Person
Robert J. Wilke
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…
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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
Movies and shows, newest first
-
1987
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
1981
Stripes
Movie Gen. Barnicke
- 1979
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1978
Days of Heaven
Movie The Farm Foreman
-
1978
Dallas
TV show Tom Owens
-
1978
Wild and Wooly
Movie Demas Scott
-
1977
How the West Was Won
TV show Appleton
-
1975
Starsky & Hutch
TV show Mac Johnson
-
1974
Run, Joe, Run
TV show
-
1973
Santee
Movie Deaks (as Robert Wilke)
-
1973
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
Movie The Sheriff
-
1972
Kung Fu
TV show Sgt. Bridger
-
1972
The Rookies
Movie Officer Shaw
-
1971
They Call It Murder
Movie Sheriff Rex Brandon
-
1971
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
Movie Hugh Fielding
-
1971
A Gunfight
Movie Marshal Tom Cater
More credits
-
1970
The Cheyenne Social Club
Movie Corey Bannister
-
1969
The Desperate Mission
Movie Gant
-
1968
Lancer
TV show
-
1968
The Outcasts
TV show
-
1967
Tony Rome
Movie Ralph Turpin
-
1967
The Guns of Will Sonnett
TV show Sheriff Dan Butler
-
1967
Cimarron Strip
TV show
-
1967
Rango
TV show
-
1966
Tarzan
TV show Spooner
-
1966
The Monroes
TV show
-
1966
The Magnificent Stranger
Movie Sheriff McVey
-
1966
Smoky
Movie Jeff Nicks
-
1965
The Wild Wild West
TV show Maj. Gen. Titus Ord Baldwin
-
1965
The Legend of Jesse James
TV show Marshal Sam Corbett
-
1965
The Hallelujah Trail
Movie Chief Five Barrels
-
1964
Fate Is the Hunter
Movie Stillman
-
1964
Daniel Boone
TV show Toff
-
1964
Shock Treatment
Movie Technician Mike Newton (as Robert Wilke)
-
1963
The Fugitive
TV show Johnny
-
1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV show Lou Sirotta
-
1963
The Gun Hawk
Movie Johnny Flanders
-
1963
The Dakotas
TV show
-
1962
The Lucy Show
TV show Tom Carter
-
1962
The Virginian
TV show Conrad
