Rosemary DeCamp

Birthday: 1910-11-14
Deathday: 2001-02-20
Birthplace: Prescott, Arizona, USA
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

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.

Credits

Year Title Character
1981-10-30 Saturday the 14th Aunt Lucille
1978-11-05 The Time Machine Agnes
1960-07-18 13 Ghosts Hilda Zorba
1960-01-01 Tom, Dick and Harriet Mother
1955-07-12 Strategic Air Command Mrs. Thorne
1955-05-01 Man on a Bus Miriam
1955-02-04 Many Rivers to Cross Lucy Hamilton
1953-10-12 Main Street to Broadway Mrs. Harry Craig
1953-07-15 So This Is Love Aunt Laura Stokley
1953-03-26 By the Light of the Silvery Moon Alice Winfield
1952-03-01 The Treasure of Lost Canyon Samuella
1952-01-16 Scandal Sheet Charlotte Grant
1951-07-26 On Moonlight Bay Alice Winfield
1951-06-08 Night Into Morning Mrs. Annie Ainley
1950-05-26 The Big Hangover Claire Bellcap
1949-11-12 The Story of Seabiscuit Mrs. Charles S. Howard
1949-07-30 Look for the Silver Lining Mom Miller
1949-06-10 Night Unto Night Thalia Shawn
1949-04-16 The Life of Riley Peg Riley
1947-02-22 Nora Prentiss Lucy Talbot
1946-07-26 Two Guys from Milwaukee Nan
1946-03-02 From This Day Forward Martha Beesley
1945-12-01 Too Young to Know Mrs. Enright
1945-11-21 Danger Signal Dr. Jane Silla
1945-10-04 Week-End at the Waldorf Anna
1945-08-24 Pride of the Marines Virginia Pfeiffer
1945-06-27 Rhapsody in Blue Rose Gershwin
1945-04-26 Blood on the Sun Edith Miller
1944-12-20 Practically Yours Ellen Macy
1944-11-03 Bowery to Broadway Bessie Kirby
1944-09-15 The Merry Monahans Lillian DeRoyce
1943-08-14 This Is the Army Ethel Jones
1943-01-14 City Without Men Mrs. Slade
1942-12-30 Commandos Strike at Dawn Hilma Arnesen
1942-10-16 Eyes in the Night Vera Hoffman
1942-10-15 Smith of Minnesota Mrs. Smith (uncredited)
1942-05-29 Yankee Doodle Dandy Nellie Cohan
1942-04-03 Jungle Book Messua
1941-09-26 Hold Back the Dawn Berta Kurz
1941-02-21 Cheers for Miss Bishop Minna Fields
1937-07-10 The Wayward Pups Lady of the house (voice) (uncredited)