O.K., I've been mentioning that I've been working on a posting for awhile - here it is
... (there's lots of photos, so give it a moment or two for them all to load.)
As you may remember, Tatia told Kelly in that Tokyo hotel room, she is into ....
So I've been doing a little research here, trying to keep cool during our hot summer weather.
On Father's Day, I posted some family photos of the young Culps and Cosbys ...
Well, they've all grown-up "a bit," and I was wondering what they were up to these days - those talented progeny and siblings!!
As we have just discussed, the GREATEST AMERICAN HERO episode "Vanity Says the Preacher," was written and directed by Robert Culp - who also personally produced most of the cast. All of the Culp children were in this one, and we've have nicknamed this episode "The Culp Family Album."
It's all in this posting ....
The Infamous Poster and "Vanity Says the Preacher"
From left to right - Joshua, Joseph, and Rachel on Jason's lap - with Dad and their Mom Nancy.
This all started when I recently ran across a new website for son Jason.
Jason Culp
The center photo is from "Vanity Says the Preacher" ....
He has a very well-done website, and I don't remember seeing one for him before. Jason is a very talented and well known voice-over actor, who has done AudioBooks for some of the best-selling authors out there, like John Irving, James Patterson, David Baldacci, Elmore Leonard, Peter Straub, Danielle Steele, Louis L'Amour, etc., etc. He is known for his work in commercials, also. His charming website includes some great background music - links to several clips of his audiobook work (very nice), and links to his commercial work (I think you'll be surprised how often you've heard his voice out there). He also has a section on his site about a book he is writing called "Don't Say Goodnight" - "nearly ten years in the making and hopefully to appear by 2009" about his childhood experiences at Synanon. For those of you unfamiliar with Synanon, check out this Wikipedia link:
( O.K., Mr. Beardface, what can you share with us about Jason's book - "Don't Say Goodnight"?)
There is also a teaser on Jason's website about "Mr. Soft Voice" .... we are looking forward to finding out more about that also when he adds it to his site ....
Here's Jason Culp's website - be sure to check all his audiolinks - enjoy!!
Joseph is a most interesting, intense, and eclectic actor, who has done lots of work in independent films.
Joseph's website - which includes lots of photos and great filmclips from his past and current roles - also includes one from his new film "The Reflecting Pool" about a 9/11 conspiracy theory - and links to his "Walking In Your Shoes" program - "A 'body/mind method' developed for performers by Mr. Culp called 'the "Yoga of Acting.'"
There is videoclip from his indie film HUNGER (with an appearance by the senior Mr. Culp, also) up on YouTube. (There is also another clip from this film on Joseph's site ... it looks fascinating!) Mr. B.F., do you have any information on how we can get a copy of this film?? It does not appear to be available anywhere.
Joseph is also well-known in cult circles as being the first "Dr. Doom" in Roger Corman's ill-fated version of THE FANTASTIC FOUR. Here are 2 articles about the film you might find interesting ... the first one explains a bit more about why the movie was never intended to be released. The second one has photos and short interviews with all the actors, including Joseph Culp, and director, Roger Corman.
And can't decide who Joseph looks more like - his Mom or Dad?? I guess - both!!
Brothers Joseph and Jason with Dad in "Vanity Says the Preacher."
and a grouping of Jason, Dad, and Joseph
- when they were all probably around the same age
... bit of a resemblance there, do ya' think - down to the tilt of the head ??
Jason ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Dad ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Joseph
Joseph Culp's most interesting website .... with videoclips and photos .... check it out!!
And youngest daughter, Samantha Culp lives in Hong Kong and is active in the arts and film scene there, and has written several magazine articles. She's the daughter mentioned in the I SPY Book that Bob went to visit - bringing the "I SPY" story full circle back to Hong Kong.
Yes, Chuang-Tzu's daughter at the "Great Wall of China"!
and Dad's visit to Hong Kong
Certainly looks like baby Samantha has grown up into a lovely, bright, artistic young woman ...
~~~~~~~~~~~
And we can't leave out the Cosby Clan here .....
Here are photos of Erinn and Evin Cosby promoting a 2002 Fundraiser for the "Hello Friends - Ennis William Cosby Foundation" - the foundation established in memory of their brother, that is dedicated to helping children and adults with learning differences.
and all the girls
and here's a link to an article with photos and an audio interview from 2003 about a book Bill wrote called "Friends of a Feather: One of Life's Little Fables," which his daughter Erika, an accomplished painter, illustrated.
That was a MARVELOUS post. I loved learning all about the "Vanity" ep and am sending a link to this post to my TGAH board. Thanks for putting this all together!
Well Tatia, I am, as always, overwhelmed by your ability to find and organize Culpian memorabilia. I am one of the few friends of the family who knew Nancy Culp, Bob's second wife, rather well. It's always great seeing her in pictures. I still miss her terribly. She and Bob remained friends until the end of her life. I find that Jason and Rachel favor their mother, whilst Josh and Joe look more like their dad.
