Robert Middleton
Acting • Born 1911-05-13 – Died 1977-06-14
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Middleton, born Samuel G. Messer (May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977), was an American film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. With a deep, booming voice, Middleton trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked steadily as a radio announcer and actor. One of his early works was as the narrator of the educational film "Duck and Cover". After appearing on the Broadway stage and live television, Middleton began appearing in films in 1954. He's also remembered on television as the boss Mr. Marshall on The Jackie Gleason Show and in film opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours (1955), Gary Cooper in Friendly Persuasion (1956), Richard Egan and Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender (1956), Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack in The Tarnished Angels (1958), and Dean Martin in Career (1959). A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Middleton appeared in many television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the CBS anthology series Appointment with Adventure. He was cast as "The Tichborne Claimant" in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show. He appeared in ten episodes of ABC's family Western The Monroes, with costars Michael Anderson, Jr., and Barbara Hershey. Among his several appearances in the long-running Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he portrayed a gangster in high places, Mr. Koster, in the 1956 episode "The Better Bargain". In 1958, he played the villain in the first episode of Bat Masterson. In 1961, he appeared in the episode "Accidental Tourist" on the James Whitmore ABC legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones. That same year, he portrayed the highly sympathetic but fiercely dedicated state executioner in an episode of Thriller (U.S. TV series) entitled "Guillotine". He also appeared in at least one episode of Bonanza (1964). In the early 1950s, Middleton appeared on Broadway in Ondine. Other significant film roles include The Court Jester (1956) as a grim and determined knight who jousts with Danny Kaye in the famous "pellet with the poison" sequence, and as a sinister politician in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). Betwixt and between were an array of brutish mountain daddies, corrupt, cigar-chomping town bosses and lynch mob leaders. Occasionally he showed a bit of levity, as in his recurring role as Jackie Gleason's boss on The Honeymooners (1955) sketches. Middleton died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood at the age of sixty-six. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Middleton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
105 credits
The Harrad Experiment
Movie • 1973
Sidney Bower
The Big Combo
Movie • 1955
Police Capt. Peterson
Even Angels Eat Beans
Movie • 1973
Angelo
The Court Jester
Movie • 1955
Sir Griswold
The Lonely Man
Movie • 1957
Ben Ryerson
Friendly Persuasion
Movie • 1956
Sam Jordan
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Movie • 1966
Dennis Wilcox
The Law and Jake Wade
Movie • 1958
Ortero
The Tarnished Angels
Movie • 1957
Matt Ord
The Great Impostor
Movie • 1960
R.C. Brown
Love Me Tender
Movie • 1956
Mr. Siringo
The Desperate Hours
Movie • 1955
Sam Kobish
Remember When
Movie • 1974
Kraus, the butcher
For Those Who Think Young
Movie • 1964
Burford Sanford Cronin
The Proud Ones
Movie • 1956
Honest John Barrett
Don't Give Up the Ship
Movie • 1959
Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde
Cattle King
Movie • 1963
Clay Mathews
The Mark of Zorro
Movie • 1974
Don Luis Quintero
Red Sundown
Movie • 1956
Rufus Henshaw
Career
Movie • 1959
Robert Kensington
The Death of Manolete
Movie • 1957
Perea
Gold of the Seven Saints
Movie • 1961
Amos Gondora
Company of Killers
Movie • 1970
Owen Brady
No Place to Land
Movie • 1958
Buck LaVonne
Trial
Movie • 1955
A.A. "Fats" Sanders
Which Way to the Front?
Movie • 1970
Colonico
The Cheyenne Social Club
Movie • 1970
Barkeeper - Great Plains Saloon
Hell Bent for Leather
Movie • 1960
Ambrose
The Silver Chalice
Movie • 1954
Idbash
Day of the Badman
Movie • 1958
Charlie Hayes
The Lincoln Conspiracy
Movie • 1977
Edwin M. Stanton
Fair Play
Movie • 1972
Jova Purvis
Bitter Heritage
Movie • 1958
Luke Crocker
Nightmare at Ground Zero
Movie • 1958
Narrator
Witchcraft: The Doll in Brambles
Movie • 1961
Martin Plomb
Duck and Cover
Movie • 1952
Narrator
The Adventures of Gallegher
Movie • 1965
Dutch Mac
Something For An Empty Briefcase
Movie • 1953
Sloane
Columbo
TV • 1971
Victor Norris
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Ezekiel Kindworth aka 'Rocky Mountain'
Kung Fu
TV • 1972
Marshal Ford
Alias Smith and Jones
TV • 1971
Mannix
TV • 1967
Jake Coryell
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Jake Worth
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Judge Daniel Redmond
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Lt. Toler
Mission: Impossible
TV • 1966
Clavering
Get Smart
TV • 1965
The Whip
The Tall Man
TV • 1960
Paul Mason
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Sam Klinker
The Monroes
TV • 1966
Target: The Corruptors!
TV • 1961
The Wild Wild West
TV • 1965
Emir El Emid
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Josh Green
Daniel Boone
TV • 1964
Simon Brasher
Thriller
TV • 1960
Ohrback
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Titus Semple
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Sheriff Ed Mullen
Climax!
TV • 1954
Sheriff
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Judge Tyrone
Adventures in Paradise
TV • 1959
Howard Bailey
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
The Rebel
TV • 1959
Arthur Sutro
Bat Masterson
TV • 1958
Big Keel Roberts
The New Breed
TV • 1961
Stanley Mannis
The Detectives
TV • 1959
'Big Jim'
Wichita Town
TV • 1959
Suspense
TV • 1949
Bill West
Cavalcade of America
TV • 1952
William Harper
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV • 1956
Whitney 'Whit' Gaynor
Tales of Tomorrow
TV • 1951
Dr. John Borrow
Vacation Playhouse
TV • 1963
Homer Ferguson
Telephone Time
TV • 1956
The Walter Winchell File
TV • 1957
Aaron Benjamin
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Henry Tremaine
Hunter
TV • 1977
The Americans
TV • 1961
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
The Untouchables
TV • 1959
Mayer Wartel
The Untouchables
TV • 1959
Barney Loomis
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV • 1954
Frank Davis
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV • 1954
Dutch Mac
Man Against Crime
TV • 1949
Joseph Merko
Bonanza
TV • 1959
Sam Bryant
Bonanza
TV • 1959
C.J. Shasta
The Untouchables
TV • 1959
Mayor Anton J. Cermak
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Matt Harger
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Judge John Jefferson Hogan
Rawhide
TV • 1959
Duke Aberdeen
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Sidney Glover
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Dutch George
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Dorf
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Innkeeper
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Jed Hawkes
Burke's Law
TV • 1963
Ragnar Windsor
Bonanza
TV • 1959
Grizzly Martingale
Thriller
TV • 1960
Monsieur de Paris
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Louis Koster
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Cato Stone
Studio 57
TV • 1954
Maggio
Suspicion
TV • 1957
Banton
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Nate Burkett
The Investigators
TV • 1961
John DeLuca
MGM Parade
TV • 1955
McCloud
TV • 1970
Elliott Jason