Rosemary DeCamp

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

Acting credits 83

YearTitleRole
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)
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