Regarding Jason's on-going memoir, "Don't Say Goodnight", he is hoping to have the manuscript finished in about another year. It will probably clock in at close to 700 pages, maybe more, but then the editing will begin. Regardless, once finished it will be a moving, intense, dramatic piece of work.
"Mr. Soft Talk" (not "Soft Voice"), began as a faux DJ for radio shows he would make, interspersing music and comedy bits. Soft Talk was a tribute to legendary radio personalities Jason has admired such as Jonathan Schwartz, William B. Williams and Garrison Keillor, among others. Jason began honing the Soft Talk persona in a series of radio shows he sent me over the years. It became so inspiring, I created a similar personality, Mr. Smooth Talk, who made his own shows. Both Mr. Smooth and Soft Talk have been making shows and sending them across the country to one another nigh over 20 years now.
Joe's film "Hunger", which yours truly appears in and also line produced, in a role I will say is little more than a cameo, will be receiving its world premiere screening September 7th, in Los Angeles. Joseph made the film with no budget over the course of a month and spent the next six years raising money to finish the film. I am sure that when DVDs are available, they will be for sale on his website. As you mentioned, the trailer, which I wrote and produced for "Hunger", is on You Tube.
Another movie Joe made recently is called "The Reflecting Pool", a controversial political thriller which he is also trying to find a distributor for, which also features Jason in a small but crucial role. If you go on You Tube and put in "The Reflecting Pool", you should be able to see the trailer.
Please keep those cards and letters coming, as I am always happy to answer questions,
Tatia, your tireless efforts to document the exploits of the Culp family tree are truly impressive! And thanks to Mr. Beardface for the elucidation -- wonderful! I'd had no idea that Jason had a website -- I'm still a virtual virgin in big, bad cyber-land. It's a pleasure to finally get some wind of his doings -- I knew he'd been doing audiobooks and voice-overs, but I didn't realize he'd been working on a memoir about Synanon, which I suppose might account for his seeming dearth of legit acting credits in recent years. I'm extremely interested to know more about this book -- his blurb on the website seems to indicate that it will not only fill in the details about his Synanon experience, but also how that trauma affected his character; it always seemed to me that he was something of a dichotomy -- his strong sense of humor, which I observed in his exchanges with his brother and also your dear self, Mr. Beardface, appeared to be leavened or weighed down by something dark and haunting, which now it appears had alot to do with Synanon, as well as his "issues" with his father, which he made occasional, oblique references to. Anyway, I'm eager to learn more, and of course will be the first in line at the book signing! It would also be very interesting to hear some of those Mr. Soft and Mr. Smooth Talk shows -- I wonder what kind of music they contained? I remember that Jason put together all the musical interludes for our scene changes in "All's Well", and I was surprised by his musical sophistication -- a predilection for Show Tunes and Film Scores -- the kind of music one would more likely associate with an old "eccentric" like myself (ahem!) -- which I imagine he inherited from his father.
Also nice to see Joseph forging his own career, taking a hand in getting low-budget films produced, concerning very touchy issues. 9/11 conspiracy within the government? That's bound to ruffle a few feathers!
Is Joshua still doing special effects? He also helped on "All's Well", helping to build some of the sets -- very able and inventive, if a bit didactic .... but of course, it takes an old didactic to know one!
Anyway, I will be staying tuned, and look forward to more information, if any, from Tatia, girl reporter extraordinaire, and Mr. BF, our very own pipeline into all things Culpable!
Dotterer, good to see that you are still "waiting in the wings" as they say, observing the activity until the right moment to swoop in and contribute. The Mr. Soft Talk shows usually featured a selection or two from certain motion picture scores (John Barry was Jason's perennial favorite), as well as songs from the vast, but eclectic list of singers that Jason was fond of and influenced by. Frank Sinatra, probably Jason's absolute favorite, almost always was featured. The same can be said of his other favorite singer, Sammy Davis Jr., who is also his godfather.
When I met Jason, another vocalist whose work he loved (some might even have said he was obsessed by), was Harry Nilsson. Jason had collected every album Nilsson had ever made and had already begun his lifelong passion of putting together collections of the singer's music, first on cassette and later, on CD, which he would do for many subsequent artists.
Thanks to a tape of my own, which featured Anthony Newley singng "What Kind of Fool am I?", from the soundtrack of "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off", Jason became a passionate aficianado of Newley, collecting all his albums and making scores of tapes (and CDs) of the singer's prolific work. In fact, Jason began a correspondence with Tony (helped by the fact that Bob Culp and Tony were friends) and the two would eventually meet on several occasions, becoming good friends. In addition to Tony's music, Jason and I became enamored of Tony's little seen late 60s psychadelic-sexual-satirical masterpiece, "Can Heironymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?", a fact which endured Jason to Mr. Newley even more than his love of his music.
Other singer/songwriters whose music would figure prominently in the Mr. Soft Talk oeuvre were Jimmy Webb, Glen Campbell, Randy Newman, Richard Harris, the Beatles, the music of Stephen Sondheim, Tom Waits, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Judy Collins and Claude Bolling. The Soft Talk shows also featured the occasional comedy bit, almost always supplied by Mr. Bill Cosby (for obvious reasons) and comic sketches written and performed by Jason himself.
