[18][19][20] Cummings, born in 1910, would have only been 8 years old when Orville Wright had essentially stopped flying on May 13, 1918, as a result of injuries he sustained in an accident at Fort Myer, Virginia, on September 17, 1908.

[9][25] Cummings studied briefly at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, but his love of flying caused him to transfer to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh.

[7] Realizing that, at the time, "three quarters of Broadway plays were from England"[30] and that English accents and actors were in demand, Cummings decided to cash in an insurance policy and buy a round-trip ticket there.

In London, he outfitted himself with a new wardrobe, composed a letter introducing the actor-author-manager-director "Blade" of Harrogate Repertory Theatre, and sent it off to 80 New York theatrical agents and producers.

[32] The play ran from October to November 1931 and Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times listed "Conway" among the cast who provided "some excellent bits of acting".

Cummings decided to change his approach, when in the words of one report, "suddenly the bottom dropped out of the John Bull market; almost overnight, demand switched from Londoners to lassoers.

[57] Cummings supported Basil Rathbone and Victor McLaglen in Rio (1939), then was borrowed by 20th Century Fox to romance Sonia Henie in Everything Happens at Night (1939).

At Universal he had a key role in Charlie McCarthy, Detective (1939), then was borrowed by MGM to play the lead in a B movie with Laraine Day, And One Was Beautiful (1940).

"[60] Back at Universal, Pasternak used Cummings as the romantic male lead in It Started with Eve (1941), from a script by Krasna opposite Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton.

Wallis did not have any contract players at Warner Bros who were considered ideal for the role of Paris, and after trying desperately to get Tyrone Power, he tried to borrow Cummings, who had done an impressive screen test.

[66] Filmink wrote "Few male actors had a hot streak like Robert Cummings from 1941 to 1942: The Devil and Miss Jones, It Started with Eve, King’s Row and Saboteur are all stone-cold classics, and he made crucial contributions to all.

He filmed it concurrently with a Hal Wallis movie at Warner Bros titled Princess O'Rourke (made 1942, released 1943), Norman Krasna's directorial debut.

In December 1941, Cummings joined the fledgling Civil Air Patrol, an organization of citizens and pilots interested in helping support the U.S. war effort.

In September 1943, Cummings sued the studio for withheld wages of $10,700, also arguing that for some time, Universal tried to put him in minor roles to "run him ragged" and "to teach him a lesson".

[89] The Lost Moment (1947) with Susan Hayward was a film noir for Walter Wanger at Universal based on The Aspern Papers by Henry James.

[96] Cummings supported Clifton Webb in For Heaven's Sake (1950) at Fox, then played a con man in The Barefoot Mailman (1950), his third film for Columbia.

On TV, he was in Lux Video Theatre ("The Shiny People", "Pattern for Glory"), Betty Crocker Star Matinee ("Sense of Humor"), and Robert Montgomery Presents ("Lila My Love").

[104] Cummings was in Marry Me Again (1953) at RKO for Tashlin, then went to England to star in another Hitchcock film, Dial M for Murder (1954), playing the lover of Grace Kelly, whose husband Ray Milland tries to kill her.

[106] In 1954, Cummings appeared in Twelve Angry Men, an original TV play for Westinghouse Studio One written by Reginald Rose and directed by Franklin Schaffner, alongside actors including Franchot Tone and Edward Arnold.

[108] Other television appearances included Campbell Summer Soundstage ("The Test Case"),[109] Justice ("The Crisis"), The Elgin Hour ("Floodtide"),[110] and a TV version of Best Foot Forward (1954).

[114][115] [116][117] Cummings intended to produce a film titled The Damned through Laurel Productions, from a novel by John D. MacDonald and to be written and directed by Frank Tashlin.

Reviewing the show, Variety wrote "few video performers are as infectious as Bob Cummings" calling the sitcom "a combination of corn, slapstick and sex.

He returned to Studio One ("A Special Announcement"), and did episodes of General Electric Theater ("Too Good with a Gun"), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and Schlitz Playhouse ("One Left Over", "Dual Control").

He was also in "Bomber's Moon" for Playhouse 90 (1958), from a Rod Serling script directed by John Frankenheimer, who said "Bobby's a really fine dramatic actor, but people usually associate him only with comedy.

[127] In 1960, Cummings starred in "King Nine Will Not Return", the opening episode of the second season of CBS's The Twilight Zone, written by Serling and directed by Buzz Kulik.

[139] Cummings's last lead roles on film were in a pair of TV movies, The Great American Beauty Contest (1973) and Partners in Crime (1973).

In 1954, while in New York to star in the Westinghouse Studio One production of Twelve Angry Men, Cummings began receiving injections from Max Jacobson, the notorious "Dr.

The changes in Cummings's personality caused by the euphoria of the drug and subsequent depression damaged his career and led to an intervention by his friend, television host Art Linkletter.

[156] On December 2, 1990, Cummings died of kidney failure and complications from pneumonia at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

[157] Filmink called Cummings' career "a triumphant success – he did it all: Broadway, Hollywood, Harry Alan Towers, Golden Years of Television, Hitchcock, Deanna Durbin… He just made one mistake – he got on drugs.