Robert Cummings

Effective light comedian of 30s and 40s films and 50s and 60s TV series Robert Cummings was renowned for his eternally youthful looks which he attributed to a strict vitamin and healthfood diet He was educated at Carnegie Tech and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts Deciding that Broadway producers would be more interested in an uppercrust Englishman than a kid from Joplin Missouri Cummings passed himself off as Blade Stanhope Conway British actor The ploy was successful Cummings decided that if it worked on Broadway it would work in Hollywood so he journeyed west and assumed the identity of a rich Texan named Bruce Hutchens The plan worked once more and he began securing small parts in films He soon reverted to his real name and became a popular leading man in light comedies usually playing wellmeaning pleasant but somewhat bumbling young men He achieved much more success however in his own television series in the 50s The Bob Cummings Show 1955 and My Living Doll 1964 Cummings was born June 10 1910 in Joplin Missouri and he died of kidney failure December 2 1990 in Woodland Hills California He is interred at Forest Lawn Glendale California in the Great Mausoleum Columbarium of Sanctity