Bob's musical tastes ran a bit more traditionally. He loved Frank Sinatra and Sammy of course. He kept a copy of Newley's "In My Solitude" in his office and he had a deep love of Jazz as well as the songs of crooner Jimmie Rodgers. His favorite film composer was Max Steiner and his favorite scores were from "King Kong" and "Casablanca". In the late 70s, Bob also became a fan of Kenny Rogers album "The Gambler".
After an extremely long dry spell, Jason has found a new musical obsession, the music of Burt Bacharach. I have just received my first 3 Bacharach CDs and I eagerly await more.
The shows were an hour and a half in length, always recorded on high standard 90 minute tapes. Jason is currently in the process of re-mastering the shows onto CD, for private use only I am afraid to say.
Joshua Culp, through his love of building plastic hobby kits, became a self taught special effects wizard and successful miniature maker. However, in the age of CGI, Josh's talents became less in demand and he has begun to make a name for himself as a very talented carpenter. This is a talent he shares with his father, who, in his early days in New York as a starving actor, built much of the furniture in his first apartment with then-wife Nancy. Bob would go on to build several toys for his sons over the years, which were featured prominently in an alcove at the top of the winding spiral staircase in Bob's former Beverly Hills mansion.
I hope this sheds some light on the ever-mysterious man known as Mr. Soft Talk.
MBF
This message has been edited by MisterBeardface from IP address 24.128.129.205 on Aug 22, 2007 11:26 PM
Well, I didn't know that I was "waiting in the wings", nor that I was swooping! I thought it was something more like "staring into the refrigerator" ... although I've been trying to do less of that, lately!
Goodness! Burt Bacharach? How interesting to hear that this is Jason's most recent "obsession"! Serendipity! I myself have been recently listening to a great deal of Mr. Bacharach's work, pursuant to purchasing a couple of box sets -- he truly was and is a genius, and suffers unfairly, I think, from the moniker "easy listening" and from those who consider him "dated". He really deconstructed the traditional pop song form, in terms of his changing time signatures and his orchestrations. I would really love to hear some of those mixes Jason has been putting together.
One wonders, with all these various musical "obsessions", why he himself did not become a singer and/or songwriter -- his website mentions he has done cabaret work. Did he inherit his musicality from his mother or his father? I don't remember ever hearing the elder Mr. Culp sing -- did he?
Anyway, Mr. Soft Talk sounds very interesting -- I wonder if there is a spot for him on satellite radio? Maybe the little logo on the website indicates he might make them available at some point...?
Getting back to I Spy, I am still intending to do an overall review of Season 2, but I have slacked off in my viewing of late, as I myself have been directing a show and editing a theater book. I did see "Bridge of Sighs" the other night -- what wonderful locations (Venice), and what an incomprehensible mess of a show! That Barbara Steele was a little frightening to me -- I kept thinking she looked like a fly. Anyway, I will try to be more diligent in my I Spy watching, and will report back soon.
Thanks, Mr. BF, for the rundown on Jason's musical interests. I'm going to try to locate a copy of that Newley film ... sounds just too Sixties to miss!
"Robert Culp guest-stars as former gunfighter Ed Payson. When he tries to buy supplies from general store owner Will Cass (Dabbs Greer), he is coldly refused service; it seems that, before hanging up his guns, Ed killed Will's son. Befriending Ed, Adam Cartwright tries to mollify Cass, but things only go from bad to worse. Others in the cast include Ray Daley (Billy Buckley) and Abigail Shelton (Sally). Originally shown on October 29, 1961, "Broken Ballad" was written by John T. Kelley. Robert Butler director."
Yep, a familiar name there to I SPY fans ... Robert Butler also directed "It's All Done With Mirrors," "Sophia," and "To Florence With Love 1&2."
Hope you enjoyed Bob's singing adventures!! I loved it!!
And I'm off again on another assignment. I'll be back next week. Keep things going around here!!
As always,
Tatia
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This message has been edited by tatialoringnw from IP address 69.138.253.23 on Aug 23, 2007 11:00 PM
Bob recently told me an interesting anecdote about the "Bonanza" episode. He went to guitair legend Lauren Almeida (with whom Sammy Davis Jr. had recently done an album), to teach him the fingering on the guitar. However, Bob, did not do the actual playing.
The only other instance I know of him singing, other than that, was a recording he made of the civil rights anthem "I Have Climbed the Mountain", which he did for some TV show. The recording has been something of an inside family joke for years, as it was simply awful.
When Bob was to do his episode "The Swinger", which he wrote for the show "Cain's Hundred", playing Rat-Pack-like crooner Hank Shannon, he went to Sammy and asked him to teach him how to sing. Sammy had a better idea: he'd do the singing and Bob would lip-synch. Sammy did an amazing job of toning down his own signature voice, making it sound as if Robert Culp was suddenly possessed of an amazing singing voice. Ah, the magic of television!
So to answer your question, Dotterer, Jason and to a lesser degree, his brother Joe, came by their singing talents independently of their father.
.
