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Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in , especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954).Wise and Wilderson 2000, p. 189. 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, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. 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. Robert Cummings Also Known As Bob Cummings at American Film Institute Catalog
While attending Joplin High School, Cummings learned to fly. His first solo flight was on March 3, 1927.Greenwood 1960, p. 45. Some reports of his learning to fly refer to Wright brothers, the aviation pioneer, as being his godfather and flight instructor.
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 became interested in acting while performing in plays at Carnegie Tech, and decided to pursue it as a career. Since the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City paid its male actors $14 a week, Cummings decided to study there.Lyon et al. 1987, p. 164. 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."
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.
As a result, when Cummings returned to New York, he was able to obtain several meetings.
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. 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".
In November 1932, "Conway" replaced Edwin Styles in the Broadway revue Earl Carroll's Vanities after studying song and dance by correspondence course.
Cummings later encouraged an old drama school classmate, Margaret Kies, to use a similar deception – she became the "British" Margaret Lindsay. He later said pretending to be Conway broke up his first marriage, to a girl from Joplin. "She couldn't stand me."
He was an extra in the Laurel and Hardy comedy film Sons of the Desert (1933) and in the musical short Seasoned Greetings (1933).
In 1934, Cummings changed his name to "Bryce Hutchens". He appeared under this name in the Ziegfeld Follies, which ran from January to June in 1934. He had a duet with Vivi Janiss, a native of Nebraska, with whom he sang "I Like the Likes of You".Tucker 2011, p. 185. 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.
He followed this with a part in Paramount's The Virginia Judge (1935). In July, the studio signed Cummings to a long-term contract. Before his first two Paramount films were released, he was also cast in a supporting role in Millions in the Air (1935).
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 role in Three Cheers for Love (1936). He also appeared in:
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." In June, Paramount announced he would return for King of Chinatown with Anna May Wong, but he does not appear in the final film. 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."
On 21 November Universal gave Cummings 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. 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." 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." Filmink wrote "Cummings found himself as an actor" with this movie.
Pasternak used him again, supporting another singing star, Gloria Jean, in The Under-Pup (1939). (He was meant to reteam with Jean in Straight from the Heart, but it appears not to have been made.) In August 1939 Columbia wanted him for the lead in Golden Boy, but could not come to terms with Universal. 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.
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. 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.
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." 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 screen test. 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. Production of Kings Row did have to be suspended for a week so Cummings could return to Universal to do reshoots for Eve. 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."
Back at Universal, Cummings starred in the Alfred Hitchcock Spy fiction 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. 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". Filmink wrote "Few male actors had a hot streak like Robert Cummings from 1941 to 1942: The Devil and Miss Jones, It Started with Eve, Kings Row and Saboteur are all stone-cold classics, and he made crucial contributions to all."
Universal announced Cummings for Boy Meets Baby with Deanna Durbin, which became Between Us Girls (1942) with Diana Barrymore. He filmed it concurrently with a Hal Wallis movie at Warner Bros titled 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, but did not appear in the film.
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." Around this time, he also said he was more interested in producing and directing, and hoped to act in only one film per year.
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.) 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. They announced Bad Guy from a script by Yordan. They were also going to do Joe MacBeth (which was ultimately made by others).
In 1947, Cummings had reportedly earned $110,000 in the preceding 12 months. 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.
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.
Cummings did the melodrama 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.
Cummings did a comedy at Universal, Free for All (1949).
Cummings did announce he would make The Glass Heart for his own company and release through Columbia, but this did not happen.
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. In November 1951 he announced he only had one more Columbia commitment and was open to doing more theatre.
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.
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.
Cummings then supported Doris Day in a musical at Warner Bros, Lucky Me (1954).
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.McGivern 2006, p. 82.
Other television appearances included Campbell Summer Soundstage ("The Test Case"), Review of production at Variety Justice ("The Crisis"), The Elgin Hour ("Floodtide"), Review of production at Variety and a TV version of Best Foot Forward (1954). Review of production at Variety
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. In December 1954, Cummings and George Burns formed Laurmac Productions, with the hope of co-producing a feature film in May 1955.
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. The character, a bachelor in 1950s Los Angeles, considered himself quite the Lothario. The sitcom was noted for some very risqué humor for its time. Reviewing the show, Variety wrote "few video performers are as infectious as Bob Cummings" calling the sitcom "a combination of corn, slapstick and sex. If it took itself seriously, it'd bomb bigger than Bikini. But everybody acts as though he's improvising on a camp picnic."
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; Darryl Hickman as his nephew Chuck MacDonald; Lyle Talbot as his old Air Force buddy Paul Fonda, and Ann B. Davis, in her first television success, as his assistant Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz.
When Cummings appeared on the NBC Interview Here's Hollywood, 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.
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 – William Holden or maybe some boy not even born yet! I used to say 'If I could find another business where I could be successful!'."
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.
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.
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."
"It's a great life, acting", Cummings said in 1959. "I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a completely content actor."
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. The show had been very lucrative for him.
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. Review of production at Variety
He guested on Zane Grey Theatre ("The Last Bugle", directed by Budd Boetticher), The DuPont Show of the Week ("The Action in New Orleans" Review of production at Variety), The Dick Powell Theatre ("Last of the Private Eyes", co-starring Ronald Reagan), and The Great Adventure ("Plague").
Cummings returned to films with a supporting role in My Geisha (1962), written by Krasna. Variety called the actor "astonishingly youthful" and said "it's nice to see him back on the theatre screen."
He was top-billed in Beach Party (1963), although the film is better remembered today for first teaming Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. In its review of the film Variety wrote "Cummings shows himself to be amenable farceur and notably at ease. in surroundings which might embarrass a less professional star."
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".
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. 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 , breezy farceur."
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.
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 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. Airstream by Robert Landau and James Phillippi, published in 1984 by Gibbs M. Smith Inc and Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City
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.Maltin 1994, p. 189.
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."
Robert Cummings's last public appearance was on The Magical World of Disney episode "The Disneyland 35th Anniversary Special" in 1990.
He was married to Regina Fong from 1971 to 1987 and married Martha Burzynski (1932-2017) two years later. He died the following year.
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 did not know Conroy was a deputy. Both cases were settled in 1954.
In 1972 he was charged with fraud for operating a pyramid scheme involving his company, Bob Cummings Inc, which sold vitamins and food supplements.
In 1975 he was arrested for being in possession of a blue box used to defraud the telephone company. He avoided trial under the double jeopardy rule.
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.Lertzman and Birnes 2013, pp. 83–89.
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.
He is interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Filmink called Cummings' career "a triumphant success – he did it all: Broadway, Hollywood, Harry Alan Towers, Golden Years of Television, Hitchcock, Deanna Durbin… He just made one mistake – he got on drugs."
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