Acting
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. -
Movies with Robert J. Wilke
The Magnificent Seven
1960
Spartacus
1960
High Noon
1952
Stripes
1981
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954
From Here to Eternity
1953
Days of Heaven
1978
The Lone Ranger
1956
The Far Country
1954
Night Passage
1957
Man of the West
1958
Written on the Wind
1956
Star Reporter
1939
Vengeance Valley
1951
The Hallelujah Trail
1965
Wichita
1955
The Lone Gun
1954
The Fighting Seabees
1944
Gun the Man Down
1956
The Cheyenne Social Club
1970
Hellgate
1952
Tony Rome
1967
The Tarnished Angels
1957
The Gun Hawk
1963
Smoke Signal
1955
Best of the Badmen
1951
Hot Summer Night
1957
The Desert Hawk
1950
A Gunfight
1971
Wild and Wooly
1978
Arrowhead
1953
Canyon River
1956
The Inner Circle
1946
Backlash
1956
Strange Lady in Town
1955
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987
The Rawhide Years
1956
Shock Treatment
1964
Daredevils of the Clouds
1948
The Las Vegas Story
1952
Raw Edge
1956
Shotgun
1955
Fate Is the Hunter
1964
Saddle Legion
1951
Two Guns and a Badge
1954
The Slowest Gun in the West
1960
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
1971
San Quentin
1937
They Call It Murder
1971
War Paint
1953
Santa Fe Saddlemates
1945
Faces in the Fog
1944
Badman's Territory
1946
The Blonde Bandit
1949
The Desperate Mission
1969
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
1973
Blackmail
1947
Mule Train
1950
Cattle Town
1952
The Sweet Creek County War
1979
The Rookies
1972
Adventures of Red Ryder
1940
Cow Country
1953
San Antonio Kid
1944
Grand Ole Opry
1940
Cowboy and the Senorita
1944
Never Steal Anything Small
1959
The Long Rope
1961
The Catman of Paris
1946
Hot Lead
1951
S.O.S Tidal Wave
1939
Web of Danger
1947
The Maverick
1952
Daredevils of the Red Circle
1939
Hidden Valley Outlaws
1944
Road Agent
1952
The Magnificent Stranger
1966
Pistol Harvest
1951
Call of the Rockies
1944
In Old Monterey
1939
Cyclone Fury
1951
The Fighting Devil Dogs
1938
Laramie
1949
Smoky
1966
Sunset in El Dorado
1945
Hitchhike to Happiness
1945
Fargo
1952
Whispering Footsteps
1943
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
1941
The Ghost Goes Wild
1947
Bandits of the Badlands
1945
Rendezvous with Annie
1946
Trail of Kit Carson
1945
Lone Texas Ranger
1945
Law of the Canyon
1947
Flaming Fury
1949
The Wyoming Bandit
1949
That Man's Here Again
1937
Twilight on the Rio Grande
1947
Traffic in Crime
1946
Carson City Raiders
1948
Santee
1973
Return to Warbow
1958
Earl Carroll Vanities
1945
Vigilantes of Dodge City
1944
Sierra Sue
1941
Code of the Prairie
1944
Outcasts of Black Mesa
1950
Wyoming Roundup
1952
Corpus Christi Bandits
1945
Sheriff of Sundown
1944
Gunplay
1951
Overland Telegraph
1951
Homicide for Three
1948
Coyote Canyon
1949
Rough Riders of Cheyenne
1945
White Tie and Tails
1946
Passkey to Danger
1946
Frontier Outpost
1950
Bordertown Trail
1944
Sheriff of Cimarron
1945
In Old Missouri
1940
Across the Badlands
1950
Buck Privates Come Home
TV Shows with Robert J. Wilke
Perry Mason
1957
Dallas
1978
Maverick
1957
The Rifleman
1958
Wagon Train
1957
Bonanza
1959
The Fugitive
1963
Lassie
1954
My Three Sons
1960
Daniel Boone
1964
Peter Gunn
1958
Bat Masterson
1958
The Wild Wild West
1965
The Virginian
1962
The Deputy
1959
Cheyenne
1955
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957
Rawhide
1959
The Untouchables
1959
Zorro
1957
The Lucy Show
1962
Four Star Playhouse
1952
Starsky & Hutch
1975
Laramie
1959
Lawman
1958
The Texan
1958
Gunsmoke
1955
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958
Bronco
1958
The Lone Ranger
1949
Outlaws
1960
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Lancer
1968
Tarzan
1966
Adventures of Superman
1952
Adventures in Paradise
1959
Sam Benedict
1962
The Abbott and Costello Show
1952
Stagecoach West
1960
The Monroes
1966
The Outcasts
1968
Tombstone Territory
1957
How the West Was Won
1977
The Adventures of Jim Bowie
1956
The Gene Autry Show
1950
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
The Cisco Kid
1950
The Dakotas
1963
The Tall Man
1960
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
Law of the Plainsman
1959
Riverboat
1959
Screen Director's Playhouse
1955
The Third Man
1959
Wichita Town
1959
Target: The Corruptors!
1961
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
Cavalcade of America
1952
Cimarron Strip
1967
Bourbon Street Beat
1959
The Thin Man
1957
The Legend of Jesse James
1965
Boston Blackie
1951
The Walter Winchell File
1957
The Westerner
1960
The Beachcomber
1962
Run, Joe, Run
1974
Rango
1967
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Kung Fu
1972