Actor Robert Culp, best known for his work in television’s “I Spy” in the 1960s, and starred as FBI Agent Bill Maxwell in “The Greatest American Hero” in the 1980s died yesterday, after a fall at his Hollywood home. He was 79 years old. According to IMDB, Culp was a poker playing buddy of Hugh M. Hefner as a result, was a frequent guest at the Playboy Mansion.

Culp played secret agent Kelly Robinson, who masqueraded as a professional tennis player, for three years on the hit NBC series I Spy (1965-68), with co-star Bill Cosby. Culp wrote the scripts for seven episodes, one of which he also directed. One episode earned him an Emmy nomination for writing. For all three years of the series he was also nominated for an acting Emmy (Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series category), but lost each time to Cosby.

In 1981 he starred in The Greatest American Hero as tough-as-nails FBI Agent Bill Maxwell, who teams up with a special education teacher who receives superpowers from extraterrestrials. That show lasted three years ending in 1983. He reprised the role in a voice-over on the stop-motion [adult swim] show, Robot Chicken.

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On behalf of everyone here at SciFi Mafia (contributors and readers alike), I would like to extend our sympathies to all of Robert Culp’s family and friends.