Robert J. Wilke
Date of birth: 1914-05-18
Place of birth: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Known for: Acting
Also known as: Bob Wilke, Robert Wilke, Robert Joseph 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. -
Movie Credits
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
1954-12-23
A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Naut
High Noon
1952-06-09
Will Kane, the sheriff of a small town in New Mexico, learns a notorious outlaw he put in jail has b
Spartacus
1960-10-13
The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. A
Flaming Fury
1949-07-28
A Los Angeles fire captain (Roy Roberts) sends an arson-squad rookie (George Cooper) undercover.
Night Passage
1957-07-24
Grant MacLaine, a former railroad troubleshooter, lost his job after letting his outlaw brother, the
Tony Rome
1967-11-10
Tony Rome, a tough Miami PI living on a houseboat, is hired by a local millionaire to find jewelry s
The Las Vegas Story
1952-01-30
When newlyweds visit Las Vegas, the wife's shady past comes to the surface.
Hitchhike to Happiness
1945-07-16
An aspiring playwright gets a job in a New York City restaurant favored by celebrities in hopes of g
The Magnificent Stranger
1966-08-26
Rowdy Yates is accused of murder, and has to alert the Army to a bandit assault.
Man of the West
1958-10-01
Heading east to Fort Worth to hire a schoolteacher for his frontier town home, Link Jones is strande
Arrowhead
1953-08-03
Director Charles Marquis Warren's 1953 western stars Charlton Heston and Jack Palance. Chief of Scou
Backlash
1956-03-14
Jim Slater's father (whom he never knew) died in the Apache ambush at Gila Valley, and Jim is search
The Tarnished Angels
1957-11-21
In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot
Cowboy and the Senorita
1944-05-13
Chip has inherited a supposedly worthless gold mine from her father and Craig Allen is about to buy
The Far Country
1954-02-12
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run af
Written on the Wind
1956-10-04
Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, J
The Ghost Goes Wild
1947-08-08
Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disgu
A Gunfight
1971-08-25
Will Tenneray and Abe Cross are two aging, famous gunfighters, both in need of money. Tenneray comes
The Rookies
1972-03-07
Three new officers in a large metropolitan police department adjust to their new jobs and way of lif
The Inner Circle
1946-08-07
A fresh-faced young detective gets set up, framed for murder, and alibied by a smart blonde.
Bandits of the Badlands
1945-09-14
Sunset Carson is a wandering cavalier who rides into the Badlands. Hallie Wayne is bedeviled by band
The Boy Who Cried Werewolf
1973-08-01
Little Richie Bridgestone goes to spend the weekend with his father at his secluded mountain cabin,
Santee
1973-09-01
Jody Deakes joins up with his father after many years, just to discover that his dad is part of an o
Gun the Man Down
1956-11-15
An outlaw is left for dead by his gang after being shot. A year later, he is released from jail with
Hot Summer Night
1957-02-15
An out-of-work reporter (Leslie Nielsen) seeks out a bank robber, and his bride (Colleen Miller) has
Fate Is the Hunter
1964-10-16
An airline executive refuses to believe that pilot error, by his friend, caused a fatal crash and pe
The Lone Ranger
1956-02-25
The territorial governor asks the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on settlers by Indians
The Fighting Devil Dogs
1938-05-27
Two marine lieutenants battle a masked would-be world conqueror who uses electricity as a weapon.
The Gun Hawk
1963-08-28
When his town-drunk father is killed by the Sully brothers, gunfighter Blaine Madden exacts his reve
Homicide for Three
1948-12-08
While on shore leave to celebrate his first anniversary, Lt. Peter Duluth (Warren Douglas) takes his
War Paint
1953-08-28
An Indian and his beautiful sister attempt to destroy a cavalry patrol trying to deliver a peace tre
Best of the Badmen
1951-08-09
After the North defeats the South, Union Maj. Jeff Clanton heads to Missouri to provide the Confeder
San Quentin
1937-05-24
Ex-Army officer Jameson takes a job a prison guard at San Quentin. Joe, the brother of his new girlf
Canyon River
1956-08-04
A rancher's foreman schemes against him on a cattle drive from Oregon to Wyoming.
San Antonio Kid
1944-08-16
A geologist has found oil on the neighboring ranches and teams up with Ace who has his gang create a
Cattle Town
1952-09-06
The governor of Texas sends a cowboy to keep the peace between ranchers and a land baron.
Return to Warbow
1958-01-15
Three escaped prisoners return to the site of a robbery to find the stolen money that was never reco
Hellgate
1952-09-04
A man is framed and sent to the toughest prison in the territory.
Never Steal Anything Small
1959-02-11
Director Charles Lederer's 1959 musical stars James Cagney as an unscrupulous longshoreman who'll re
The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler
1971-11-30
A U.S. Senator is spirited away to a secret New Mexico medical lab after a serious car crash. His in
The Slowest Gun in the West
1960-05-07
The town of Primrose, Arizona is beset by outlaws, so the towns people hire Fletcher Bissell III (A.
