Robert J. Wilke

American actor (1914–1989)

Robert Joseph Wilke (May 18, 1914 – March 28, 1989) was an American film and television actor noted primarily for his roles as villains, mostly in Westerns.

Wilke was a native of Cincinnati. Before going into acting, he had a variety of jobs, including working in a high dive act at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933–1934.

Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco (1936).

Wilke appeared in many television westerns, including seven episodes each of NBC's Laramie and CBS's Gunsmoke. Wilke played a hired gun in The Far Country (1954) and continued to work steadily in films and television over the next 20 years. More western credits followed in Man of the West (1958) and numerous lesser known films. In 1960 Wilke appeared in The Magnificent Seven as the railroad bully, Wallace, who was quickly killed off by James Coburn. He also appeared in Days of Heaven (1978) as the farm foreman. Wilke guest starred on many other television westerns, including Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo, Have Gun – Will Travel, Bronco, The Westerner, Lawman, Wanted Dead or Alive, Zorro, The Rifleman, and Rango.

Outside of westerns, Wilke appeared in From Here to Eternity (1953) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). In the former film, Wilke's character tells Maggio he has guard duty, which begins a series of events leading to the plot's climax. In the later film, he was cast as the first mate of the Nautilus. It is Wilke who, in the film, warns Captain Nemo that a giant squid is approaching the ship, and who utters the line, "We understand, sir, and we're with you", when Nemo announces his final intentions. His drama/adventure roles included U. S. Marshal, Peter Gunn, Tarzan, Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Untouchables. In 1953 Wilke, playing a henchman for an East European counterfeiter, shoved John Hamilton and George Reeves into side by side steam cabinets, locked them in, turned up the thermostat to charbroil and left them to bake in "Perry White's Scoop", an episode of the Adventures of Superman. Wilke played Deputy Sheriff Connors in the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" on CBS' Perry Mason. He portrayed golf professional Danny Donnigan in a 1962 episode, "Robbie the Caddie", on the ABC sitcom, My Three Sons. In 1964 Wilke played Tom Carter, the golf instructor of Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball), in The Lucy Show episode "Lucy Takes Up Golf". Wilke's final film role was somewhat against type as Gen. Barnicke in the 1981 comedy Stripes. James Garner also said that Wilke was the best golfer among the showbiz crowd at the Riviera in his book The Garner Files. In 1966, Wilke was rated the best amateur golfer in Hollywood. In 1960, 1963, and 1964, he won the World Entertainment Championship golf title.