Ralph Meeker

Ralph Meeker (born Ralph Rathgeber; November 21, 1920 – August 5, 1988) was an American film, stage and television 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 would earn him a Theatre World Award for his performance. In film, Meeker is perhaps best known for his portrayal Mike Hammer in Robert Aldrich's 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly. Meeker would go on to play a series of roles that utilized 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 would also have 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.