Hamilton Camp (30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and actor. Born in London, England, he was evacuated during World War II to the United States as a child with his mother and sister(s). He became a child actor in films and onstage, originally performing under the name "Bob Camp"; he later changed his name to Hamilton after joining the Subud spiritual movement.
Camp became well-known as Bob Camp (no relation to one of the animators from Ren & Stimpy) when he played in a folk duo with Bob Gibson. Their influential album Gibson and Camp at the Gate of Horn (cited by Simon & Garfunkel and The Byrds as an inspiration) was recorded in Chicago in 1961. When they broke up, Camp continued to work as a solo act. He began using the name Hamilton Camp musically around the time his solo album Paths of Victory was released in 1964.
After working as a child actor, Camp began acting again in 1961 with the Second City in Chicago, and with The Committee in San Francisco in the mid-60s, leading to television and theatre work, and occasional films. One of his early appearances on American TV was the One-Episode Wonder sketch show Turn-On in 1969, which, in most affiliates, was canceled 10 minutes into the episode due to complaints that it was too raunchy/too horrible to be seen (other affiliates either banned the show or aired the entire episode and never reran it).
In addition to his live action work, Camp became a well-known voice actor. He provided voice roles for many studios, including Disney and Hanna-Barbera. His most notable role for Disney was the high-strung accountant Fenton Crackshell and his alter-ego Gizmoduck, an affectionate parody of RoboCop, who appeared on DuckTales and Darkwing Duck; for Hanna-Barbera, he did voices for Scooby-Doo and The Smurfs, among other series.
Camp occasionally returned to music over the years, and released a new album in 1999 called Mardi's Bard, dedicated to the late Mardi Arquette, the wife of Lewis, and mother of Rosanna, Patricia, David, Alexis and Richmond.
He married Rasjadah Lisa Jovita Cisz in 1961, and they had six children. His wife Rasjadah died in 2002. Hamilton Camp died suddenly of a heart attack on October 2, 2005 in Los Angeles, four weeks before his 71st birthday. He is survived by his six children and thirteen grandchildren.
Has a website
dedicated to him.
Filmography:
- Star Trek: Voyager (1998) - Controller Vrelk note
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1997, 1998) - Leck note
- The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) – Megellenic 2
- Gordy (1995) - Father Pig, Richard the Rooster
- Full Throttle (1995) - Malcolm 'Old Man' X Corley, Father Torque & Mavis' Guard
- Aladdin: The Series (1994-1995) – Ayam Aghoul
- Darkwing Duck (1991) – Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck
- Halo 2 (2004) - The Prophet of Mercy
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) – Scottish Flea
- TaleSpin (1990) – Seymore, Whistlestop Jackson
- Saved by the Bell (1989) – Mr. Margolies
- Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988) – Dracula
- Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) – Phantom Father
- DuckTales (1987-1990) – Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck
- Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers (1987) – Laughing vocal of Poor Old Witch Ghost
- The Flintstone Kids (1986-1988) – Barney Rubble
- The Twilight Zone (1986) – Liam O'Shaughnessy note
- The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985) – Rankor & Ghouilo
- Sherlock Hound (1984-1985) – Prof. Moriarty
- Just Our Luck (1983) – Professor Bob
- Twice Upon a Time (1983) – Greensleeves
- The Smurfs (1982-1986) – Greedy Smurf, Harmony Smurf, Cobbler & Woody the woodelf.
- Hill Street Blues (1982-1986) Buck Mullins, Morton Keyes & One Man Band Muzel
- Starcrash (1978) - Elle (voice only, dubbing Judd Hamilton)
- M*A*S*H (1978-1982) - Corporal 'Boots' Miller, Maj. Frankenheimer
- The Rat Patrol (1966) - Lt. Winters
Tropes exhibited by him:
- The Alcoholic: On the FOX sitcom Titus, he played Erin's alcoholic father, Merritt (first seen on the episode "The Perfect Thanksgiving").
- Folk Musician:
- "Here's To You" (an ornate, but catchy, Silly Love Song) spent five weeks on the U.S. charts, where it peaked at number 76 in the spring of 1968 on May 25th.
- Since he shared manager Albert Grossman with Bob Dylan, he had access to Dylan compositions that Dylan didn't formally record himself, with Camp including five of them on the Paths of Victory album in 1964: the Title Track, "Guess I'm Doin' Fine", "Walkin' Down The Line", "Only a Hobo" and "Tomorrow is a Long Time" (Dylan's own demo versions of all of them would eventually be released on various Bootleg Series volumes).
- "Here's To You
- The Napoleon: He was 5'2. Personal quotes under his Internet Movie Database page give us this:"Short jokes are my life. It's like shooting fish in a barrel."
- Rule of Three: The guy had the misfortune of being a regular on three series which were cancelled after one episode: Turn-On (1969), Co-Ed Fever (1979)note and McGurk: A Dog's Life (1979).
- Stage Name: Bob Camp (not to be confused with one of John Kricfalusi's animators from Spumco).
