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Robert Cummings

ACTOR

Robert Cummings

Known for
Saboteur (1942)

24 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

Robert Cummings is an actor best known for Saboteur.

24 Interesting Facts About Robert Cummings

Interesting Facts (16)

  1. #001

    After appearing as a guest star on The Love Boat (1977), Cummings retired from acting at the age of 69.

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  2. #002

    Cummings owned a hobby hardware store in Beverly Hills, California.

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  3. #003

    According to an article in FLYING magazine, when the government began licensing flight instructors, Cummings received flight instructor certificate No. 1, making him the first instructor to hold such a license.

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  4. #004

    Cummings's second series, The Bob Cummings Show (1961), was canceled because it was too expensive.

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  5. #005

    Shortly before his death, Cummings joined Art Linkletter and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan at Disneyland's 35th anniversary celebrations, and all of them returned to the stage at the park's grand opening.

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  6. #006

    Cummings was among the first guests at Disneyland's grand opening in 1955.

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  7. #007

    Cummings was the original star of the first production of "Twelve Angry Men," performed live for CBS's TV drama series "Studio One" in 1954, in the role later made famous by Henry Fonda in Sidney Lumet's 1957 film version. As Wall Street Journal drama critic Terry Teachout wrote years later, "he is, in fact, vastly more believable than Fonda."

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  8. #008

    Cummings moved to Los Angeles in 1935 and broke into films by affecting a Southern charm and presenting himself as Brice Hutchens of Texas.

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  9. #009

    Cummings was a United States Army Air Forces pilot during World War II and served for a time in Oxnard, California.

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  10. #010

    He was accused by his estranged wife Mary Elliott of using Methedrine, or "speed", and of carrying on an adulterous relationship with his former secretary and future wife Regina Fong [29 October 1969].

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  11. #011

    He was billed as Robert Cummings in dramatic films, and usually as Bob Cummings in lighter fare.

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  12. #012

    From 1946 he served as head producer of United World Productions.

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  13. #013

    Dwayne Hickman, his co-star on The Bob Cummings Show (1955), took part in a parade and charity show with Bob in Cummings's hometown of Joplin, Missouri.

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  14. #014

    He is best remembered by the public for the role of photographer Bob Collins on The Bob Cummings Show (1955).

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  15. #015

    Only six months before his death, he had thrown his 80th birthday party.

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  16. #016

    He was a flight instructor during World War II.

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Career & Awards (3)

  1. #017

    On Broadway, Cummings won roles by affecting an English accent and presenting himself as Blade Stanhope Conway, an Englishman.

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  2. #018

    He began his contract career at Paramount in 1935.

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  3. #019

    He appeared in only one film that was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Kings Row (1942).

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Life & Family (5)

  1. #020

    Cummings's father wanted to name him Robert Orville Cummings in honor of his godfather, Orville Wright, but his mother objected and wanted him named Charles Clarence Cummings Jr. in memory of his father. They eventually agreed on Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings.

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  2. #021

    In 1942 Cummings joined the United States Army Air Forces and became a flight instructor, a role he had already worked in for many years before enlisting.

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  3. #022

    Cummings briefly attended Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, but his love of flying led him to transfer to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied aeronautical engineering there for a year before having to leave for financial reasons, after his family suffered heavy losses in the 1929 stock market crash.

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  4. #023

    Dwayne Hickman, the lead actor of The Bob Cummings Show (1955), had been a great fan of Cummings's films during his childhood in the 1940s.

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  5. #024

    Robert's maternal grandfather, George Michael Kraft, was a German immigrant. Robert's other ancestors were English and Irish.

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Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • IMDb IMDb name page (biography and trivia)

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