but turned it down because it was too controversial.[82]

Television star

My Hero

Publicity photo for My Hero (1952–53)

Cummings starred in his first regular television series in the comedy My Hero (1952–53), playing a bumbling real estate salesman. He also wrote and directed some episodes.[83] The series ran for 33 episodes before (it was reported) Cummings decided to end it and accept other offers.[84] In reality, the show had been axed. "After it was dropped, I was as dead as you could possibly get in show business" said Cummings. "I sat in my agent's office one day and heard a top producer tell him on the phone that nobody would buy me."[85] Out of work, he accepted the State Department's invitation to go on a goodwill mission to Argentina.[85] The show earned him an Emmy nomination.[86]

Cummings was in Marry Me Again (1953) at RKO for Tashlin, then went to England to star in another Hitchcock film, Dial M for Murder (1954), playing the lover of Grace Kelly, whose husband Ray Milland tries to kill her. The film was a hit.[2][6]

Cummings then supported Doris Day in a musical at Warner Bros, Lucky Me (1954).[87]

He 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.[88]

Twelve Angry Men

In 1954, Cummings appeared in Twelve Angry Men, an original TV play for Westinghouse Studio One written by Reginald Rose and directed by Franklin Schaffner, alongside actors including Franchot Tone and Edward Arnold. Cummings played Juror Number Eight, the role taken by Henry Fonda in the feature-film adaptation.[6] Cummings's performance earned him the 1955 Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance.[89] Other television appearances included Campbell Summer Soundstage ("The Test Case"), Justice ("The Crisis"), The Elgin Hour ("Floodtide"), and a TV version of Best Foot Forward (1954).

Laurel Productions and The Bob Cummings Show

Ann B. Davis and Cummings in The Bob Cummings Show (rerun as Love That Bob)

With Rosemary DeCamp in 1959 for The Bob Cummings Show

In July 1954, Cummings formed his own independent film production company, Laurel Productions, Incorporated. The company's name had several affiliations to Cummings: his youngest daughter was named Laurel Ann Cummings; the street he and his family lived on was named Laurel Way; his wife's grandmother's name was Laurel; and finally, the fact that Laurel & Hardy had given Cummings his film debut back in 1933.[90][91][92] His wife Mary Elliott was appointed president of Laurel Productions.[91] In July 1954, Cummings filmed the pilot for his television show, The Bob Cummings Show, and would go on to produce 173 episodes.[92][93] Cummings intended to produce a film titled The Damned through Laurel Productions, from a novel by John D. MacDonald and to be written and directed by Frank Tashlin.[90][94] In December 1954, Cummings and George Burns formed Laurmac Productions, with the hope of co-producing a feature film in May 1955.[95]

In January 1955, The Bob Cummings Show began airing, and went through 1959. Cummings starred on the successful NBC sitcom, The Bob Cummings Show (known as Love That Bob in reruns), where he played Bob Collins, a former World War II pilot who became a successful professional photographer. As a bachelor in 1950s Los Angeles, the character considered himself quite the ladies' man. The sitcom was noted for some very risqué humor for its time.[citation needed]

A popular feature of the program was Cummings's portrayal of his elderly grandfather. His co-stars were Rosemary DeCamp as his sister Margaret MacDonald; Dwayne Hickman as his nephew Chuck MacDonald; and Ann B. Davis, in her first television success, as his assistant Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz.

When Cummings appeared on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood,[6] he was seen by Nunnally Johnson, who cast him opposite Betty Grable in How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955) at Fox, which turned out to be Grable's last film. Cummings's contract was amended to allow him time off to rehearse and record his TV show.[96]

Around this time, Cummings said he had made 78 films, and "I always had the feeling I was distinguished for none of them. Hollywood's never been really hot about me. I was always second choice. I used to say to my wife Mary, 'Somebody's got to be sick someday – Bill Holden or maybe some boy not even born yet! I used to say 'If I could find another business where I could be successful!'."[86]

Cummings was one of the hosts on ABC's live broadcast of the opening day of Disneyland on July 17, 1955, along with Ronald Reagan and Art Linkletter. On that day, Cummings played off his playboy character image by being “caught” embracing and kissing a young woman in a bonnet with a stricken look on her face.

