Hi everyone!

IT'S UP!!!

It is 3 hours long and was conducted in November of 2007.



ROBERT CULP's Archive of American Television Interview




Here's the direct link to the interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y7ZQTsQCTw

and to the PLAYLIST Page for Robert Culp's Interview
... besides the full interview (which is second) there are 3 short clips also listed.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5AECEB440E1D7F81


ENJOY!!!


All my very best,

Tatia




~ ~

Hi everyone,


WHAT???? No comments at all on our Bob's ARCHIVE of AMERICAN TELEVISION Interview ...

You didn't devote 3 hours to watching it ?? You don't have any opinions on it??

Guess I'll get the ball rolling, then ... I truly hope Mr. Culp was in error when he said he thought I SPY has not left much of a legacy. WE - here on the FORUM - are the torchbearers, folks! Let's hear from you - we need to keep that flame alive!!






O.K. now Tatia is probably NOT the one to give the first review on this interview, since she still has never forgiven Kelly about that little "incident" in Tokyo, but here are a few impressions, nonetheless ....


If you haven't seen his interview as yet, there are probably some spoilers ahead, but I don't think much that will interfere with your viewing.


First off - it was, of course, so very interesting to hear Mr. Culp discuss his career for 3 hours. And he looked great! But all in all, I don't think Mr. Abramson was quite the right person for the job as interviewer. When Earle Hagen and Sheldon Leonard were interviewed for the ARCHIVE many years ago, they had interviewers who knew them and were associates and friends. This made the interviews go far more smoothly, as the interviewers were well aware of their careers, and the interview-ees were more comfortable being interviewed by someone they knew. That "getting-to-know you" period was not a factor. But I think the ARCHIVE now uses only one or two interviewers, perhaps to maintain consistency. And the ARCHIVE is such a wonderful and worthwhile project!!

I don't know how comfortable Mr. Culp was - or - for that matter, how comfortable the interviewer was, during the interview? At times the interview appeared rather disjointed - I don't know if that was all the interviewer's fault or some of it Bob's pacing. There were just so many areas that the interviewer didn't even touch on. Don McGregor's 1-hour interview with Culp at SPYFEST (from 2003) was in many ways superior to this one.

AND .... we are trying to get an audio link set up, so we can post Don's interview on the FORUM, so you can get to hear that one, also!

It's obvious that Mr. Culp is a "take charge" kind of guy. He's also quite intense and serious vs. soft and fuzzy. And as he has been known to say, he does have a healthy ego, which has held him in good stead all these years.

It was interesting to me that lots of those early western appearances didn't register in his memory. Appearances that we out here in "fanland" loved so much. But I think only the projects Mr. Culp was actively involved with in writing or developing really made a difference to him - the rest were probably just work. And to be fair, can you recall things you did 40 years ago (and some of you aren't even 40 )? I know I can't even remember what I had for dinner last night. And we are talking about one very long and full career here. In one article that I read, he is quoted as saying that he "detested 90% of my work as an actor. It just helped me learn my craft and make a living."

I imagine some of you diehards also picked up on a few guest appearance discrepancies and mix-ups during the interview. But there were also some things he discussed that haven't seen the light of day, like Frank Silvera's (a.k.a. Senor Munoz in "Crusade to Limbo") role as acting coach for Bill Cosby - and - how that story about replacing J.R. Ewing on DALLAS was a total fabrication.

It was a shame that the interviewer didn't guide Mr. Culp more into discussing some of the people he has worked with over the years, as in Tatia's "He's worked with everyone out there twice ...!!" mantra.

It was also a shame that they never got back to discussing "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," and they didn't talk about "Columbo," "Hickey & Boggs," "Get Smart," "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," "Hannie Caulder," "The Name of the Game," etc., etc., etc. and all of his Movies of the Week, like "The Chill Factor" and "The Hanged Man" and SO many others! I've heard him describe himself as the king of the M.O.W.s - he certainly did a great number of them.

What was nice to hear was Culp's love for Cosby. Their deep friendship is a strong and long-lasting bond.

