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Rosemary DeCamp

Rosemary DeCamp

Born: 1910-11-14 • 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.

Filmography
Saturday the 14th poster
Saturday the 14th
1981 • Aunt Lucille
The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother poster
The Memoirs of a Fairy Godmother
1980
The Time Machine poster
The Time Machine
1978 • Agnes
13 Ghosts poster
13 Ghosts
1960 • Hilda Zorba
Tom, Dick and Harriet poster
Tom, Dick and Harriet
1960 • Mother
Man on a Bus poster
Man on a Bus
1955 • Miriam
Strategic Air Command poster
Strategic Air Command
1955 • Mrs. Thorne
Many Rivers to Cross poster
Many Rivers to Cross
1955 • Lucy Hamilton
Main Street to Broadway poster
Main Street to Broadway
1953 • Mrs. Harry Craig
So This Is Love poster
So This Is Love
1953 • Aunt Laura Stokley
By the Light of the Silvery Moon poster
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
1953 • Alice Winfield
The Treasure of Lost Canyon poster
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
1952 • Samuella
Scandal Sheet poster
Scandal Sheet
1952 • Charlotte Grant
On Moonlight Bay poster
On Moonlight Bay
1951 • Alice Winfield
Night Into Morning poster
Night Into Morning
1951 • Mrs. Annie Ainley
The Big Hangover poster
The Big Hangover
1950 • Claire Bellcap
The Story of Seabiscuit poster
The Story of Seabiscuit
1949 • Mrs. Charles S. Howard
Look for the Silver Lining poster
Look for the Silver Lining
1949 • Mom Miller
Night Unto Night poster
Night Unto Night
1949 • Thalia Shawn
The Life of Riley poster
The Life of Riley
1949 • Peg Riley
Nora Prentiss poster
Nora Prentiss
1947 • Lucy Talbot
Two Guys from Milwaukee poster
Two Guys from Milwaukee
1946 • Nan
From This Day Forward poster
From This Day Forward
1946 • Martha Beesley
Too Young to Know poster
Too Young to Know
1945 • Mrs. Enright
Danger Signal poster
Danger Signal
1945 • Dr. Jane Silla
Week-End at the Waldorf poster
Week-End at the Waldorf
1945 • Anna
Pride of the Marines poster
Pride of the Marines
1945 • Virginia Pfeiffer
Rhapsody in Blue poster
Rhapsody in Blue
1945 • Rose Gershwin
Blood on the Sun poster
Blood on the Sun
1945 • Edith Miller
Practically Yours poster
Practically Yours
1944 • Ellen Macy
Bowery to Broadway poster
Bowery to Broadway
1944 • Bessie Kirby
The Merry Monahans poster
The Merry Monahans
1944 • Lillian DeRoyce
The Voice That Thrilled the World poster
The Voice That Thrilled the World
1943 • Self (segment 'Yankee Doodle Dandy') (archive footage)
This Is the Army poster
This Is the Army
1943 • Ethel Jones
City Without Men poster
City Without Men
1943 • Mrs. Slade
Commandos Strike at Dawn poster
Commandos Strike at Dawn
1942 • Hilma Arnesen
Eyes in the Night poster
Eyes in the Night
1942 • Vera Hoffman
Smith of Minnesota poster
Smith of Minnesota
1942 • Mrs. Smith (uncredited)
Yankee Doodle Dandy poster
Yankee Doodle Dandy
1942 • Nellie Cohan
Jungle Book poster
Jungle Book
1942 • Messua
Hold Back the Dawn poster
Hold Back the Dawn
1941 • Berta Kurz
Cheers for Miss Bishop poster
Cheers for Miss Bishop
1941 • Minna Fields
No Image
The Wayward Pups
1937 • Lady of the house (voice) (uncredited)