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Ralph Meeker
Acting
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 (19…
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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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BODY OF WORK
Ralph Meeker's Filmography
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The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
as Lt. Driscoll (archive footage)
Without Warning
as Dave
Winter Kills
as Gameboy Baker
The Alpha Incident
as Charlie
Hi-Riders
as Mike
My Boys Are Good Boys
as Bert Morton
The Food of the Gods
as Bensington
Johnny Firecloud
as Colby
Brannigan
as Capt. Moretti
The Dead Don't Die
as Lieutenant Reardon
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
as Inspector DeBiesse
Night Games
as Dutch Armbreck
Cry Panic
as Chuck Braswell
Angela – Love Comes Quietly
as Ben Hoeksema
You'll Never See Me Again
as Will Alden
Birds of Prey
as Jim McAndrew
The Mind Snatchers
as The Major
The Night Stalker
as Bernie Jenks
The Reluctant Heroes
as Capt. Luke Danvers
The Anderson Tapes
as Police Captain 'Iron Balls' Delaney
I Walk the Line
as Carl McCain
Lost Flight
as Glenn Walkup
The Devil's Eight
as Burl
The Detective
as Curran
Gentle Giant
as Fog Hanson
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
as George Clarence 'Bugs' Moran
The Dirty Dozen
as Captain Stuart Kinder
Wall of Noise
as Matt Rubio
Something Wild
as Mike
A Holster Full Of Law
as Frank Clell
Ada
as Colonel Yancey
Paths of Glory
as Cpl. Philippe Paris
Run of the Arrow
as Lieutenant Driscoll
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown
as Mike Valla
Four Women in Black
as Carbine Webb
A Woman's Devotion
as Trevor Stevenson
Desert Sands
as Capt. David Malcolm
No Poster
Revenge
as Carl Spann
Kiss Me Deadly
as Mike Hammer
Big House, U.S.A
as Geraldo 'Jerry' Barker aka Iceman
Code Two
as Chuck O'Flair
Jeopardy
as Lawson the Fugitive
The Naked Spur
as Roy Anderson
Somebody Loves Me
as Benny Fields
Shadow in the Sky
as Burt
Glory Alley
as Socks Barbarrosa
Teresa
as Sgt. Dobbs
Four in a Jeep
as Sergeant William Long