Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1920-11-21
Day of Death
1988-08-05
Place of Birth
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Ralph Meeker
Biography
Ralph Meeker (born Ralph Rathgeber; November 21, 1920 – August 5, 1988) was an American actor. He first rose to prominence for his roles in the Broadway productions of Mister Roberts (1948–1951) and Picnic (1953), the former of which earned him a Theatre World Award for his performance. In film, Meeker is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Mike Hammer in Robert Aldrich's 1955 Kiss Me Deadly. Meeker went on to play a series of roles that used his husky and macho screen presence, including a lead role in Stanley Kubrick's military courtroom drama Paths of Glory (1957), as a troubled mechanic opposite Carroll Baker in Something Wild (1961), as a World War II captain in The Dirty Dozen (1967), and in the gangster film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967). Other credits include supporting roles in I Walk the Line (1970) and Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes (1971). He also had a prolific career in television, appearing as Sergeant Steve Dekker on the series Not for Hire (1959–1960), and in the television horror film The Night Stalker (1972). After suffering a stroke in 1980, Meeker was forced to retire from acting, and died eight years later of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography (48)
Los Angeles Plays Itself
2004
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
Without Warning
1980
Winter Kills
1979
The Alpha Incident
1978
Hi-Riders
1978
My Boys Are Good Boys
1978
The Food of the Gods
1976
Johnny Firecloud
1975
Brannigan
1975
The Dead Don't Die
1975
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
1974
Night Games
1974
Cry Panic
1974
