7.5
TV
Acting
Rosemary DeCamp
- Born
- Died
- (aged 90)
- Birthplace
- Prescott, Arizona, USA
- Credits
- 83 titles
Biography
Rosemary DeCamp was an American radio, film, and television actress. DeCamp first came to fame in November 1937, when she took the role of Judy Price, the secretary/nurse of Dr. Christian in the long-running radio series of the same name. She also played in The Career of Alice Blair, a transcribed syndicated soap opera that ran in 1939–1940.
She made her film debut in Cheers for Miss Bishop and appeared in many Warner Bros. films, including Eyes in the Night, Yankee Doodle Dandy playing Nellie Cohan opposite James Cagney, This Is The Army playing the wife of George Murphy and the mother of Ronald Reagan, Rhapsody in Blue, and Nora Prentiss. She played the mother of the character played by Sabu Dastagir in Jungle Book. In 1951 and 1953, respectively, she starred in the nostalgic musical films On Moonlight Bay and its sequel, By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, as Alice Winfield, Doris Day's mother, opposite Leon Ames.
DeCamp played Peg Riley in the first television version of The Life of Riley opposite Jackie Gleason in the 1949–1950 season, then reprised the role on radio with original star William Bendix for an episode of Lux Radio Theater in 1950. From 1955–1959, she was a regular on the popular NBC television comedy The Bob Cummings Show, playing Margaret MacDonald, widowed sister of Cummings's character, the lothario photographer and former World War II pilot Bob Collins. Dwayne Hickman (future star of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) portrayed her son, Chuck.
She appeared in the 1961 Rawhide episode, "Incident Near Gloomy River". In 1962, she played a dishonest Southern belle in the NBC sitcom Ensign O'Toole with Dean Jones. She appeared in the role of Gertrude Komack on ABC's medical drama Breaking Point in the episode entitled "A Little Anger is a Good Thing".
DeCamp had a recurring role as Helen Marie, the mother of Marlo Thomas's character on the ABC sitcom That Girl from 1966–1970. She appeared in several 1968 episodes of the CBS sitcom Petticoat Junction as Kate Bradley's sister, Helen, filling in as a temporary replacement for the ailing Bea Benaderet as the mother figure to Bradley's three daughters.
DeCamp made several appearances as the mother of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family from 1970–1973. She also played The Fairy Godmother in the 1980s TV show, The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother.
DeCamp played Buck Rogers' mother in flashback scenes of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "The Guardians".
On July 7, 1946, her Beverly Hills home was damaged when struck by a wing after the experimental XF-11 piloted by Howard Hughes (re-created in the 2004 movie, The Aviator) crashed nearby. Although a piece of the wing and a part of the neighbor's roof landed in DeCamp's bedroom (where she and her husband were sleeping) they sustained no injuries.
Signature work
Known For
7.5
TV
7.0
Movie
Yankee Doodle Dandy
6.2
TV
The Love Boat
5.8
Movie
13 Ghosts
7.1
TV
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
6.9
TV
The Beverly Hillbillies
7.6
TV
The Rockford Files
7.5
TV
Quincy, M.E.
