I've listened to the whole three hours, too. I agree with everything Tatia said, including a very demure interviewer who never really had much control over the interviewee! (No surprise there). Much was left out but that's mainly because Culp takes telling stories SERIOUSLY, and does not abridge them. You get the full minute by minute details of his retrospective, made quite amazing by his memory, which seems supernatural, to be honest. His articulate and intelligent use of language, as Tatia mentioned, does allow the remembrances to flow quite smoothly into one's ears. Plus, they're interesting!
My comments:
WARNING: THESE MAY BE CONSIDERED SPOILERS!
He did most of the interview with his arms clutched tightly together, in an apparent kind of emotional defense, but now and then he would smile and do part of his infectious giggle laugh. He did look FANTASTIC.
He seems to have very complicated feelings about his father--he derides him and then calls him a good guy; says he and his mother were abandoned by him, and sticks in an after-thought that he tried to make it up to them later but his shrug tells us Culp and his mom weren't interested by then. His father was an attorney and did go to WWII just as Kelly explained his dad did, only Kelly's dad unrealistically dragged Kelly with him overseas to witness the Nazi concentration camps. It's interesting how in both "I Spy" and in "TGAH" Culp's actual relatives were interpreted on some level to be similar to Kelly's/Maxwell's. He had Idaho and Oregon relatives who had cattle ranches and he said he spent his summer's with them. Perhaps during those months is when he "was raised by his grandfather."
He seems to have clear affection for his mother.
He was asked about his childhood influences and oddly did not mention "Terry and the Pirates". But, he focused a lot on his cartooning and his desire to work for Disney, until he discovered the stage. The adrenaline rush of his first performance set acting into his psyche. He said he was a bad actor on stage, but that is hard for us who hold his acting in such high esteem, to believe.
He said that he and Cosby were HAPPY "I Spy" was cancelled, as they were so tired from the schedule and had had their first and only fight after three agreeable years together. He mentioned the poorly written stories for the show upset the two of them, which we all know clearly from reading Cushman's book.
Regarding my other love--TGAH:
Culp mentioned that his first written episode, "Lilacs", was a very good episode, and it was, except for the cliff-hanging ending and the reality that neither we nor Maxwell ever see O'Neil again. His second written episode, "Vanity", he bit off more than he could chew and felt it was a very poor episode, which unfortunately, I have always agreed with. I don't even consider it part of TGAH canon.
Last, when asked what he felt most proud about in his career, it was sweet hearing him right away mention "Operation Breadbasket". One hopes that the DVD of that will come out so we can all see the crowning glory of his career as Culp himself sees it.