Robert Culp died on Wednesday March 24, 2010. He was 79 and fell while taking a walk and hit his head. He may have been an obscure name to many young ppl, but he was a part of an historical moment in both TV and Movies. He starred in the 1969 movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which was a romcom about middle class couples dealing with the new sexual revolution around them. But he was better known as an actor in the TV adventure series I Spy from 1965 to 1968. This was a groundbreaking series because it starred Culp and Bill Cosby and was the first TV show to have a black actor in a leading role. You have to remember the times. The black Civil Rights movement was just occurring, much of the nation was officially segregated and blacks and whites could not legally marry in 15 backward states when this series started. It was a cultural moment and possibly one of daring to portray a friendship between a black guy and a white guy. In a 1969 Playboy interview Bill Cosby said that it was Culp's suggestion and "we agreed to make the relationship between the white character, Kelly Robinson, and the black man, Alexander Scott, a beautiful relationship, so that people could see what it would be like if two cats like that could get along." Robert Culp & Bill Cosby in I Spy
it's too bad...culp was a very good and distinctive actor...i remember him too when he played one of the bad guys on an episode of columbo.