Hamilton Camp (born Robin S. Camp; 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a British-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child.[2] He is known for his work as a folk singer during the 1960s, and eventually branched out into acting in films and television.
Early life
Camp was born in London and was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister.[2] He became a child actor in films and onstage. He originally performed under the names Robin Camp and Bob Camp, later changing his name to Hamilton after joining the Subud spiritual movement. For a few years, he billed himself as Hamid Hamilton Camp; in this period, he was leader of a group called Skymonters that released an album in 1973 on Elektra. The band consisted of himself (vocals, guitar), Lewis Arquette (vocals, comedy monologues), Lewis Ross (lead guitar), Jakub Ander (bass) and Rusdi Lane (percussionist & mime).
Career
Hamilton Camp began his acting career in 1946, at 12 years old.[3]
In 1960, Camp made his debut as a folk singer at the Newport Folk Festival. In 1961, Camp's first recording, with Bob Gibson, was Bob Gibson & Bob Camp at the Gate of Horn.[2] Over the next four decades he maintained a dual career as a musician/songwriter and as an actor. Camp is probably best known, however, as the author of the 1964 song "Pride of Man", which was recorded by a number of artists, notably Quicksilver Messenger Service, Gram Parsons, and Gordon Lightfoot, who included it as one of three songs by other songwriters on his first record.
In 1964, Camp made his Broadway debut in the musical revue The Committee.[4]
An early Gibson & Camp gospel song, "You Can Tell the World" was the opening track on Simon & Garfunkel's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. As a singer, Camp had a minor hit with the song "Here's to You," which peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. In 1969 Camp formed a group called The True Brethren with Waqidi Falicoff (guitar, vocals), Raphael Grinage (cello) and Loren Pickford (flute and saxophone). The four later composed the incidental music for the Broadway show Paul Sills' Story Theatre, which won two Tony awards and was nominated for best show in the 1971 awards.
In 1977, Camp appeared in three episodes of The Feather and Father Gang. In the 1978 opening season of WKRP in Cincinnati, Camp guest-starred in the fifth episode as Del Murdock, owner of Del's Stereo and Sound. He returned to WKRP as Johnny Fever's ex-wife's new fiancé. Also in 1978, he played Warren Beatty's valet, Bentley, in Heaven Can Wait. In 1980, he appeared as a semi-regular on Too Close for Comfort as Arthur Wainwright, the adventurous, youth-oriented boss of Henry Rush, and on the FOX sitcom Titus as Erin Fitzpatrick's alcoholic father, Merritt. He played Bart Furley, brother of Don Knotts' character Ralph Furley, on an episode of Three's Company, "Furley vs. Furley". He also voiced Professor Moriarty in the English dub of the anime series Sherlock Hound.
"Gypsy" (Skmonters with Hamid Hamilton Camp; 1974, Scholastic Records; written by Lewis Ross)
Children's records
"Rumpelstiltskin" (Hamid Hamilton Camp and Judy Graubart; 1973, Scholastic Records; adapted by Edith Harcov and Hamid Hamilton Camp)
"The Brementown Musicians" (Hamid Hamilton Camp and the Skmonters; 1974, Scholastic Records; adapted by Ruth Belov Gross, Hamid Hamilton Camp, and the Skmonters)
"The Emperor's New Clothes" (Hamid Hamilton Camp and Lewis Arquette; 1977, Scholastic Records; written by Hans Christian Andersen, adapted by Ruth Belov Gross and Lewis Ross)
