Robert J. Wilke
Acting
Born May 18, 1914 · Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
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. -
Films (124)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987
Stripes
1981
The Sweet Creek County War
1979
Days of Heaven
1978
Wild and Wooly
1978
Santee
1973
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
1973
The Rookies
1972
They Call It Murder
1971
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
1971
A Gunfight
1971
The Cheyenne Social Club
1970
The Desperate Mission
1969
Tony Rome
1967
The Magnificent Stranger
1966
Smoky
1966
The Hallelujah Trail
1965
Fate Is the Hunter
1964
Shock Treatment
1964
The Gun Hawk
1963
The Long Rope
1961
Spartacus
1960
The Magnificent Seven
1960
The Slowest Gun in the West
1960
Never Steal Anything Small
1959
Man of the West
1958
Return to Warbow
1958
The Tarnished Angels
1957
Night Passage
1957
Hot Summer Night
1957
Gun the Man Down
1956
Written on the Wind
1956
Canyon River
1956
The Rawhide Years
1956
Raw Edge
1956
Backlash
1956
The Lone Ranger
1956
Wichita
1955
Shotgun
1955
Strange Lady in Town
1955
Smoke Signal
1955
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954
Two Guns and a Badge
1954
The Lone Gun
1954
The Far Country
1954
War Paint
1953
From Here to Eternity
1953
Arrowhead
1953
Cow Country
1953
The Maverick
1952
Wyoming Roundup
1952
Fargo
1952
Cattle Town
1952
Hellgate
1952
High Noon
1952
Road Agent
1952
The Las Vegas Story
1952
Overland Telegraph
1951
Hot Lead
1951
Pistol Harvest
1951
Cyclone Fury
1951
Best of the Badmen
1951
Gunplay
1951
Saddle Legion
1951
Vengeance Valley
1951
Frontier Outpost
1950
Across the Badlands
1950
The Desert Hawk
1950
Outcasts of Black Mesa
1950
Mule Train
1950
The Blonde Bandit
1949
Coyote Canyon
1949
Flaming Fury
1949
The Wyoming Bandit
1949
Laramie
1949
Homicide for Three
1948
Daredevils of the Clouds
1948
Carson City Raiders
1948
The Ghost Goes Wild
1947
Blackmail
1947
Web of Danger
1947
Law of the Canyon
1947
Buck Privates Come Home
1947
Twilight on the Rio Grande
1947
White Tie and Tails
1946
The Inner Circle
1946
Rendezvous with Annie
1946
Traffic in Crime
1946
Passkey to Danger
1946
Badman's Territory
1946
The Catman of Paris
1946
Rough Riders of Cheyenne
1945
Sunset in El Dorado
1945
Bandits of the Badlands
1945
Hitchhike to Happiness
1945
Trail of Kit Carson
1945
Santa Fe Saddlemates
1945
Lone Texas Ranger
1945
Corpus Christi Bandits
1945
Earl Carroll Vanities
1945
Sheriff of Cimarron
1945
Faces in the Fog
1944
Vigilantes of Dodge City
1944
Sheriff of Sundown
1944
Code of the Prairie
1944
San Antonio Kid
1944
Bordertown Trail
1944
Call of the Rockies
1944
Cowboy and the Senorita
1944
Hidden Valley Outlaws
1944
The Fighting Seabees
1944
Whispering Footsteps
1943
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
1941
Sierra Sue
1941
Adventures of Red Ryder
1940
Grand Ole Opry
1940
In Old Missouri
1940
In Old Monterey
1939
Daredevils of the Red Circle
1939
S.O.S Tidal Wave
1939
Star Reporter
1939
The Fighting Devil Dogs
1938
San Quentin
1937
That Man's Here Again
1937