Matinee Classics - Robert Cummings Biography & Filmography

Robert Cummings ACTOR

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ROBERT CUMMINGS BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Robert Cummings, born Charles Clarence Cummings, was born on January 10, 1908 in Joplin Missouri. He was known as being perpetually young, due to his obsessions with health food and vitamins, and it helped him land many roles. Cummings is primarily acknowledged for acting in comedic pictures and some television shows, but his repertoire includes dramatic films, too.

Robert Cummings, familiar also as Bob Cummings, studied to become an engineer at many schools before deciding he wanted to pursue a career in acting. He then enrolled at the American School of Dramatic Arts. After a trip to England, Robert believed being British would get him into the limelight quicker. Therefore, for a short time he acquired an accent and called himself Blade Stanhope Conway. The only gig he got under this persona was an extra part in Laurel and Hardy’s “Sons of the Desert” (1933). After that idea failed, he moved to Hollywood and passed himself off as a rich Texan, Bruce Hutchens. With this name, he played a magician in the Broadway show “Ziegfeld Follies” (1934). He made his film debut, under this name, in “The Virginia Judge” (1935).

Cummings decided to start using his own name to land roles after his past characters seemed to miss the mark. His film debut under his real name was in Paramount’s “So Red the Rose” (1935), a movie in which he was killed off in the Civil War near the start. He also played a prisoner in “The Accusing Finger” (1936), but then pretty much played in only Paramount comedies after that. By 1939, he finally took hold of a leading role, playing in “Three Smart Girls Grow Up”. Another notable role he was in was “It Started with Eve” (1941), where he fakes and engagement to make his father happy. Other comedies he played in include “The Devil and Miss Jones” (1941) with Jean Arthur and “The Bride Wore Boots” (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck.

In 1942, he began to appear in more dramatic roles, like a well-built youth in “King’s Row”. He was also in one of his better known movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Saboteur” (1942), in which he portrayed a naïve aircraft worker. Cummings in addition starred in “You Came Along” (1945), a hopeful World War II movie. He acted in “The Lost Moment” (1947) and “Reign of Terror” (1949), other films that helped prove his talent as a serious actor.

By the 1950’s, Cummings was seasoned enough in the acting field to become the “other man” in one of his most famous movies, “Dial M for Murder” (1954) starring with Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. This was Cumming’s second Hitchcock thriller. In 1955, he had the same type of role, but instead played a sympathetic Juror Number 8 in the TV production of “Twelve Angry Men”. For his participation in this show, he won an Emmy.

Cumming’s chief reputation in that decade was in his television appearances. He earned an Emmy nomination for the show “My Hero” (1952). He is most famous, though, for his show “The Bob Cummings Show” (1955-1958), one which earned him four Emmy nominations. These programs landed him numerous spots in magazine and newspaper articles, where they described him as an eternally young-looking ladies man.

In the 1960’s, Cumming’s appeared in some films which didn’t go over so well, such as “Beach Party” (1963), “The Carpetbaggers” (1964) starring George Peppard, Ralph Taeger, Alan Ladd, and “Stagecoach” (1966). On the contrary, he also appeared in some more significant films. He was in “My Geisha” (1962) with Shirley MacLaine, “Promise Her Anything” (1965), playing a psychologist, and “Five Golden Dragons” (1967), which was a German picture. He partook in his more successful television series “My Living Doll” (1964), too. Regardless of his accomplishments or failures in this decade, critics always marveled at how well this sixtyish actor was “holding up.” His final noteworthy role was in the 1973 made-for-TV movie “Partners in Crime”

In the 1980’s, Cummings unfortunately fell victim to Parkinson’s disease. His mind and body deteriorated quite quickly, and the actor died at the age of 82, on December 2, 1990, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. He has not been forgotten, though. Two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California bear his name: one for his work in motion pictures, and another for his involvement in television.

Filmography

1973 Partners in Crime

1973 The Great American Beauty Contest

1966 Stagecoach

1966 Promise Her Anything

1964 What a Way To Go!

1964 The Carpetbaggers

1963 Beach Party

1962 My Geisha

1955 How To Be Very, Very Popular

1954 Dial M for Murder

1954 Lucky Me