CINEFILER

Rosemary DeCamp

Born
November 14, 1910
Died
February 20, 2001
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.
Known For
Jungle Book
(1942)
Messua
13 Ghosts
(1960)
Hilda Zorba
Scandal Sheet
(1952)
Charlotte Grant
This Is the Army
(1943)
Ethel Jones
Saturday the 14th
(1981)
Aunt Lucille
Yankee Doodle Dandy
(1942)
Nellie Cohan
Full Filmography
Acting
The Wayward Pups
(1937)
Lady of the house (voice) (uncredited)
Hold Back the Dawn
(1941)
Berta Kurz
Cheers for Miss Bishop
(1941)
Minna Fields
Yankee Doodle Dandy
(1942)
Nellie Cohan
Eyes in the Night
(1942)
Vera Hoffman
Jungle Book
(1942)
Messua
Commandos Strike at Dawn
(1942)
Hilma Arnesen
Smith of Minnesota
(1942)
Mrs. Smith (uncredited)
This Is the Army
(1943)
Ethel Jones
City Without Men
(1943)
Mrs. Slade
The Voice That Thrilled the World
(1943)
Self (segment 'Yankee Doodle Dandy') (archive footage)
The Merry Monahans
(1944)
Lillian DeRoyce
Practically Yours
(1944)
Ellen Macy
Bowery to Broadway
(1944)
Bessie Kirby
Danger Signal
(1945)
Dr. Jane Silla
Rhapsody in Blue
(1945)
Rose Gershwin
Pride of the Marines
(1945)
Virginia Pfeiffer
Week-End at the Waldorf
(1945)
Anna
Too Young to Know
(1945)
Mrs. Enright
Blood on the Sun
(1945)
Edith Miller
From This Day Forward
(1946)
Martha Beesley
Two Guys from Milwaukee
(1946)
Nan
Nora Prentiss
(1947)
Lucy Talbot
The Story of Seabiscuit
(1949)
Mrs. Charles S. Howard
Look for the Silver Lining
(1949)
Mom Miller
Night Unto Night
(1949)
Thalia Shawn
The Life of Riley
(1949)
Peg Riley
The Big Hangover
(1950)
Claire Bellcap
On Moonlight Bay
(1951)
Alice Winfield
Night Into Morning
(1951)
Mrs. Annie Ainley
Scandal Sheet
(1952)
Charlotte Grant
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
(1952)
Samuella
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
(1953)
Alice Winfield
So This Is Love
(1953)
Aunt Laura Stokley
Main Street to Broadway
(1953)
Mrs. Harry Craig
Strategic Air Command
(1955)
Mrs. Thorne
Many Rivers to Cross
(1955)
Lucy Hamilton
Man On A Bus
(1955)
Miriam
13 Ghosts
(1960)
Hilda Zorba
Tom, Dick and Harriet
(1960)
Mother
The Time Machine
(1978)
Agnes
Saturday the 14th
(1981)
Aunt Lucille
Data provided by TMDB