Code of the Prairie
1944-10-06
Just after the Oklahoma Panhandle was annexed into the united states an ex-lawman turned newspaper m
Hidden Valley Outlaws
1944-04-01
Lawyer Leland is using land rights to kick the ranchers off their land. When Wild Bill and Gabby arr
Daredevils of the Clouds
1948-07-26
Terry O'Rourke, an American operating a small airline in Canada, is having a tough time making a go
Overland Telegraph
1951-12-15
Not to be confused with the 1929 film The Overland Telegraph, this Western from director Lesley Sela
Cow Country
1953-04-25
A hired hand gets caught between a noble rancher and ruthless land grabbers.
From Here to Eternity
1953-08-28
In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's
Smoke Signal
1955-03-01
Capt. Harper's cavalry patrol returns to the fort to find it besieged by Ute Indians. The apparent c
Smoky
1966-08-03
A cowboy named Clint bonds with a beautiful wild stallion that he trains, but after the two are sepa
Daredevils of the Red Circle
1939-06-10
Escaped Prisoner 39013 impersonates the rich and influential Horace Granville, allowing him to creat
That Man's Here Again
1937-04-16
An elevator operator in a swanky apartment building falls in love with a homeless girl who sneaks in
Star Reporter
1939-02-22
An idealistic young newspaper reporter crusades against organized crime.
Vigilantes of Dodge City
1944-11-15
This "Red Ryder" entry stars Gordon "Wild Bill" Elliot as Ryder. The heroine is having troubles with
Corpus Christi Bandits
1945-04-20
After the Civil War, veteran Jim Christi (Allan Lane) returns to Texas, where he is unjustly accused
Sheriff of Cimarron
1945-02-28
Sunset Carson rides into the town of Cimarron looking for his brother and the crooks who framed him
Road Agent
1952-03-29
Brand controls the only road to the cattle market and is charging exorbitant rates. Tim and Chito ro
Frontier Outpost
1950-12-29
Federal agent Steve Lawton works undercover with his assistant, Smiley Burnette, to track down an ou
They Call It Murder
1971-12-17
A small-town district attorney is saddled with several major investigations, including a gambler's m
The Magnificent Seven
1960-10-12
An oppressed Mexican peasant village hires seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.
Two Guns and a Badge
1954-09-11
In the last of his four western programmers for Allied Artists, Wayne Morris plays frontiersman Jim
Santa Fe Saddlemates
1945-06-01
Governor Price sends Sunset Carson to investigate a smuggling ring which is baffling the Border Patr
Sierra Sue
1941-11-12
To fight a poisonous weed, ranchers are burning their land. Gene is the Inspector brought in and he
The Desperate Mission
1969-11-20
A man who has lost everything joins others paid to convey a wealthy man's wife - and a mysterious tr
The Long Rope
1961-03-26
A judge in a murder trial, believing the defendant is innocent, sets out to find the real killer.
Days of Heaven
1978-09-13
In 1916, a Chicago steel worker accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle w
Saddle Legion
1951-04-07
A cattle inspector runs a rustling ring on the side.
Adventures of Red Ryder
1940-06-28
Calvin Drake employs a group of low-lifes to drive away land owners along the path of a new railroad
Bordertown Trail
1944-08-11
The election to determine if Texas will become a state is near and men opposed are running contraban
Call of the Rockies
1944-07-14
Cowboy Sunset Carson teams up with Frog Millhouse on a routine supply trip to Placer City. Before lo
Gunplay
1951-07-23
Landry has Sam Martin killed. When Tim and Chito find Martin and his son, Chip says Matt Potter was
Pistol Harvest
1951-08-30
Two men are accused of killing their boss. They are saved from the hangman's noose when two other gu
Hot Lead
1951-09-30
Recently released from prison, nice guy Dave Collins finds himself unwillingly mixed up with his old
Cyclone Fury
1951-08-14
A late entry in Columbia's seemingly endless Durango Kid Western series, Cyclone Fury was augmented
The Cheyenne Social Club
1970-06-12
Two cowboys inherit a "social club" specializing in satisfying men.
In Old Missouri
1940-04-17
The Weavers are share-croppers who confront their landlord with their tale of woe only to find he is
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.
1941-12-27
Dick Tracy goes up against a villain known as The Ghost, who can turn himself invisible.
Strange Lady in Town
1955-04-12
Julia Garth, a female doctor, plans to introduce modern techniques of medicine to old Santa Fe in 18
Wyoming Roundup
1952-11-09
When newcomers Whip and Bob break up a saloon fight they are made town Marshals. This puts then in t
In Old Monterey
1939-08-14
The U.S. Army takes over a large area of land, over the objection of citizens and corporations who l
Grand Ole Opry
1940-06-25
Aided by musicians at the Grand Ole Opry, a small-town mayor in the Ozarks takes on a group of crook
Twilight on the Rio Grande
1947-03-31
Gene and Pokie are on vacation in Mexico when they learn that their buddy Dusty has been bumped off.
