Known For
Acting
Born
May 18, 1914
Died
Mar 28, 1989
Place of Birth
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Credits
194 titles
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. -
Known For
Filmography
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
Stripes
Gen. Barnicke
The Sweet Creek County War
Days of Heaven
The Farm Foreman
Dallas
Tom Owens
Wild and Wooly
Demas Scott
How the West Was Won
Appleton
Starsky & Hutch
Mac Johnson
Run, Joe, Run
Santee
Deaks (as Robert Wilke)
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
The Sheriff
Kung Fu
Sgt. Bridger
The Rookies
Officer Shaw
They Call It Murder
Sheriff Rex Brandon
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
Hugh Fielding
A Gunfight
Marshal Tom Cater
The Cheyenne Social Club
Corey Bannister
The Desperate Mission
Gant
Lancer
The Outcasts
Tony Rome
Ralph Turpin
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Sheriff Dan Butler
Cimarron Strip
Rango
Tarzan
Spooner
The Monroes
The Magnificent Stranger
Sheriff McVey
Smoky
Jeff Nicks
The Wild Wild West
Maj. Gen. Titus Ord Baldwin
The Legend of Jesse James
Marshal Sam Corbett
The Hallelujah Trail
Chief Five Barrels
Fate Is the Hunter
Stillman
Daniel Boone
Toff
Shock Treatment
Technician Mike Newton (as Robert Wilke)
The Fugitive
Johnny
The Greatest Show on Earth
Lou Sirotta
The Gun Hawk
Johnny Flanders
The Dakotas
The Lucy Show
Tom Carter
The Virginian
Conrad
Sam Benedict
Lt. Mike Radich
The Beachcomber
Bill Winters
Target: The Corruptors!
The Long Rope
Ben Matthews
Spartacus
Guard captain
The Magnificent Seven
Wallace
Stagecoach West
Taylor Norman
The Westerner
Murdo
My Three Sons
Danny Donnigan
Outlaws