Robert J. Wilke

Acting • Born 1914-05-18 – Died 1989-03-28

Acting2Cincinnati, 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. -

Filmography

244 credits

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Movie • 1954

First Mate of the Nautilus

High Noon

Movie • 1952

Jim Pierce

Spartacus

Movie • 1960

Guard captain

Flaming Fury

Movie • 1949

Night Passage

Movie • 1957

Concho

Tony Rome

Movie • 1967

Ralph Turpin

The Las Vegas Story

Movie • 1952

Clayton (as Robert Wilke)

Hitchhike to Happiness

Movie • 1945

Stage Hand (uncredited)

The Magnificent Stranger

Movie • 1966

Sheriff McVey

Man of the West

Movie • 1958

Ponch

Arrowhead

Movie • 1953

Sgt. Stone

Backlash

Movie • 1956

Jeff Welker

The Tarnished Angels

Movie • 1957

Hank

Cowboy and the Senorita

Movie • 1944

Townsman (uncredited)

The Far Country

Movie • 1954

Madden

Written on the Wind

Movie • 1956

Dan Willis

The Ghost Goes Wild

Movie • 1947

Burglar

A Gunfight

Movie • 1971

Marshal Tom Cater

The Rookies

Movie • 1972

Officer Shaw

The Inner Circle

Movie • 1946

Police Officer Cummings (as Bob Wilke)

Bandits of the Badlands

Movie • 1945

Keller

Santee

Movie • 1973

Deaks (as Robert Wilke

The Boy Who Cried Werewolf

Movie • 1973

The Sheriff

Gun the Man Down

Movie • 1956

Matt Rankin

Hot Summer Night

Movie • 1957

Tom Ellis (as Robert Wilke)

Fate Is the Hunter

Movie • 1964

Stillman

The Lone Ranger

Movie • 1956

Cassidy

The Fighting Devil Dogs

Movie • 1938

Marine in Shanghai (uncredited)

The Gun Hawk

Movie • 1963

Johnny Flanders

Homicide for Three

Movie • 1948

Policeman

War Paint

Movie • 1953

Trooper Grady

Best of the Badmen

Movie • 1951

Jim Younger

San Quentin

Movie • 1937

Young Convict in Yard (uncredited)

Canyon River

Movie • 1956

Joe Graycoe

San Antonio Kid

Movie • 1944

Henchman

Cattle Town

Movie • 1952

Keeno

Return to Warbow

Movie • 1958

Red

Hellgate

Movie • 1952

Sgt. Maj. Kearn

Never Steal Anything Small

Movie • 1959

Lennie

The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler

Movie • 1971

Hugh Fielding

The Slowest Gun in the West

Movie • 1960

Billy the Kid Blake

Code of the Prairie

Movie • 1944

Hidden Valley Outlaws

Movie • 1944

Rancher (uncredited)

Daredevils of the Clouds

Movie • 1948

Joe

Overland Telegraph

Movie • 1951

Bellew - Henchman (as Robert Wilke)

Cow Country

Movie • 1953

Sledge

From Here to Eternity

Movie • 1953

Sgt. Henderson (uncredited)

Smoke Signal

Movie • 1955

Daly

Smoky

Movie • 1966

Jeff Nicks

Daredevils of the Red Circle

Movie • 1939

G-Man

That Man's Here Again

Movie • 1937

(uncredited)

Star Reporter

Movie • 1939

Reporter

Vigilantes of Dodge City

Movie • 1944

Bill

Corpus Christi Bandits

Movie • 1945

Henchman Steve

Sheriff of Cimarron

Movie • 1945

Henchman Dobie

Road Agent

Movie • 1952

Slab Babcock

Frontier Outpost

Movie • 1950

Krag Benson

They Call It Murder

Movie • 1971

Sheriff Rex Brandon

The Magnificent Seven

Movie • 1960

Wallace

Two Guns and a Badge

Movie • 1954

Moore - Outlaw

Santa Fe Saddlemates

Movie • 1945

Rawhide

Sierra Sue

Movie • 1941

Carnival Spectator (uncredited)

The Desperate Mission

Movie • 1969

Gant

The Long Rope

Movie • 1961

Ben Matthews

Days of Heaven

Movie • 1978

The Farm Foreman

Saddle Legion

Movie • 1951

Henchman Hooker

Adventures of Red Ryder

Movie • 1940

Henchman

Bordertown Trail

Movie • 1944

Henchman

Call of the Rockies

Movie • 1944

Deputy Jim

Hot Lead

Movie • 1951

Stoney Dawson

Gunplay

Movie • 1951

Henchman Winslow

Pistol Harvest

Movie • 1951

Andy Baylor

Cyclone Fury

Movie • 1951

Henchman Bunco (as Bob Wilke)

The Cheyenne Social Club

Movie • 1970

Corey Bannister

In Old Missouri

Movie • 1940

Hillbilly

Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.