6.4
Movie
Jungle Book
7.8
TV
Night Gallery
5.1
Movie
Saturday the 14th
6.7
TV
Simon & Simon
5.7
TV
St. Elsewhere
7.0
Movie
Scandal Sheet
6.9
TV
Mannix
6.7
Movie
Hold Back the Dawn
6.1
Movie
Strategic Air Command
7.3
TV
Rawhide
Acting credits 83
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Murder, She Wrote TV | Agnes (1 ep) |
| 1982 | St. Elsewhere TV | Amy Jeffries (2 ep) |
| 1982 | Hotel TV | Mary Tyson (1 ep) |
| 1981 | Simon & Simon TV | (1 ep) |
| 1981 | Saturday the 14th Film | Aunt Lucille |
| 1980 | The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother Film | |
| 1979 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV | Buck's Mother (1 ep) |
| 1979 | Blind Ambition TV | Maureen Dean's Mother (4 ep) |
| 1979 | B. J. and the Bear TV | (2 ep) |
| 1978 | The Time Machine Film | Agnes |
| 1977 | We've Got Each Other TV | (1 ep) |
| 1977 | The Love Boat TV | Cynthia Loudon (1 ep) |
| 1976 | Quincy, M.E. TV | (1 ep) |
| 1975 | Medical Story TV | (1 ep) |
| 1974 | The Rockford Files TV | Mary Ramsey (1 ep) |
| 1974 | Petrocelli TV | Mrs. Drew (1 ep) |
| 1973 | Police Story TV | Beaulah (1 ep) |
| 1970 | Night Gallery TV | Ellen Chase (1 ep) |
| 1970 | The Partridge Family TV | Grandma Amanda Renfrew (4 ep) |
| 1969 | Love, American Style TV | Mrs. Kearn, Old Martha Pomerantz (1 ep) |
| 1967 | Mannix TV | Mrs. Henry |
| 1966 | That Girl TV | (12 ep) |
| 1964 | The Baileys of Balboa TV | (1 ep) |
| 1963 | Petticoat Junction TV | Emily Mapes, Aunt Helen (1 ep) |
| 1963 | Burke's Law TV | Mrs. Franklin (1 ep) |
| 1963 | Breaking Point TV | (1 ep) |
| 1962 | The Beverly Hillbillies TV | Priscilla Smith-Standish (2 ep) |
| 1962 | Ensign O'Toole TV | Leona (1 ep) |
| 1961 | The Mike Douglas Show TV | Self (1 ep) |
| 1961 | Hazel TV | Sybil (1 ep) |
| 1961 | Dr. Kildare TV | Angela Faring (1 ep) |
| 1961 | 87th Precinct TV | Mrs. Phelps (1 ep) |
| 1960 | 13 Ghosts Film | Hilda Zorba |
| 1960 | Tom, Dick and Harriet Film | Mother |
| 1959 | Rawhide TV | Margaret Fletcher, Mrs. Armstrong (1 ep) |
| 1958 | 77 Sunset Strip TV | Nurse (uncredited) (1 ep) |
| 1955 | Man on a Bus Film | Miriam |
| 1955 | Strategic Air Command Film | Mrs. Thorne |
| 1955 | Many Rivers to Cross Film | Lucy Hamilton |
| 1955 | The Bob Cummings Show TV | Margaret MacDonald (173 ep) |
| 1954 | Climax! TV | Eleanor Farrington (1 ep) |
| 1953 | Main Street to Broadway Film | Mrs. Harry Craig |
| 1953 | So This Is Love Film | Aunt Laura Stokley |
| 1953 | By the Light of the Silvery Moon Film | Alice Winfield |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater TV | Maxine (1 ep) |
| 1952 | The Ford Television Theatre TV | Mildred Ledbetter (2 ep) |
| 1952 | This Is Your Life TV | Self (1 ep) |
| 1952 | The Treasure of Lost Canyon Film | Samuella |
| 1952 | Scandal Sheet Film | Charlotte Grant |
| 1951 | Hallmark Hall of Fame TV | Anna Baetz (1 ep) |
| 1951 | The Red Skelton Show TV | Abigail Van Clive (1 ep) |
| 1951 | On Moonlight Bay Film | Alice Winfield |
| 1951 | Night Into Morning Film | Mrs. Annie Ainley |
| 1950 | The Big Hangover Film | Claire Bellcap |
| 1949 | The Story of Seabiscuit Film | Mrs. Charles S. Howard |
| 1949 | The Life of Riley TV | Peg Riley (26 ep) |
| 1949 | Look for the Silver Lining Film | Mom Miller |
| 1949 | Night Unto Night Film | Thalia Shawn |
| 1949 | The Life of Riley Film | Peg Riley |
| 1948 | Studio One TV | Cora Thompson, Laura Weber (1 ep) |