Web of Danger
1947-06-10
Ernie Reardon, the superintendent, and Bill O'Hara, the foreman, of a construction company crew work
Blackmail
1947-07-24
A private detective is offered a job protecting a rich business man from suspected blackmail. Before
Traffic in Crime
1946-06-28
Police Chief Jim Murphy, in a crime-ridden city, deputizes newspaper-reporter Sam Wire, to work as a
The Catman of Paris
1946-04-20
When author Charles Regnier returns to Paris with a best-selling book that criticizes the government
Passkey to Danger
1946-05-11
An advertising man's new campaign for a fashion designer attracts the attention of mysterious charac
Earl Carroll Vanities
1945-04-05
Broadway producer Earl Carroll was a Ziegfeld-like entrepreneur who staged lavish revues featuring a
Faces in the Fog
1944-11-30
Tom and Cora Elliott love their active social life so much that they neglect their daughter Mary and
The Fighting Seabees
1944-01-27
Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work
The Wyoming Bandit
1949-07-15
Wyoming Dan (Trevor Bardette) returns home after 20 years evading the law for a crime he didn't comm
Coyote Canyon
1949-11-17
This film and the 1950 short "The Fargo Phantom" were edited together and released as a feature call
Across the Badlands
1950-09-14
Charles Starrett once more hits the trail as "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Across the Badlands. By
Outcasts of Black Mesa
1950-04-13
Our Hero is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Once again, he breaks jail to find the real culprit
The Desert Hawk
1950-08-05
A desert guerilla, with flashing scimitar, opposes a tyrannical prince and marries the caliph's daug
Fargo
1952-09-07
The brother (House Peters Jr.) of rancher Bill Martin (Bill Elliott) is killed in a stampede started
The Maverick
1952-12-14
Wild Bill Elliott must escort a gang of killer cattleman who have been terrorizing homesteaders.
The Hallelujah Trail
1965-06-23
A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance
Law of the Canyon
1947-04-23
Freight wagons are being stolen and ransomed back to their owners. Government agent Steve Langtry (a
Sheriff of Sundown
1944-11-07
Bringing his large cattle herd to Sundown, rancher Tex Jordan must sell his cattle to corrupt baron
Rough Riders of Cheyenne
1945-10-31
Sunset returns to find the Carson-Sterling feud still going. Sterling has been killed and it's not l
Sunset in El Dorado
1945-09-29
The story involves a rather odd flashback by Dale who is visiting El Dorado, home of her grandmother
Trail of Kit Carson
1945-07-11
Bill Harmon receives a letter from his partner, Dave MacRoy informing him of a rich gold strike in t
Carson City Raiders
1948-05-13
Carson City Raiders is a western film directed by Yakima Canutt in 1948. Rocky Lane (Allan Lane) wan
The Rawhide Years
1956-07-01
Ben Matthews gives up the flashy life of a riverboat gambler, hoping to settle down in Galena with h
The Lone Gun
1954-04-25
Cruze arrives in town and when he stands up to the three Moran brothers, he gets appointed Marshal.
Wichita
1955-07-03
Former buffalo hunter and entrepreneur Wyatt Earp arrives in the lawless cattle town of Wichita Kans
Shotgun
1955-04-23
Clay Hardin, a Deputy U.S. Marshal, is about to turn in his badge and take the job as the territory'
Raw Edge
1956-03-24
A Texan arrives in Oregon and seeks justice for his innocently-hanged brother.
S.O.S Tidal Wave
1939-06-02
A news reporter-commentator at a combined radio-television broadcasting station gives up his stand a
Rendezvous with Annie
1946-07-22
A homesick American soldier stationed in England during World War II makes an unauthorized trip to
Whispering Footsteps
1943-12-30
An Ohio bank clerk's life becomes a nightmare when his descriptions is a fit of a maniac killer.
The Sweet Creek County War
1979-01-25
In this western, a sheriff gets tired of upholding the law and retires to a quiet ranch. Unfortunate
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987-03-13
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.
Badman's Territory
1946-05-04
After some gun play with a posse, the James Gang head for Quinto in a section of land which is not a
Buck Privates Come Home
1947-04-04
Two ex-soldiers return from overseas--one of them having smuggled into the country a French orphan g
White Tie and Tails
1946-08-30
When his employer goes to Florida, a butler masquerades as a millionaire and winds up getting involv
Shock Treatment
1964-07-22
A private investigator endures the rigors of an insane asylum in order to locate $1 million in stole
Laramie
1949-05-19
A major Indian uprising is expected and Wyoming military posts are alerted. Colonel Dennison is meet
Stripes
1981-06-26
Hard-luck cabbie John Winger, directionless after being fired from his job and dumped by his girlfri
Wild and Wooly
1978-02-20
A Western adventure — a "Charlie's Angels" on horseback — involving three comely females who meet in
Vengeance Valley
1951-02-14
A cattle baron takes in an orphaned boy and raises him, causing his own son to resent the boy. As th
Mule Train
1950-02-22
A prospector discovers natural cement and suggests it should be used for a new dam. But this is the
The Blonde Bandit
1949-12-22
A duped bride joins a bookie in love and crime.
Lone Texas Ranger
1945-05-20
"Iron Mike" Haines (Tom Chatterton), a crooked sheriff, and "Hands" Weber (Roy Barcroft), the town b