Ralph Meeker
48 movies · 40 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Nov 21, 1920
- Died
- Aug 5, 1988 (age 67)
- Place of birth
- Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Also known as
- Ralph Rathgeber
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).
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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.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Ralph Meeker: movies and TV shows
Acting (88)
- 2002 The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Lt. Driscoll (archive footage)
- 1980 Without Warning
as Dave
- 1979 Winter Kills
as Gameboy Baker
- 1978
- 1978
- 1978 The Alpha Incident
as Charlie
- 1978 Hi-Riders
as Mike
- 1978 My Boys Are Good Boys
as Bert Morton
- 1977
- 1976 The Food of the Gods
as Bensington
- 1975
- 1975 Johnny Firecloud
as Colby
- 1975 Brannigan
as Capt. Moretti
- 1975 The Dead Don't Die
as Lieutenant Reardon
- 1974
- 1974
- 1974
- 1974 The Girl on the Late, Late Show
as Inspector DeBiesse
- 1974 Night Games
as Dutch Armbreck
- 1974 Cry Panic
as Chuck Braswell
- 1973
- 1973
- 1973 Angela – Love Comes Quietly
as Ben Hoeksema
- 1973
- 1973
- 1973 You'll Never See Me Again
as Will Alden
- 1973 Birds of Prey
as Jim McAndrew
- 1972
- 1972 The Mind Snatchers
as The Major
- 1972 The Night Stalker
as Bernie Jenks
- 1971 The Reluctant Heroes
as Capt. Luke Danvers
- 1971
- 1971
- 1971 The Anderson Tapes
as Police Captain 'Iron Balls' Delaney
- 1970 I Walk the Line
as Carl McCain
- 1970 Lost Flight
as Glenn Walkup
- 1969
- 1969 The Devil's Eight
as Burl
- 1968
- 1968 The Detective
as Curran
- 1967 Gentle Giant
as Fog Hanson
- 1967
- 1967
- 1967 The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
as George Clarence 'Bugs' Moran
- 1967 The Dirty Dozen
as Captain Stuart Kinder
- 1967
- 1966
- 1966
- 1965
- 1963
- 1963
- 1963 Wall of Noise
as Matt Rubio
- 1962
- 1961 Something Wild
as Mike
- 1961 A Holster Full Of Law
as Frank Clell
- 1961
- 1961 Ada
as Colonel Yancey
- 1961
- 1960
- 1959
- 1958
- 1958
- 1957 Paths of Glory
as Cpl. Philippe Paris
- 1957 Run of the Arrow
as Lieutenant Driscoll
- 1957 The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown
as Mike Valla
- 1957 Four Women in Black
as Carbine Webb
- 1956 A Woman's Devotion
as Trevor Stevenson
- 1956
- 1955 Desert Sands
as Capt. David Malcolm
- 1955
- 1955 Revenge
as Carl Spann
- 1955
- 1955 Kiss Me Deadly
as Mike Hammer
- 1955 Big House, U.S.A
as Geraldo 'Jerry' Barker aka Iceman
- 1954
- 1953
- 1953 Code Two
as Chuck O'Flair
- 1953 Jeopardy
as Lawson the Fugitive
- 1953 The Naked Spur
as Roy Anderson
- 1952 Somebody Loves Me
as Benny Fields
- 1952 Shadow in the Sky
as Burt
- 1952 Glory Alley
as Socks Barbarrosa
- 1951
- 1951
- 1951 Teresa
as Sgt. Dobbs
- 1951 Four in a Jeep
as Sergeant William Long
- 1950
- 1948
Behind the camera (1)
- 1978 My Boys Are Good Boys
Executive Producer
Talk shows and appearances (1)
- 1948 The Ed Sullivan Show
3 episodes