Prolific American character actor of primarily villainous roles The son of German parents Cincinnati feedstore 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 mid40s when he began getting actual roles in lowbudget westerns and serials A prominent appearance as one of the heavies in Le train sifflera trois fois 1952 led to work in higherquality 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
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