Yesterday sucked more than a little for the passing of Robert Culp at the age of 79. Apparently, the long time actor fell while taking a walk and died as a result of a head injury. Some reports have stated that he died of a heart attack while others continue to report that the head injury was the fatal event.
Just looking over the considerable resume in IMDb, it becomes clear that Culp didn't lack for work over a career that spanned over 50 years and had him both in front of and behind the camera. A large portion of that career was spent in television where his most well known work was in comedy. Older viewers remember his work with Bill Cosby in I Spy, a groundbreaking series because of the casting of an African-American lead actor, while younger viewers most readily will recall his work in Everybody Loves Raymond.
So why would an appreciation article show up on a blog notionally oriented towards gaming and geek culture? Because, for all of his comedy work, Culp made a lasting impression on geeks playing FBI agent Bill Maxwell on The Greatest American Hero. True, he wasn't the guy in tights. However, he was in some ways the prototype for characters like David Duchovny's Fox Mulder on The X-Files, the Fed assigned to make sense of the seemingly inexplicable. And while the series wasn't exactly the height of high art, even in the '80s, it would have been a lot less entertaining without Culp's talents. Years later, Culp proved that he wasn't just a good actor but a great one when he spoofed his role on Robot Chicken. An actor that can laugh at himself, and previous long time roles, deserves to be considered as great.
Culp's connection to the geekier side of life wasn't just '80s TV. He played what might be one of the most nuanced and frighteningly realistic video game villains in the persona of Dr. Wallace Breen in Half-Life 2. Rather than chew up the scenery or go over the top, Culp went the other direction, giving gamers a nemesis that sounds seductively reasonable even as he advocates the supine surrender of humanity to alien conquerors. As loathsome as his goals are, one can't help but admit that the bad guy is disgustingly smooth, and you almost feel the faint bit of regret as he informs you of the horrific demise he's got planned for you. It's a rare performance and it should be required study for any voice actor.
Robert Culp holds a special place in the hearts and minds of geeks and we're going to miss him terribly.
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