Cummings's performance in The Bob Cummings Show earned him another Emmy nomination for Best Actor in a Continuous Role in 1956.[97]

He turned down The Heavenly Twins for the Theatre Guild; and was mentioned for Bewitched by Charles Bennett in England, but did not do it.[98]

During the series' production, Cummings still found time to play other roles. He returned to Studio One ("A Special Announcement"), and did episodes of General Electric Theater ("Too Good with a Gun"), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and Schlitz Playhouse ("One Left Over", "Dual Control").

He was also in "Bomber's Moon" for Playhouse 90 (1958), from a Rod Serling script directed by John Frankenheimer, who said "Bobby's a really fine dramatic actor, but people usually associate him only with comedy. Naturally enough I suppose. Directing an actor like this who feels immediately what the script wants and what the director wants makes you love this business."[99]

"It's a great life, acting", Cummings said in 1959. "I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a completely content actor."[100]

When his TV show ended in 1959, Cummings claimed it was his decision, as he was tired and wanted to take a year off. He was also keen to sell the show into syndication. "I don't think I'll do another comedy", he said.[101]

In 1960, Cummings starred in "King Nine Will Not Return", the opening episode of the second season of CBS's The Twilight Zone, written by Serling and directed by Buzz Kulik.

He guested on Zane Grey Theatre ("The Last Bugle", directed by Budd Boetticher), The DuPont Show of the Week ("The Action in New Orleans"), The Dick Powell Theatre ("Last of the Private Eyes", co-starring Ronald Reagan), and The Great Adventure ("Plague").

The New Bob Cummings Show

The New Bob Cummings Show followed on CBS for one season, from 1961 to 1962. It was a variation of The Bob Cummings Show with Cummings as a pilot who had various adventures.[102] It ran for 22 episodes before being cancelled.[103]

Cummings returned to films with a supporting role in My Geisha (1962), written by Krasna. He was top-billed in Beach Party (1963), although the film is better remembered today for first teaming Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

Cummings had supporting roles in two popular films, The Carpetbaggers (1964) with George Peppard and Alan Ladd and What a Way to Go! (1964) with Shirley MacLaine, and was in Theatre of Stars ("The Square Peg").

Also in 1964, he was a guest as a beauty pageant judge in The Beverly Hillbillies episode, "The Race for Queen".

My Living Doll

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

In 1964–65, Cummings starred in another CBS sitcom, My Living Doll, co-starring Julie Newmar as Rhoda the robot and Jack Mullaney as his friend. After 21 episodes, Cummings asked to be written out of the show.[104] It lasted five more episodes.

Later career

Trailer screenshot for The Carpetbaggers (1964)

In the late 1960s, Cummings had supporting roles in The Carpetbaggers (1964), Promise Her Anything (1966) and the remake of Stagecoach (1966) (playing the bank embezzler).

Cummings had the lead in Five Golden Dragons (1967) for producer Harry Alan Towers and supported in Gidget Grows Up (1969).

He was in another Broadway play, The Wayward Stork, which had a short run in early 1966.[105] A review in The New York Times said Cummings "is not in top form. He sounded a bit hoarse and somewhat strained. Usually he is a quite acceptible [sic], breezy farceur."[106]

He guest-starred again on Theatre of Stars ("Blind Man's Bluff"), as well as The Flying Nun ("Speak the Speech, I Pray You"), Green Acres ("Rest and Relaxation"), Here Come the Brides ("The She-Bear"), Arnie ("Hello, Holly"), Bewitched ("Samantha and the Troll"), Here's Lucy ("Lucy's Punctured Romance", "Lucy and Her Genuine Twimby"), and several episodes of Love, American Style.[107]

Cummings's last lead roles on film were in a pair of TV movies, The Great American Beauty Contest (1973) and Partners in Crime (1973).

During the 1970s for over 10 years, Cummings traveled the US performing in dinner theaters and short stints in plays while living in an Airstream travel trailer.

He relayed those experiences in the written introduction he provided for the book Airstream written by Robert Landau and James Phillippi in 1984.[108]

Cummings had a cameo in Three on a Date (1978) and appeared in 1979 as Elliott Smith, the father of Fred Grandy's Gopher on ABC's The Love Boat.[109]

In 1986, Cummings hosted the 15th-anniversary celebration of Walt Disney World on The Wonderful World of Disney.

