Robert Culp Dies

[filkertom]

Sadness. Actor Robert Culp, best known for costarring with Bill Cosby in I Spy and rattling off scenarios with William Katt, The Greatest American Hero, has passed away at the age of 79.

For you, sir, one of the ten best TV theme songs ever:

(There's also a fan vid with much better audio of the 45-RPM single of the theme.)

Comments

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

Damn but I'm going to miss him. :(

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

This song is the reason I have this LP of Mike Post TV theme songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTTXD9D_Hc0).

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, first Peter Graves, now Robert Culp. Not a good week for former spies.

I think all of Man From Uncle fandom is holding it's collective breath....

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I hope Barbara Feldon's not next.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I think you're thinking of Robert VAUGHAN.

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

I think he's thinking of Robert Culp's turn on "I Spy" with Bill Cosby.

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

He or she, sorry.

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Not a problem. ;-)

[marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com]

I get mistaken for male so often, you'd think I'd be better about that...

[ladysmith.livejournal.com]

Ah... no. I know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that two former TV spies have passed in the past two weeks (Peter Graves in Mission:Impossible and Robert Culp in I, Spy). And these things tend to go in threes. Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are neither of them spring chickens. (David is 79, I think. I forget if Robert is a year older or younger).

[capplor.livejournal.com]

I take off my hat to one of the best sidemen on TV. He had the ability to make the star look more like a star, & bring out the best of everybody who worked with him.

To a real professional, I salute you.

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

As do I. He was COOL, never seemed caught up in all that Hollywood stuff. He did the work, and it showed.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Definitely one of the all-time great TV themes. Please gods, let The Powers That Be not notice this event and decide to remake the series, dark and menacing the way "it was always meant to be."

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Darn, that would be great, wouldn't it?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

*searches for the </sarcasm> tag that was clearly meant to end that comment*

Darn, it's not in white text at the end, either.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

Did I fall into a trap, and not notice that you were being sarcastic?

My comment was sincere; I enjoyed The Greatest American Hero but sometimes moaned that they weren't 'serious' enough, or were too small-scale. I didn't understand what you were quoting with your 'way "it was always meant to be"' phrase but welcomed the idea of a remake anyway; that was the thought I latched onto.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

My fault; I should have posted a sarcasm tag originally, and then hoped you were being sarcastic in agreeing -- I thought that GAH was fine the way it was, and truly hope not to see it darkened a la Battlestar Galactica. Some series can stand that treatment -- I hope they do remake The Starlost, as the rumors suggest, in a gritty and serious way -- but not that one.

Sorry if I came off sounding angry or nasty; I was tired when I posted my reply to you, and should know better than to hit "Post" when I'm like that.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

Aw, damn. I was a total GAH fangirl as a wee one.

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

So many important roles. "I, Spy", "Demon With The Glass Hand", "Greatest American Hero".

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite songs of all time.

May he rest in peace and may God help his family through this time of mourning.

Many prayers, and well wishes from me personally.

[sdelmonte]

I will add that for a tiny minority out there, he was also known as the voice of Halcyon Reynard, father of Fox on Gargoyles.

But I fondly remember him from GAH, the blustering spy with a heart of gold and far more skill than we suspected.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I love that song. It's one of my favorites.

The one time I got to WorldCon, I met a guy in the Dealers' Room who was dressed as The Greatest American Hero. He totally looked the part. And he was thrilled that I actually recognized the character -- apparently nobody else had.

[dragon-avatar.livejournal.com]

Besides Mr. Culp doing "I, Spy" which i will always adore, he did Dr. Breen in Half-Life 2. He gave a good voice to the not so good Doktor.

[jeffreycwells.livejournal.com]

Sadly, despite all his other stuff, that's the one loss I'm really feeling. I was so hoping to have Dr. Breen finish up the series with HL2E3. I guess they have a good excuse to not have him talk, though, since SPOILER REDACTED.

"When the singularity collapses, I will be far away from here. In another universe, as a matter of fact. You, on the other hand, will be destroyed in every way it is possible to be destroyed -- and even in some which are essentially IMpossible." So much win.

[his-spiffyness.livejournal.com]

I'd run across an old movie of his just the other day. It was a TV movie pilot from the 1970's called Spectre (http://comicbookcatacombs.blogspot.com/2010/03/from-dust-bin-spectre-tv.html). He plays an occultist who investigates a Satanic coven. The show was developed by Gene Roddenberry, and naturally it featured Majel Barret in a minor supporting role. It was sort of like Supernatural, as done by Hammer Studios.

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

When my son was about 3 or 4, the theme to The Greatest American Hero was one of his favorite songs. My wife even made him a cape so he could pretend to be Ralph, flying by jumping off the top step of the porch.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Aww man I'll miss him. He was just all around cool. :-(

As for the TV show theme in question some of us have a cool stamped metal box containing the show, the instruction manual, and a matching cape. ;-)

[old-fortissimo.livejournal.com]

The I Spy theme music was way cool in itself, as were Kelly's theme (Dooo- doo DOOO, doo DOOO, doo doo doo DOOO...), and Scotty's theme (BA da da da dum, da dum, da dum; DAAA dadada da da da dum....)

I so wanted to be Kelly Robinson: more than Bond, more than Solo and Kuryakin, more than Blue Light, more than Thomas Edward Hewitt Cat.... My best friend in college and I would do Robinson/Scotty riffs. He was so much better as Culp (he took up tennis, too) that I wound up doing a pretty good Bill Cosby.

Harlan Ellison's television criticisms The Glass Teat is dead on that Culp's acting coaching was a primary reason that Cosby won the Emmy all 3 years that I Spy was in existence...beating out Culp himself...and he cheered Cosby on.

Much as I adored Culp, Spectre was wretched. He did what he could within the premise as an occult Holmes with Gig Young as his Watson, but the writing was really sub par and the special effects embarrassing.

[madderbrad.livejournal.com]

I loved that theme song!!

*clicks on link*

I still do!!

Rest in peace, agent Maxwell.

[kosaginolegion.livejournal.com]

That's too bad. I always enjoyed Culp's acting.

Trufact - He starred in a Gene Roddenberry pilot for a show called Spectre (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076745/), about a supernatural investigator.

I was sorry there was only one episode made.

[markbernstein.livejournal.com]

For me, Culp was in the "liked him when I saw him, but didn't think about him that much" category. Then this post sent me over to IMDB, where I learned that he also wrote several episodes of "I, Spy". And then I saw this. My opinion just went up.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

My favorite thing he did was an episode of The Outer Limits - "Demon with a Glass Hand". I keep trying to forget Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.