Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthdate
1914-05-18
Day of Death
1989-03-28
Place of Birth
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Robert J. Wilke
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 (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