In 1987, he said, "I wouldn't mind living until I'm 110. I still swim, do calisthenics, and keep fit. I've never been in hospital, except for a hernia operation at one time. People laugh about my using so many vitamins. When I tell them I take 50 liver pills a day, they look surprised, but whether they laugh or not, the thing works." He added, "I'm retired, I live on a pension" and "if I have a problem I get expert counsel, then ask the opinion of a good psychic."[110]

Robert Cummings's last public appearance was on The Magical World of Disney episode "The Disneyland 35th Anniversary Special" in 1990.

Personal life

Marriages

Cummings got married five times and fathered seven children. His first marriage was to Emma Myers, a girl from his hometown. His second marriage was to Vivi Janiss, an actress he met while performing in Ziegfeld Follies. His third wife, Mary Elliott, was a former actress and she ran Cummings's business affairs. They separated in 1968 and had a bitter divorce, during the course of which she accused him of cheating on her with his former secretary Regina Fond and using methamphetamines which she said caused wild mood swings. She also claimed he relied on astrologers and numerologists to make financial decisions with "disastrous" consequences.[111] In 1970, when the divorce was finalized, their communal property was estimated as being worth from $700,000 to $800,000 (equivalent to between $5.5 million and $6.3 million in 2023).[112]

He was married to Gina Fong from 1971 to 1987 and married Martha Burzynski two years later. He died the following year.

Hobbies

Cummings flew his Beechcraft to Joplin, Missouri—his hometown—in 1956

He was an avid pilot and owned a number of airplanes, all named "Spinach."[113] He was a staunch advocate of natural foods and published a book on healthy living, Stay Young and Vital, in 1960.[114]

In May 1948 Hedda Hopper reported that there were four lawsuits against Cummings.[115]

In 1952, Cummings was sued by a writer of My Hero who had been fired. In 1952, Cummings was served with papers concerning the suit by LA County Deputy Sheriff William Conroy; Cummings assaulted Conroy and was then sued by the sheriff for damages. Conroy stated that when he tried to serve Cummings with a subpoena the actor gunned the motor of his car and dragged him along the pavement. Cummings explained that he didn't know Conroy was a deputy.[116] Both cases were settled in 1954.[117]

In 1972 he was charged with fraud for operating a pyramid scheme involving his company, Bob Cummings Inc, which sold vitamins and food supplements.[118]

In 1975 he was arrested for being in possession of a blue box used to defraud the telephone company.[119] He avoided trial under the double jeopardy rule.[120]

Reported drug addiction

Despite his interest in health, Cummings was alleged to have been a methamphetamine addict from the mid-1950s until the end of his life. In 1954, while in New York to star in the Westinghouse Studio One production of Twelve Angry Men, Cummings began receiving injections from Max Jacobson, the notorious "Dr. Feelgood".[121][122] His friends Rosemary Clooney and José Ferrer recommended the doctor to Cummings, who was complaining of a lack of energy. While Jacobson insisted that his injections contained only "vitamins, sheep sperm, and monkey gonads", they actually contained a substantial dose of methamphetamine.[123]

Cummings allegedly continued to use a mixture provided by Jacobson, eventually becoming a patient of Jacobson's son Thomas, who was based in Los Angeles, and later injecting himself. The changes in Cummings's personality caused by the euphoria of the drug and subsequent depression damaged his career and led to an intervention by his friend, television host Art Linkletter. The intervention was not successful, and Cummings's drug abuse and subsequent career collapse were factors in his divorces from his third wife, Mary, and fourth wife, Gina Fong.[121]

After Jacobson was forced out of business in the 1970s, Cummings developed his own drug connections based in The Bahamas. Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he was forced to move into homes for indigent older actors in Hollywood.[121]

Children

Cummings had seven children. His son, Tony Cummings, played Rick Halloway in the NBC daytime serial Another World in the early 1980s.

Political affiliation

Cummings was a supporter of the Republican Party.[124]

Death

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.[114]

He is interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.[125]

