Hamilton Camp, 70, folk musician, actor
Two more articles from the news services (St Paul Pioneer Press and Chicago Sun Times):
LOS ANGELES — Hamilton Camp, half of the folk-music duo Gibson and Camp whose 1961 album, "Live at the Gate of Horn," became one of the era's must-have records and who later found steady work as a character actor, has died. He was 70.
Camp, who helped found the Committee satirical comedy troupe in San Francisco in the mid-1960s, died Sunday after a fall outside his Hancock Park home.
When Albert Grossman, a Chicago manager, was trying to put together a folk trio, he introduced Bob Gibson to the singer-songwriter then known as Bob Camp. The pair decided they weren't interested in adding a female vocalist, so Grossman formed Peter, Paul & Mary instead.
The pair worked folk clubs in New York and Chicago and became known for Gibson's 12-string guitar stylings and adventurous harmonies that influenced the folk music scene.
After more than a year together, and practically penniless, they broke up when Camp discovered improv and became one of the early members of Chicago's Second City. He later joined the Committee, which also produced Joan Rivers and Howard Hesseman.
Camp recorded several solo albums and wrote the song "Pride of Man," which Gordon Lightfoot recorded and the 1960s psychedelic band Quicksilver Messenger Service became known for performing. In all, Camp wrote 70 songs.
Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and adopted the name Hamilton Camp.
An entire generation knew him as the voice of Smurfs on the long-running animated Saturday morning TV series rather than as a folk singer who embraced spontaneity. He appeared in more than 100 films and made-for-TV movies, and dozens of TV shows.
The 5-foot-2 actor had memorable guest roles on three CBS shows. He was the manic salesman Del on "WKRP in Cincinnati," the insane Boots Miller on "MASH" and Mary's height-impaired date on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."
His last television role was as a carpenter on ABC's "Desperate Housewives."
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Folk singer, actor, Second City alum
October 5, 2005
BY LESLIE BALDACCI Staff Reporter Advertisement
Folk singer Hamilton Camp's partnership with Bob Gibson produced the landmark 1961 album "Gibson & Camp Live at the Gate of Horn," which ignited the folk music movement and influenced musicians for generations to come.
The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkle and Gordon Lightfoot covered their songs.
Mr. Camp, also an actor and Second City alum, died Sunday at his home in Hollywood. He apparently suffered a heart attack, then a fall, said his son, Hamilton Camp Jr. He was 70.
Mr. Camp, who changed his name from Bob Camp in the mid-'60s, started acting in films at age 12 and continued to work in television, films and theater all his life. He continued to make music as well, performing and recording new music. Mr. Camp's latest project was a new disc, "Sweet Joy," named after his late wife and recorded with James Lee Stanley. It is scheduled to be released in November.
In the early 1960s, Mr. Camp and Gibson played in clubs and coffeehouses all over the country. Their "Live at the Gate of Horn" was recorded at a Chicago club. Mr. Camp's later solo career included "Paths of Victory" in 1964, which featured his original "Pride of Man," and "Here's to You" in 1967. His 1999 album, "Mardi's Bard," was dedicated to the late Mardi Arquette, the mother of Rosanna, Patricia, David, Alexis and Richmond, and the wife of Lewis Arquette, whom Mr. Camp went to high school with.
After a stint with Second City in Chicago and the Committee in San Francisco, Mr. Camp played recurring roles in TV series, including "He & She" (1967), "Too Close for Comfort" (1980), "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993). He appeared in the films "American Hot Wax" (1978), "Heaven Can Wait" (1978), "Eating Raoul" (1982) and "Dick Tracy" (1990). His voice was heard in the animated films "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin," "Pebble and the Penguin" and "All Dogs Go To Heaven." In 2004, he appeared in two Shakespeare plays in Los Angeles.
"He was quite a good actor and made a living all his life as an actor," said longtime friend Paul Sills of the Wisconsin Theater Games Center in Door County, where Mr. Camp was a coach last summer. "I hired him for Second City when I was a director there. I worked with him in plays. We made a television show in Canada that ran for 26 weeks."
Sills described Mr. Camp as "very witty, very clever, very short -- about 5 feet."
Mr. Camp joined the Subud spiritual community in the 1970s. He traveled to Indonesia many times, most recently to raise funds for the 2004 tsunami victims. Subud followers believe in direct contact with the power and grace of God.
"It was a big part of his life. When he was doing Theater Games in Wisconsin, his students came to a spiritual level somehow, through his inner peace and confidence," said Hamilton Camp Jr. "He always had an inner peace; he had the wisest thing to say. He devoted himself to teaching and mentoring young people."
Mr. Camp's wife, Rashada, was the mother of his former singing partner's son, Stephen. Bob Gibson was married to another woman at the time the child was born.
"As fate would have it, my mom and Hamilton fell in love. He could have easily walked away from a single mother and child in 1960, but he chose my mother and he chose me. I feel very blessed," said Stephen Gibson, whom Mr. Camp raised as his son since he was 2.
"He was always giving of himself," said Gibson. "When we were teenagers, most kids our age would collect puppies or kittens. We'd collect other teenagers. There are maybe 100 people right now ranging in age from their mid-30s to late-40s who consider my mom and dad their parents, as well. The house was always, always open. It was always a safe place."
Gibson said Mr. Camp loved to throw backyard barbecues, which were a "Who's Who" of actors and the folk music world.
"Pick anybody from comedy or music, ranging from the '50s all the way through, they'd be sitting in the backyard. I remember a couple of guys in the living room singing and picking at our house in Malibu. A couple of years later, I'm buying their records as The Eagles."
Mr. Camp's wife died in 2002.
In addition to Hamilton Jr. and Stephen Gibson, Mr. Camp is survived by the couple's four other children: Lewis, Raymard, Henrietta and Laksmi; and 13 grandchildren.
A memorial service is planned at home on Sunday, Stephen Gibson said, with a scattering of Mr. Camp's ashes at a later date. The children ask anyone with performance photos or videos to contact them through
Hamilton@hamilton.com.
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