Personal Info
Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
November 21, 1920
Place of Birth:
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Social Media
Ralph Meeker
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).
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.
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Known For
Filmography
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Los Angeles Plays Itself | Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly (archive footage) |
| 2002 | The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller | Lt. Driscoll (archive footage) |
| 1980 | Without Warning | Dave |
| 1979 | Winter Kills | Gameboy Baker |
| 1978 | The Alpha Incident | Charlie |
| 1978 | My Boys Are Good Boys | Bert Morton |
| 1978 | Hi-Riders | Mike |
| 1976 | The Food of the Gods | Bensington |
| 1975 | The Dead Don't Die | Lieutenant Reardon |
| 1975 | Johnny Firecloud | Colby |
| 1975 | Brannigan | Capt. Moretti |
| 1974 | The Girl on the Late, Late Show | Inspector DeBiesse |
| 1974 | Cry Panic | Chuck Braswell |
| 1974 | Night Games | Dutch Armbreck |
| 1973 | Birds of Prey | Jim McAndrew |
| 1973 | You'll Never See Me Again | Will Alden |
| 1973 | Love Comes Quietly | Ben Hoeksema |
| 1972 | The Night Stalker | Bernie Jenks |
| 1972 | The Mind Snatchers | The Major |
| 1971 | The Anderson Tapes | Police Captain 'Iron Balls' Delaney |
| 1971 | The Reluctant Heroes | Capt. Luke Danvers |
| 1970 | I Walk the Line | Carl McCain |
| 1970 | Lost Flight | Glenn Walkup |
| 1969 | The Devil's Eight | Burl |
| 1968 | The Detective | Curran |
| 1967 | The Dirty Dozen | Captain Stuart Kinder |
| 1967 | The St. Valentine's Day Massacre | George Clarence 'Bugs' Moran |
| 1967 | Gentle Giant | Fog Hanson |
| 1963 | Wall of Noise | Matt Rubio |
| 1961 | Something Wild | Mike |
| 1961 | Ada | Colonel Yancey |
| 1961 | A Holster Full Of Law | Frank Clell |
| 1957 | Paths of Glory | Cpl. Philippe Paris |
| 1957 | Run of the Arrow | Lieutenant Driscoll |
| 1957 | The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown | Mike Valla |
| 1956 | A Woman's Devotion | Trevor Stevenson |
| 1955 | Big House, U.S.A | Geraldo 'Jerry' Barker aka Iceman |
| 1955 | Kiss Me Deadly | Mike Hammer |
| 1955 | Desert Sands | Capt. David Malcolm |
| 1953 | The Naked Spur | Roy Anderson |
| 1953 | Jeopardy | Lawson the Fugitive |
| 1953 | Code Two | Chuck O'Flair |
| 1952 | Shadow in the Sky | Burt |
| 1952 | Somebody Loves Me | Benny Fields |
| 1952 | Glory Alley | Socks Barbarrosa |
| 1951 | Teresa | Sgt. Dobbs |
| 1951 | Four in a Jeep | Sergeant William Long |