ROBERT CUMMINGS

'Robert Cummings' (June 10, 1908 – December 2, 1990), also known as 'Bob Cummings', was an American motion picture and television actor noted for his fresh faced youthful look which lasted long after he was young.
Cummings chiefly performed in comic roles but was effective in his few dramas, especially two Alfred Hitchcock films, ''Saboteur'' and ''Dial M for Murder''.
Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri. While attending Joplin High School, he was taught to fly by his godfather, Orville Wright. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. He had a brief career on Broadway under the stage name Blade Stanhope Conway, a supposed Englishman, before moving to Hollywood, California, first acting under the name and persona of Bruce Hutchens, a wealthy Texan.
In the 1930s Cummings worked (under his own name) as a contract player and appeared in a number of minor roles. He achieved stardom in 1939 in ''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' opposite Deanna Durbin. His many film comedies also include: ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941) with Jean Arthur, and ''The Bride Wore Boots'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Cummings gave memorable performances in three notable dramas: ''Kings Row'' (1942) with friend Ronald Reagan, ''Saboteur'' (1942) with Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd, and ''Dial M for Murder'' (1954), with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland.
Cummings was chosen by producer John Wayne as his co-star for the part of airline pilot Captain Sullivan in The High and the Mighty, in part due to Cummings's experience as a pilot. But director William A. Wellman overruled Wayne and hired Robert Stack for the part.^[1]

Cummings also made his mark in the CBS Radio network's long-running dramatic serial entitled ''Those We Love''. In the program, which ran from 1938 to 1945, Cummings played the role of David Adair, opposite Richard Cromwell, Francis X. Bushman (famed silent-era film actor), and Nan Grey.
Cummings served duty at a base in Oxnard, California during World War II, and later was a pilot in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Cummings began a long career on television in 1952 with the comedy ''My Hero''. He was in the first performance of ''Twelve Angry Men'' to be televised, a live production that aired in 1955, and received an Emmy award for his role as "Juror Number Eight." From 1955 through 1959, Cummings starred in the celebrated sitcom, ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (shown in reruns as ''Love That Bob''), later followed by ''The New Bob Cummings Show'', 1961–1962. He also spent a season starring in ''My Living Doll'' (1964), another sitcom. His last significant credit was the 1973 TV movie ''Partners in Crime'', also starring Lee Grant.
Cummings married five times and sired seven children. He was a staunch advocate of natural foods and a healthy diet and authored the book ''Stay Young and Vital'' (1960) on health foods and exercise. In reference to refined products such as white flour, white rice, and sugar, he was once quoted as saying, "Never eat anything white."
Another famous tale of Reagan and Cummings' friendship involves the time when Ronald Reagan decided to play a practical joke on Cummings by hiding behind a very small lamp. Cummings, however, could see beyond the lamp, and punched Reagan in the mouth, fracturing his jaw. The incident was later used as the basis for a song by The Housemartins entitled "Lamp Disguise".
Cummings died of kidney failure in 1990 at the age of 82 and was interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Contents

Filmography

External links

Filmography

★ ''Seasoned Greetings'' (1933) (short subject)

★ ''Sons of the Desert'' (1933)

★ ''The Virginia Judge'' (1933)

★ ''So Red the Rose'' (1935)

★ ''Millions in the Air'' (1935)

★ ''Desert Gold'' (1935)

★ ''Forgotten Faces'' (1936)

★ ''Border Flight'' (1936)

★ ''Three Cheers for Love'' (1936)

★ ''Hollywood Boulevard'' (1936)

★ ''The Accusing Finger'' (1936)

★ ''Hideaway Girl'' (1936)

★ ''Arizona Mahoney'' (1936)

★ ''The Last Train from Madrid'' (1937)

★ ''Souls at Sea'' (1937)

★ ''Sophie Lang Goes West'' (1937)

★ ''Wells Fargo'' (1937)

★ ''College Swing'' (1938)

★ ''You and Me'' (1938)

★ ''The Texans'' (1938)

★ ''Touchdown, Army'' (1938)

★ ''I Stand Accused'' (1938)

★ ''Three Smart Girls Grow Up'' (1939)

★ ''The Under-Pup'' (1939)

★ ''Rio'' (1939)

★ ''Everything Happens at Night'' (1939)

★ ''Charlie McCarthy, Detective'' (1939)

★ ''And One Was Beautiful'' (1940)

★ ''Private Affairs'' (1940)

★ ''Spring Parade'' (1940)

★ ''One Night in the Tropics'' (1940)

★ ''Free and Easy'' (1941)

★ ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941)

★ ''Moon Over Miami'' (1941)

★ ''It Started with Eve'' (1941)

★ ''Kings Row'' (1942)

★ ''Saboteur'' (1942)

★ ''Between Us Girls'' (1942)

★ ''Forever and a Day'' (1943)

★ ''Princess O'Rourke'' (1943)

★ ''Flesh and Fantasy'' (1943)

★ ''You Came Along'' (1945)

★ ''The Bride Wore Boots'' (1946)

★ ''The Chase'' (1946)

★ ''Heaven Only Knows'' (1947)

★ ''The Lost Moment'' (1947)

★ ''Sleep, My Love'' (1948)

★ ''Let's Live a Little'' (1948)

★ ''The Accused'' (1949)

★ ''Reign of Terror'' (1949)

★ ''Tell It to the Judge'' (1949)

★ ''Free for All'' (1949)

★ ''Paid in Full'' (1950)

★ ''The Petty Girl'' (1950)

★ ''For Heaven's Sake'' (1950)

★ ''The Barefoot Mailman'' (1951)

★ ''The First Time'' (1952)

★ ''Marry Me Again'' (1953)

★ ''Lucky Me'' (1954)

★ ''Dial M for Murder'' (1954)

★ ''How to Be Very, Very Popular'' (1955)

★ ''My Geisha'' (1962)

★ ''Beach Party'' (1963)

★ ''The Carpetbaggers'' (1964)

★ ''What a Way to Go!'' (1964)

★ ''Promise Her Anything'' (1965)

★ ''Stagecoach'' (1966)

★ ''Five Golden Dragons'' (1967)

External links

★

★ Robert Cummings at All Movie Guide