Filmography

Year Film Role Director Notes
1933 Seasoned Greetings Lita's Beau / Husband in Sunny Weather Number Short; uncredited
1933 Sons of the Desert "Blade Stanhope Conway") William A. Seiter credited as "Blade Stanhope Conway"
1935 So Red the Rose George Pendleton King Vidor
1935 The Virginia Judge Jim Preston Edward Sedgwick
1935 Millions in the Air Jimmy Ray McCarey
1936 Desert Gold Fordyce 'Ford' Mortimer James P. Hogan
1936 Forgotten Faces Clinton Faraday E.A. Dupont
1936 Border Flight Lt. Bob Dixon Otho Lovering
1936 Three Cheers for Love Jimmy Tuttle Ray McCarey
1936 Hollywood Boulevard Jay Wallace Robert Florey
1936 The Accusing Finger Jimmy Ellis James P. Hogan
1936 Hideaway Girl Mike Winslow George Archainbaud
1936 Arizona Mahoney Phillip Randall James P. Hogan
1937 The Last Train from Madrid Juan Ramos James P. Hogan
1937 Souls at Sea George Martin Henry Hathaway
1937 Sophie Lang Goes West Curley Griffin Charles Reisner
1937 Wells Fargo Prospector Frank Lloyd
1938 College Swing Radio Announcer Raoul Walsh
1938 You and Me Jim Fritz Lang
1938 The Texans Alan Sanford James P. Hogan
1938 Touchdown, Army Cadet Jimmy Howal Kurt Neumann
1938 I Stand Accused Frederick A. Davis John H. Auer
1939 Three Smart Girls Grow Up Harry Loren Henry Koster
1939 The Under-Pup Dennis King Richard Wallace
1939 Rio Bill Gregory John Brahm
1939 Everything Happens at Night Ken Morgan Irving Cummings
1939 Charlie McCarthy, Detective Scotty Hamilton Frank Tuttle
1940 And One Was Beautiful Ridley Crane Robert B. Sinclair
1940 Private Affairs Jimmy Nolan Albert S. Rogell
1940 Spring Parade Corporal Harry Marten Henry Koster
1940 One Night in the Tropics Steve Harper A. Edward Sutherland
1941 Free and Easy Max Clemington Edward Buzzell (uncredited)
1941 The Devil and Miss Jones Joe Sam Wood
1941 Moon Over Miami Jeffrey Boulton Walter Lang
1941 It Started with Eve Jonathan 'Johnny' Reynolds Jr. Henry Koster
1942 Kings Row Parris Mitchell Sam Wood
1942 Saboteur Barry Kane Alfred Hitchcock
1942 Between Us Girls Jimmy Blake Henry Koster
1943 Forever and a Day Ned Trimble multiple director[126]
1943 Flesh and Fantasy Michael Julien Duvivier Episode 1
1943 Princess O'Rourke Eddie O'Rourke Norman Krasna
1945 You Came Along Maj. Bob Collins John Farrow
1946 The Bride Wore Boots Jeff Warren Irving Pichel
1946 The Chase Chuck Scott Arthur Ripley
1947 Heaven Only Knows Michael, aka Mike Albert S. Rogell
1947 The Lost Moment Lewis Venable Martin Gabel
1948 Sleep, My Love Bruce Elcott Douglas Sirk
1948 Let's Live a Little Duke Crawford Richard Wallace
1949 The Accused Warren Ford William Dieterle
1949 Reign of Terror aka The Black Book Charles D'Aubigny Anthony Mann
1949 Free for All Christopher Parker Charles Barton
1949 Tell It to the Judge Peter B. 'Pete' Webb Norman Foster
1950 Paid in Full Bill Prentice William Dieterle
1950 The Petty Girl George Petty aka Andrew 'Andy' Tapp Henry Levin
1950 For Heaven's Sake Jeff Bolton George Seaton
1951 The Barefoot Mailman Sylvanus Hurley Earl McEvoy
1952 The First Time Joe Bennet Frank Tashlin
1953 Marry Me Again Bill Frank Tashlin
1954 Lucky Me Dick Carson Jack Donohue
1954 Dial M for Murder Mark Halliday Alfred Hitchcock
1955 How to Be Very, Very Popular Fillmore 'Wedge' Wedgewood Nunnally Johnson
1962 My Geisha Bob Moore Jack Cardiff
1963 Beach Party Professor Sutwell William Asher
1964 The Carpetbaggers Dan Pierce Edward Dmytryk
1964 What a Way to Go! Dr. Victor Stephanson J. Lee Thompson
1966 Promise Her Anything Dr. Philip Brock Arthur Hiller
1966 Stagecoach Henry Gatewood Gordon Douglas
1967 Five Golden Dragons Bob Mitchell Jeremy Summers

Stage work

  • The Roof (1931)
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 (1934)
  • Faithfully Yours (1951)
  • The Wayward Stork (1966)
  • Remember It's Never Too Late (1972)

Television credits

Radio credits

References

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Bibliography

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