Robert J. Wilke
Acting
- Born:
- 1914-05-18
- Died:
- 1989-03-28
- Place of birth:
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Biography
Prolific American character actor of primarily villainous roles. The son of German parents, Cincinnati feed-store manager August Wilke and his wife Rose, Robert Joseph Wilke grew up in Cincinnati. He worked as a lifeguard at a Miami, Florida, hotel, where he made contacts in the film business. He was able to obtain work as a stuntman and continued as such until the mid-'40s, when he began getting actual roles in low-budget westerns and serials. A prominent appearance as one of the heavies in Le train sifflera trois fois (1952) led to work in higher-quality films. He worked extensively in television as well as movies, and became an enormously familiar face, though a fairly anonymous one to the general public. His weathered visage made him a perfect western bad guy, but he occasionally played sympathetic parts as well, as in Les moissons du ciel (1978). An expert golfer, he was said by his friend Claude Akins to have earned more money on the golf course than he ever did in movies. He died in 1989. -
Known For
Filmography
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Stripes
The Sweet Creek County War
Days of Heaven
Dallas
Wild and Wooly
How the West Was Won
Starsky & Hutch
Run, Joe, Run
Santee
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
Kung Fu
The Rookies
They Call It Murder
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
A Gunfight
The Cheyenne Social Club
The Desperate Mission
Lancer
The Outcasts
Tony Rome
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Cimarron Strip
Rango
Tarzan
The Monroes
The Magnificent Stranger
Smoky
The Wild Wild West
The Legend of Jesse James
The Hallelujah Trail
Fate Is the Hunter
Daniel Boone
Shock Treatment
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Fugitive
The Gun Hawk
The Dakotas
The Lucy Show
The Virginian
Sam Benedict
The Beachcomber
Target: The Corruptors!
The Long Rope
Spartacus
The Magnificent Seven
Stagecoach West
The Westerner
My Three Sons
Outlaws
The Tall Man
The Slowest Gun in the West
The Untouchables
Bourbon Street Beat
Adventures in Paradise
The Third Man
Law of the Plainsman
Wichita Town
Laramie
Riverboat
Bonanza
The Deputy
Never Steal Anything Small
Rawhide
77 Sunset Strip
Bat Masterson
Lawman
Man of the West
The Rifleman
The Texan
Bronco
Peter Gunn
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Return to Warbow
The Tarnished Angels
Tombstone Territory
Zorro
The Walter Winchell File
Maverick
Perry Mason
The Thin Man
Wagon Train
Have Gun, Will Travel
Night Passage
Hot Summer Night
Gun the Man Down
Written on the Wind
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
Canyon River
The Rawhide Years
Raw Edge
Backlash
The Lone Ranger
Screen Director's Playhouse
Cheyenne
Gunsmoke
Wichita
Shotgun
Strange Lady in Town
Smoke Signal
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
The Wonderful World of Disney
Lassie
Two Guns and a Badge
The Lone Gun
The Far Country
War Paint
From Here to Eternity
Arrowhead
Cow Country
The Maverick
The Abbott and Costello Show
Wyoming Roundup
Cavalcade of America
Four Star Playhouse
Adventures of Superman
Fargo
Cattle Town
Hellgate
High Noon
Road Agent
The Las Vegas Story
Overland Telegraph
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Hot Lead
Boston Blackie
Pistol Harvest
Cyclone Fury
Best of the Badmen
Gunplay
Saddle Legion
Vengeance Valley
Frontier Outpost
Across the Badlands
The Cisco Kid
The Desert Hawk
The Gene Autry Show
Outcasts of Black Mesa
Mule Train
The Blonde Bandit
Coyote Canyon
The Lone Ranger
Flaming Fury
The Wyoming Bandit
Laramie
Homicide for Three
Daredevils of the Clouds
Carson City Raiders
The Ghost Goes Wild
Blackmail
Web of Danger
Law of the Canyon
Buck Privates Come Home
Twilight on the Rio Grande
White Tie and Tails
The Inner Circle
Rendezvous with Annie
Traffic in Crime
Passkey to Danger
Badman's Territory
The Catman of Paris
Rough Riders of Cheyenne
Sunset in El Dorado
Bandits of the Badlands
Hitchhike to Happiness
Trail of Kit Carson
Santa Fe Saddlemates
Lone Texas Ranger
Corpus Christi Bandits
Earl Carroll Vanities
Sheriff of Cimarron
Faces in the Fog
Vigilantes of Dodge City
Sheriff of Sundown
Code of the Prairie
San Antonio Kid
Bordertown Trail
Call of the Rockies
Cowboy and the Senorita
Hidden Valley Outlaws
The Fighting Seabees
Whispering Footsteps
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
Sierra Sue
Adventures of Red Ryder
Grand Ole Opry
In Old Missouri
In Old Monterey
Daredevils of the Red Circle
S.O.S Tidal Wave
Star Reporter
The Fighting Devil Dogs
San Quentin
That Man's Here Again