Movie • 1941

Cutter Helmsman

Strange Lady in Town

Movie • 1955

Karg

Wyoming Roundup

Movie • 1952

Wyatt - Henchman

In Old Monterey

Movie • 1939

Man on Wagon

Grand Ole Opry

Movie • 1940

Hillbilly (uncredited)

Web of Danger

Movie • 1947

Station Wagon Driver

Blackmail

Movie • 1947

Policeman

Twilight on the Rio Grande

Movie • 1947

Henchman

The Catman of Paris

Movie • 1946

The Catman (uncredited)

Traffic in Crime

Movie • 1946

Hogan's Driver

Passkey to Danger

Movie • 1946

Police Sergeant

Earl Carroll Vanities

Movie • 1945

Cab Driver

Faces in the Fog

Movie • 1944

Photographer

The Fighting Seabees

Movie • 1944

Arriving Construction Worker (uncredited)

The Wyoming Bandit

Movie • 1949

Sam

Coyote Canyon

Movie • 1949

Deputy Sheriff Ed (as Bob Wilkie)

Across the Badlands

Movie • 1950

Duke Jackson / Keno Jackson (as Bob Wilke)

Outcasts of Black Mesa

Movie • 1950

Curt - Henchman (as Bob Wilke)

The Desert Hawk

Movie • 1950

Camel Driver

Fargo

Movie • 1952

Link - Henchman

The Maverick

Movie • 1952

Massey

The Hallelujah Trail

Movie • 1965

Chief Five Barrels

Law of the Canyon

Movie • 1947

Knife-Throwing Henchman (uncredited)

Sheriff of Sundown

Movie • 1944

Bradley - Henchman (as Bob Wilke)

Rough Riders of Cheyenne

Movie • 1945

Smoke - Henchman (as Bob Wilke)

Sunset in El Dorado

Movie • 1945

Curley Roberts

Trail of Kit Carson

Movie • 1945

Dave MacRoy (as Bob Wilke)

Carson City Raiders

Movie • 1948

Ed Noble

The Rawhide Years

Movie • 1956

Neal (as Robert Wilke)

The Lone Gun

Movie • 1954

Hort Moran (as Robert Wilke)

Wichita

Movie • 1955

Ben Thompson

Shotgun

Movie • 1955

Bentley (as Robert Wilke)

Raw Edge

Movie • 1956

Sile Doty

S.O.S Tidal Wave

Movie • 1939

Man in TV Studio

Rendezvous with Annie

Movie • 1946

MP (uncredited)

Whispering Footsteps

Movie • 1943

Bank Customer

The Sweet Creek County War

Movie • 1979

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

Movie • 1987

Self (archive footage)

Badman's Territory

Movie • 1946

Deputy Marshal (uncredited)

Buck Privates Come Home

Movie • 1947

GI Buddy (uncredited)

White Tie and Tails

Movie • 1946

Starter (uncredited)

Shock Treatment

Movie • 1964

Technician Mike Newton (as Robert Wilke)

Laramie

Movie • 1949

Cronin (uncredited)

Stripes

Movie • 1981

Gen. Barnicke

Wild and Wooly

Movie • 1978

Demas Scott

Vengeance Valley

Movie • 1951

Cowhand (uncredited)

Mule Train

Movie • 1950

Bradshaw - Henchman (uncredited)

The Blonde Bandit

Movie • 1949

Police Det. Walker

Lone Texas Ranger

Movie • 1945

Henchman (uncredited)

Cheyenne

TV • 1955

Bob Manson

Bourbon Street Beat

TV • 1959

Kung Fu

TV • 1972

Sgt. Bridger

Gunsmoke

TV • 1955

Hickock

Perry Mason

TV • 1957

Deputy Sheriff Connors

Dallas

TV • 1978

Tom Owens

Lassie

TV • 1954

Mr. Corey

Run, Joe, Run

TV • 1974

The Tall Man

TV • 1960

Marshal Ben Hartley

The Monroes

TV • 1966

The Greatest Show on Earth

TV • 1963

Lou Sirotta

Sam Benedict

TV • 1962

Lt. Mike Radich

Target: The Corruptors!

TV • 1961

Outlaws

TV • 1960

The Beachcomber

TV • 1962

Bill Winters

Rawhide

TV • 1959

Sheriff McVey

Cimarron Strip

TV • 1967

The Outcasts

TV • 1968

Daniel Boone

TV • 1964

Toff

The Fugitive

TV • 1963

Johnny

The Virginian

TV • 1962

Conrad

Lancer

TV • 1968

Peter Gunn

TV • 1958

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

TV • 1951

Red Fischer

The Thin Man

TV • 1957

Adventures of Superman

TV • 1952

Bingham

Adventures in Paradise

TV • 1959

Riker

Bronco

TV • 1958

Tarzan

TV • 1966

Spooner

The Adventures of Jim Bowie

TV • 1956

Wanted: Dead or Alive

TV • 1958

Virgil

The Dakotas

TV • 1963

Bat Masterson

TV • 1958

Bull Kirby

Laramie

TV • 1959

Law of the Plainsman

TV • 1959

Amos Cameron

Riverboat

TV • 1959

Bolesy

Wichita Town

TV • 1959

Cavalcade of America

TV • 1952

Rango

TV • 1967