Rosemary DeCamp

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.

Filmography (83 Appearances)

Murder, She Wrote

1984

St. Elsewhere

1982

Hotel

1982

Simon & Simon

1981

Saturday the 14th

1981

The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother

1980

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

1979

Blind Ambition

1979

B. J. and the Bear

1979

The Time Machine

1978

We've Got Each Other

1977

The Love Boat

1977

Quincy, M.E.

1976

Medical Story

1975

The Rockford Files

1974

Petrocelli

1974

Police Story

1973

Night Gallery

1970

The Partridge Family

1970

Love, American Style

1969

Mannix

1967

That Girl

1966

The Baileys of Balboa

1964

Petticoat Junction

1963

Burke's Law

1963

Breaking Point

1963

The Beverly Hillbillies

1962

Ensign O'Toole

1962

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

Hazel

1961

Dr. Kildare

1961

87th Precinct

1961

13 Ghosts

1960

Tom, Dick and Harriet

1960

Rawhide

1959

77 Sunset Strip

1958

Man on a Bus

1955

Strategic Air Command

1955

Many Rivers to Cross

1955

The Bob Cummings Show

1955

Climax!

1954

Main Street to Broadway

1953

So This Is Love

1953

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

1953

General Electric Theater

1953

The Ford Television Theatre

1952

This Is Your Life

1952

The Treasure of Lost Canyon

1952

Scandal Sheet

1952

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

The Red Skelton Show

1951

On Moonlight Bay

1951

Night Into Morning

1951

The Big Hangover

1950

The Story of Seabiscuit

1949

The Life of Riley

1949

Look for the Silver Lining

1949

Night Unto Night

1949

The Life of Riley

1949

Studio One

1948

Nora Prentiss

1947

Two Guys from Milwaukee

1946

From This Day Forward

1946

Too Young to Know

1945

Danger Signal

1945

Week-End at the Waldorf

1945

Pride of the Marines

1945

Rhapsody in Blue

1945

Blood on the Sun

1945

Practically Yours

1944

Bowery to Broadway

1944

The Merry Monahans

1944

The Voice That Thrilled the World

1943

This Is the Army

1943

City Without Men

1943

Commandos Strike at Dawn

1942

Eyes in the Night

1942

Smith of Minnesota

1942

Yankee Doodle Dandy

1942

Jungle Book

1942

Hold Back the Dawn

1941

Cheers for Miss Bishop

1941

The Wayward Pups

1937 Debut
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