Whatever happened to Bob Cummings? What is he doing now? - Mavis Alecci, Valier, Ill.

STATS: Born June 10, 1908, in Joplin, Mo., as Clarence Robert Orville Cummings. Attended Carnegie Tech, American Academy of Dramatic Art. Married five times; seven children.IN EARLY YEARS: Cummings started on stage in the 1930s, using the name Blade Stanhope Conway and faking an English accent because he noticed more English actors were being hired. Next he switched his accent to a drawl and claimed to be Brice Hutchins, a Texan, the name he broke into movies with in "The Virginia Judge" in 1936. He was seen mainly in light comedy roles but he was also noted for serious roles in "Kings Row," "Saboteur" and "Dial M for Murder." He started in TV in the 1950s again in comedy but in 1954 Cummings won an Emmy as a dramatic actor for "Twelve Angry Men."

FAMOUS FOR: He was TV's first swinging single in four TV series, "My Hero," "The Bob Cummings Show" (also known as "Love That Bob"), a second "Bob Cummings Show" and "My Living Doll." And he was famous for his health routine, which involved swallowing hundreds of pills a day and rigorously following astrology. He wrote a book on the subject.

IN RECENT YEARS: Cummings continued to do TV occasionally into the 1970s and toured in several stage plays. He died at 82 in 1990.

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