Known For
Acting
Born
Nov 21, 1920
Died
Aug 05, 1988
Place of Birth
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Credits
88 titles
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.
Known For
Filmography
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Lt. Driscoll (archive footage)
Without Warning
Dave
Winter Kills
Gameboy Baker
Kaz
The Eddie Capra Mysteries
The Alpha Incident
Charlie
Hi-Riders
Mike
My Boys Are Good Boys
Bert Morton
CHiPs
The Food of the Gods
Bensington
Barbary Coast
Big Lou Hobart
Johnny Firecloud
Colby
Brannigan
Capt. Moretti
The Dead Don't Die
Lieutenant Reardon
Police Woman
Harry O
Run, Joe, Run
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
Inspector DeBiesse
Night Games
Dutch Armbreck
Cry Panic
Chuck Braswell
Toma
Faraday and Company
Ed Kelso
Angela – Love Comes Quietly
Ben Hoeksema
The Evil Touch
Police Story
You'll Never See Me Again
Will Alden
Birds of Prey
Jim McAndrew
The Rookies
The Mind Snatchers
The Major
The Night Stalker
Bernie Jenks
The Reluctant Heroes
Capt. Luke Danvers
Primus
Cannon
The Anderson Tapes
Police Captain 'Iron Balls' Delaney
I Walk the Line
Carl McCain
Lost Flight
Glenn Walkup
Room 222
The Devil's Eight
Burl
The Name of the Game
Senator Goddard
The Detective
Curran
Gentle Giant
Fog Hanson
The High Chaparral
Tracy Conlin
Custer
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
George Clarence 'Bugs' Moran
The Dirty Dozen
Captain Stuart Kinder
Ironside
The Green Hornet
Earl Evans
Tarzan
The F.B.I.
King Hogan
Kraft Suspense Theatre
Harly Clay