Rosemary DeCamp
Born
November 14, 1910
Died
February 20, 2001 (90 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Prescott, Arizona, USA
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.
Murder, She Wrote
Agnes · (1 episode)
1984
St. Elsewhere
Amy Jeffries · (1 episode)
1982
Hotel
(1 episode)
1982
Simon & Simon
(1 episode)
1981
Saturday the 14th
Aunt Lucille
1981
The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother
1980
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Buck's Mother · (1 episode)
1979
Blind Ambition
Maureen Dean's Mother · (4 episodes)
1979
B. J. and the Bear
(2 episodes)
1979
The Time Machine
Agnes
1978
We've Got Each Other
(1 episode)
1977
The Love Boat
Cynthia Loudon · (1 episode)
1977
Quincy, M.E.
(1 episode)
1976
The Rockford Files
Mary Ramsey · (1 episode)
1974
Petrocelli
Mrs. Drew · (1 episode)
1974
Police Story
(2 episodes)
1973
Night Gallery
Ellen Chase · (1 episode)
1970
Love, American Style
Mrs. Kearn · (1 episode)
1969
Love, American Style
Old Martha Pomerantz · (1 episode)
1969
Mannix
(0 episode)
1967
Mannix
Mrs. Henry · (1 episode)
1967
That Girl
(12 episodes)
1966
The Baileys of Balboa
(1 episode)
1964
Petticoat Junction
Emily Mapes · (1 episode)
1963
Petticoat Junction
Aunt Helen · (6 episodes)
1963
Burke's Law
Mrs. Franklin · (1 episode)
1963
Breaking Point
(1 episode)
1963
The Beverly Hillbillies
Priscilla Rolfe Alden Smith-Standish · (2 episodes)
1962
Ensign O'Toole
Leona · (1 episode)
1962
Hazel
Sybil · (1 episode)
1961
Dr. Kildare
Angela Faring · (1 episode)
1961
87th Precinct
Mrs. Phelps · (1 episode)
1961
13 Ghosts
Hilda Zorba
1960
Tom, Dick and Harriet
Mother
1960
Rawhide
Margaret Fletcher · (1 episode)
1959
Rawhide
Mrs. Armstrong · (1 episode)
1959
77 Sunset Strip
Nurse (uncredited) · (1 episode)
1958
Strategic Air Command
Mrs. Thorne
1955
Man on a Bus
Miriam
1955
Many Rivers to Cross
Lucy Hamilton
1955
The Bob Cummings Show
Margaret MacDonald · (173 episodes)
1955
Climax!
Eleanor Farrington · (1 episode)
1954
Main Street to Broadway
Mrs. Harry Craig
1953
So This Is Love
Aunt Laura Stokley
1953
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Alice Winfield
1953
General Electric Theater
Maxine · (1 episode)
1953
The Ford Television Theatre
(1 episode)
1952
The Ford Television Theatre
Mildred Ledbetter · (1 episode)
1952
This Is Your Life
Self · (1 episode)
1952
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Samuella
1952
Scandal Sheet
Charlotte Grant
1952
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Anna Baetz · (1 episode)
1951
The Red Skelton Show
Abigail Van Clive · (1 episode)
1951
On Moonlight Bay
Alice Winfield
1951
Night Into Morning
Mrs. Annie Ainley
1951
The Big Hangover
Claire Bellcap
1950
The Story of Seabiscuit
Mrs. Charles S. Howard
1949
The Life of Riley
Peg Riley · (26 episodes)
1949
Look for the Silver Lining
Mom Miller
1949
Night Unto Night
Thalia Shawn
1949
The Life of Riley
Peg Riley
1949
Studio One
Cora Thompson · (1 episode)
1948
Studio One
Laura Weber · (1 episode)
1948
Nora Prentiss
Lucy Talbot
1947
Two Guys from Milwaukee
Nan
1946
From This Day Forward
Martha Beesley
1946
Too Young to Know
Mrs. Enright
1945
Danger Signal
Dr. Jane Silla
1945
Week-End at the Waldorf
Anna
1945
Pride of the Marines
Virginia Pfeiffer
1945
Rhapsody in Blue
Rose Gershwin
1945
Blood on the Sun
Edith Miller
1945
Practically Yours
Ellen Macy
1944
Bowery to Broadway
Bessie Kirby
1944
The Merry Monahans
Lillian DeRoyce
1944
The Voice That Thrilled the World
Self (segment 'Yankee Doodle Dandy') (archive footage)
1943
This Is the Army
Ethel Jones
1943
City Without Men
Mrs. Slade
1943
Commandos Strike at Dawn
Hilma Arnesen
1942
Eyes in the Night
Vera Hoffman
1942
Smith of Minnesota
Mrs. Smith (uncredited)
1942
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Nellie Cohan
1942
Jungle Book
Messua
1942
Hold Back the Dawn
Berta Kurz
1941
Cheers for Miss Bishop
Minna Fields
1941
The Wayward Pups
Lady of the house (voice) (uncredited)
1937