US actor Robert Culp dies aged 79

Robert Culp, the American television actor who starred with Bill Cosby in the 1960s hit show "I Spy" has died at the age of 79.

US actor Robert Culp dies aged 79
Robert Culp and wife Samantha Faulkner pictured in 2009 Credit: Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Culp died at a hospital in Los Angeles where he had been rushed after hitting his head while taking a walk outside his Hollywood home.

I Spy, which aired from 1965 to 1968, was a racially groundbreaking series, the first to feature a black actor, Cosby, in a starring role.

Culp played Kelly Robinson, a spy whose cover was that of an ace tennis player. Cosby was a fellow spy Alexander Scott, who pretended to be Culp's trainer as they travelled the world working for the US government.

Culp went on to star in the controversial film "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" about the sexual revolution of the 1960s. With Cosby he was also involved in civil rights causes Among his notable later performances was as a US president in 1993's "The Pelican Brief."

Culp was married five times and had four children.