Robert Martin Culp was born on 16 August 1930, in Oakland, California USA, to Bethel and Crozier Cordell Culp. He was an actor, screenwriter and director, best known for his role as secret agent Kelly Robinson in the television series “I Spy”. He passed away in 2010.
A noted actor, how wealthy was Robert Culp? Sources state that Culp had earned a net worth of over $5 million, accumulated during his acting career which began in the early ‘50s.
Robert Culp Net Worth $5 Million
Culp attended Berkeley High School, where he excelled in track and field. He then enrolled in the College of the Pacific in California, later transferring to several other colleges, however, without ever earning an academic degree.
Culp became involved in acting during his childhood years, appearing in local theater productions. During his high school days, he worked in the Bay Area for magazines and newspapers as a cartoonist. After briefly living in Seattle, he moved to New York in 1951, where he studied acting under the acclaimed teacher Herbert Berghof, making his Broadway debut in 1953 with the play “The Prescott Proposals”. He went on to appear in several other plays during the ’50, including “Diary of a Scoundrel” and “A Clearing in the Woods”. His net worth was established.
After appearing in a few live-TV dramas, Culp secured a major television role in 1957, playing Ranger Hoby Gilman in the Western television series “Trackdown”, the role that brought him international attention, and significantly adding to his net worth. By the end of the decade, he had made guest appearances in other series, such as “The Riffleman”, “Bonanza”, “The Detectives” and “The Naked City”.
In the early ’60s, he made numerous television appearances, including in the series “Johnny Gringo”, “Rawhide” and “The Americans”, to name a few, and had some minor film roles. His big moment came in 1965, when he was cast as undercover secret agent Kelly Robinson, in the popular NBC series “I Spy”, co-starring Bill Cosby; the show was the first to feature an African-American in a lead role. Spending three years on “I Spy” brought Culp enormous popularity, earning him three Emmy nominations and providing him with a sizable income. He also wrote and directed several episodes of the show, gaining an Emmy nomination for writing.
After the series ended, Culp was cast in a major film role, playing Natalie Wood’s husband Bob in the 1969 film “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”. This was followed by other film parts in the ’70s, including in the western “Hannie Caulder”, and a reunion with Cosby in the film “Hickey & Boggs”, which he also directed. He also appeared in numerous mini-movies and television films during the decade – all contributed to his wealth.
The ’80s saw Culp playing FBI agent Bill Maxwell in the comedy/drama series “The Greatest American Hero” for three years; he also wrote and directed one episode of the show. He guested in many other series of the time, including “The Cosby Show”, playing Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s old friend Scott Kelly, and appeared in several films, such as “Turk 182!”, “The Gladiator”, “Big Bad Mama II” and “Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog”.
The next decade brought Culp one of his best film roles in “The Pelican Brief”, a political thriller playing the US president. Other films of the time included “Mercenary”, “Most Wanted” and “Unconditional Love”. He reunited with Cosby again, this time in the television film “I Spy Returns” and had a recurring role in the hit sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”, as Ray Barone’s father-in-law Warren Whelan.
Culp’s last appearances on television were in the early 2000s series “Chicago Hope”, “The Dead Zone”, and “Robot Chicken”. His last film, the family drama “The Assignment”, was released after his death.
During his 50-year career, Culp has appeared in dozens of series, TV and feature films, and also did much voice-over work, which enabled him to reach Hollywood stardom, and to amass considerable wealth.
In his private life, Culp married five times; during the ’50 he was married to Elayne Carroll(1951-56), then in 1957 he married Nancy Asch, with whom he had four children. After their divorce in 1966, the following year he married France Nuyan, divorcing her in 1970. From 1971 to 1981 he was married to Sheila Sullivan. His last marriage was with Candace Faulkner, who he married in 1981 and with whom he remained until his death from a heart attack in 2010. The couple had one child.
