Trivia

Wrote a pilot script in 1964 for an espionage series to star himself, but opted for I Spy (1965) instead. He went on to write several episodes for I Spy (1965), including the first episode.

It was widely reported that Culp would have replaced Larry Hagman as J.R. in Dallas (1978) had Hagman decided not to return to the series because of contract negotiations. However, Culp has stated that he was never asked to play the part of J.R. and was not contacted by anyone from Dallas (1978). At the time this took place, he was costarring as F.B.I. agent "Bill Maxwell" on ABC's The Greatest American Hero (1981). He loved the show and his role and has said that he would not have left the show even if the part had been offered to him.

Both he and his I Spy (1965) co-star, Bill Cosby, were involved in civil rights causes and, when Martin Luther King Jr. Jr. was assassinated in 1968, the pair traveled to Memphis, Tenn., to join the striking garbage workers King had been organizing.

He was a poker playing buddy of Hugh Hefner; as a result, he was a frequent guest at the Playboy Mansion.

Along with Patrick McGoohan, Jack Cassidy, George Hamilton and William Shatner, he is one of only five actors to play two or more murderers in Columbo (1971): Investigator Brimmer in Death Lends a Hand (1971), Paul Hanlon in The Most Crucial Game (1972) and Dr. Bart Keppel in Double Exposure (1973).

At 21, as a senior at the University of Washington, Seattle, he won the Philip Morris Playhouse on Broadway Intercollegiate Acting competition on February 24, 1952. He won $2,000 after being judged by Helen Hayes, Christian Westphalen and Clarence Derwent, ANTA and Equity officers.

He studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.

He made guest appearances on both of the longest running prime time dramas in US television history: Gunsmoke (1955) and Law & Order (1990).

Father of Joseph Culp, Joshua Culp, Jason Culp and Rachel Culp, from his marriage to Nancy Asch. Father of Samantha Culp, from his marriage to Candace Faulkner.

Was friends with Bill Cosby, and Katherine Helmond.

After the I Spy series he built up a reputation as being the highest paid guest star in television series which allowed him to spend his time writing screenplays and a novel and to choose what films he wanted to direct.

In the opening credits of Zane Grey Theater "Badge of Honor" 1957 he was presented as "Introducing Robert Culp".

Was very active in Southern California's swinger subculture.

As of late 1980's he was living in a house that was built in the 1920's by silent film star Reginald Denny and was later the home of actor Ronald Colman then Robert Culp.

Culp's remains were buried in the Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, California, located not far from his hometown of Oakland.

Unrelated to actor Steven Culp.

Grandfather of L.A.-based rapper Bones (born Elmo Kennedy O'Connor).

About the mid 1980's he went into partnership with producer Richard Brooks and set up a company -Crime Inc - intending to produce a package of 4 crime films.

Upon Culp's death In 2010, lyricist Carol Connors revealed that he was the personal inspiration behind the heartfelt lyrics of Billy Preston & Syreeta's 1979 hit song "With You I'm Born Again," co-written with composer David Shire. Though the song was created for the 1979 film Fast Break (1979), its emotional depth stemmed from Connors' two-and-a-half-year real-life romance with Culp.