He definitely is a very, very bright man and has one extensive vocabulary! Though it wasn't the smoothest of interviews, he did throw in some funny asides. I liked his comment, after discussing how Dick Powell dressed him down for speaking negatively about his show and his colleagues - that he never, never did that again ...... and then added (wait a beat or two and add a little half smile) ... "well not until now!" And in discussing his "Outer Limits" outing "Corpus Earthling" with Salome Jens - the one about the "talking rocks," he said Cosby used to kid him about it alot and added - "he said it was like being at Hef's place."

And I SPY was certainly a main focus for him, his life, his career - the top of his mountain, and it was good to know that he recognizes this and values it. But it was sad that he feels that it has left little legacy. Since this interview took place in 2007, I hope that Mr. Culp may have changed his opinion, especially since he has been out and about with fans more at autograph shows and conventions. Hopefully he has seen firsthand how much impact I SPY and TGAH has had on people - and - how many, many loyal fans are out there who truly appreciate his talents.

O.K. who is next? .... Let's share some opinions, gang!!


As always,

Tatia




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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.

All in all, a very enjoyable three hours!

Mona

I finally reached the end of the Culp interview. One interesting sidelight: he talked about the scene in Everybody Loves Raymond where he tells Debra (Patricia Heaton) why he's divorcing her mother. It's extremely sweet and touching, and he plays it with a straightforward simplicity that has always resonated deeply with me. Now I know why: he was playing it as himself rather than the character Warren.

Regards--




And which of you was it in the L.A. area who dressed up as Kelly Robinson for Halloween 2007? Did all three of you go trick-or-treating together? I'd love to see a photo of that!

I watched the interview straight through a few evenings ago. I was hoping that it would be the definitive Culp interview, but it isn't. I agree with Tatia that the Don McGregor interview at SpyFest was better at covering his career, and in about a third of the time. This new one has more in the way of interesting detours and side trips, and has more personal stuff. I was disappointed that there wasn't much said about his heavy TV guest star period in the years between Trackdown and I Spy (though apparently a lot of those appearance aren't well remembered). His "King of the Movie of the Week" period wasn't mentioned at all, and there are some pretty good ones in there that I would have liked to have heard a word or two about. And Columbo wasn't mentioned. I was really hoping (and expecting) to get his opinion on those shows and Peter Falk as well.

I've watched a number of these Archive interviews and usually the interviewer is working from a list of the person's credits and simply steps through them. So the questions are variations on: What do you remember of this show? What was it like to work with so & so? It's pedestrian, but it usually works pretty well. We didn't get that, really, and I confess that my methodical nature was sort of craving it. The interviewer may have intended to follow that course, but then Culp commandeered the interview and reformed it into his own image.

However there were plenty of shiny nuggets in there to hold my attention and make the trip worthwhile. The previous reviewers have already covered a lot of this territory. His confessions concerning Mary Astor and Barbara Stanwyck were a little bizarre though typical of the kind of personal stuff he aired during the interview. He confessed to having a sort of schoolboy crush on Mary Astor (who was about 25 years older) when they worked together on an episode of Dr. Kildare. (You'll have to watch the interview to find out what his wife's reaction was after he invited her to the house for dinner.) And when he worked with Barbara Stanwyck (on The Barbara Stanwyck Show) and their eyes met for the first time, there was some sort of silent acknowledgement of a mutual attraction. Fireworks may have gone off. I don't know. I couldn't tell if he was implying that something more went on later. On that subject he remained demure. He was less broadminded a few years later (that is, less susceptible to the charms of older actresses) as his refusal to kiss Dolores del Rio in "Return to Glory" indicates, though maybe she simply didn't float his boat.

He recalled having to struggle through a scene as Sam Houston right after the JFK assassination. He said it was on Shirley Temple Theater but it was actually an episode of The Great Adventure. It was Cliff Robertson of all people, his co-star from PT109, who broke the news about JFK to him. (He also mentioned that he wrote some additional dialogue for Cliff Robertson for that film, and for himself as well, beefing up his own part.)

I could recite more of these wonderful factoids but I think you get the idea. They are what I carried away from the interview. If you want to know more about his involvement with I Spy, check out the DVD commentaries, or listen to the SpyFest interview which we will try to have posted here before too long.

Jimmy