Bob Cummings

Real name: Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings
Born: June 9, 1910
Died: December 1, 1990
Country: United States
Comments: Primarily a screen and television actor, Cummings initially appeared on stage, singing in one role.

Cummings was from a prominent family in Joplin, Missouri. His godfather was Orville Wright, who, when Cummings was still in high school, taught him how to fly. When the U.S. government began licensing flight instructors, he became the first officially licensed flight instructor. Cummings studied aeronautical engineering for a year at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, but dropped out for financial reasons after his family suffered substantial losses in the 1929 stock market crash.

Cummings studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City because it paid its male actors $14 a week. He initially appeared on Broadway, acting under pseudonyms (as he did in his early film career), but by the end of the 1930s, he was acting under his given name.
Family: Vivian Janis Second of Five Wives (1933-1945)