People named Ralph Meeker

Ralph Meeker Born: November 21, 1920, Minneapolis, MN Died: August 5, 1988, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, CA Born Ralph Rathgeber November 21, 1920 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. Died August 5, 1988 (aged 67) Los Angeles, California, U.S. Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Occupation Actor Years active 1951–1980 Spouse(s) Salome Jens (m. 1964–1966) Millicent Meeker (?–1988) 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 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 film noir cult classic 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. Meeker was born Ralph Rathgeber in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 21, 1920, the son of Ralph and Magnhild Senovia Haavig Meeker Rathgeber. He spent his early life in Michigan and Chicago, Illinois.Meeker attended the Leelanau School in Glen Arbor Township, Michigan, and later was made a member of its hall of fame. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1942, where he majored in music. Meeker starred on Broadway in Mister Roberts (1948–51), directed by Joshua Logan and produced by Leland Hayward. Theatre World said he was one of the 12 most promising actors from the 1947-48 season. He was understudy for Henry Fonda. Meeker's big breakthrough came when he took over the role of Stanley Kowalski from Marlon Brando in the second year of the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Logan and Hayward had Meeker under personal contract but agreed to release him from Mister Roberts. He started appearing in June 1949. He played the role until the Broadway run ended in December and then toured on the road with it. MGM Films Meeker made his film debut in the Swiss-made Four in a Jeep (1951), directed by Leopold Lindtberg. He played a starring role alongside Viveca Lindfors. Meeker was then signed to a term contract by MGM who put him in Teresa (1951), directed by Fred Zinnemann. Meeker played a support role, a sergeant, and the film was very popular. MGM then cast him in the leading role in Shadow in the Sky (1952), alongside Nancy Davis, later Nancy Reagan. The studio then tried him in Glory Alley (1952), billed above Leslie Caron and directed by Raoul Walsh. Both films flopped. Paramount borrowed him to play Betty Hutton's leading man in Somebody Loves Me (1952), a musical. It was a minor hit. Meeker's next two MGM films were very popular. He had a supporting role as a misfit ex-cavalryman in the classic Western The Naked Spur (1953) directed by Anthony Mann starring James Stewart. He was then in a well received thriller with Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan, Jeopardy (1953). His final film for MGM was a crime movie, Code Two (1953). Meeker also appeared on TV shows like The Revlon Mirror Theater and Lux Video Theatre. In 1954 Meeker was cast in a Broadway production of William Inge's Picnic, directed by Logan and also starring Paul Newman and Janice Rule. The play was a critical and commercial success, running for 477 performances. Meeker was awarded the New York Critic's Circle Award in 1954. Picnic became a classic film in 1955, with William Holden and Kim Novak starring in the roles originated by Meeker and Janice Rule. According to Turner Classic Movies, Meeker turned down the lead role because he did not wish to sign a long-term contract with the production company, and he never was offered a role of similar stature again. Meeker returned to films playing a cold-blooded convict in Big House, U.S.A. (1955). In perhaps his most-remembered role, Meeker starred as private detective Mike Hammer in the 1955 Robert Aldrich film of Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly. Many years later, this film acquired cult status and was seen as an influence on French New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard. He then played a member of the French Foreign Legion in Desert Sands (1955). He was discussed to star in a Spillane sequel My Gun is Quick but it was not made. He was in a thriller, A Woman's Devotion (1957) co-starring Rule. He appeared in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory, playing a soldier, Corporal Paris, accused of cowardice during battle in World War I. Meeker returned to Broadway in 1958 to appear in Cloud 7 but it only ran 11 performances. He continued to work heavily in TV on such shows as Climax!, Wagon Train, Kraft Theatre, Pursuit, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Schlitz Playhouse, The Loretta Young Show and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Meeker was cast with Dorothy Provine in the 1959 episode, "Blood Money", of the CBS Western series The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.He had the title role in the TV movie Dillinger (1960). From 1959–1960, Meeker had the leading role as United States Army Sergeant Steve Dekker in the 39-episode television series Not for Hire. In 1961, he starred in the political story Ada with Dean Martin, and in Jack Garfein's experimental drama Something Wild, in which he portrayed a mechanic who saves a young woman (Carroll Baker) from committing suicide, but then holds her captive in his apartment. In 1962, Meeker portrayed Jack Slade in the episode "The Crooked Angel" of ABC's drama series Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly as a Roman Catholic priest in New York City and loosely based on the Bing Crosby 1944 film of the same name. Meeker guest-starred as Frank Marin in the 1964 episode "Swing for the Moon" of ABC's Channing, set on a fictitious college campus and co-starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones. He was also in The Outer Limits, The Defenders, Suspense, The Doctors and the Nurses, and Kraft Suspense Theatre. Repertory on Broadway He returned to Broadway in 1964 for After The Fall by Arthur Miller, directed by Kazan and starring Jason Robards Jr and Barbara Loden. It ran for 208 performances. Meeker later appeared in the 1967 crime drama The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in which he played gangster George "Bugs" Moran. Meeker was also in the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen as Captain Stuart Kinder, a military psychologist who attempts to analyze the men. Meeker portrayed police officers in The Detective (1969) with Frank Sinatra and The Anderson Tapes (1970) with Sean Connery. Meeker also starred in Gentle Giant (1967), A Punt, a Pass, and a Prayer (1968), and The Devil's 8 (1968) and guest starred on Dundee and the Culhane, The High Chaparral, The Name of the Game, 1970s. Personal life Meeker married twice: his first wife (1964–1966) was actress Salome Jens, and his second was Millicent Meeker. In 1980, he suffered a severe stroke, which forced him to retire from acting. His health steadily declined, punctuated by several more strokes. He spent the last year of his life in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles, and died there, age 67, of a heart attack.[29] He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

Ralph Meeker of CA was born on October 24, 1913, and died at age 69 years old on August 19, 1983. Ralph Meeker was buried at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery Section R Site 710-B P.o. Box 6237, in San Diego.

Ralph L Meeker was born on May 19, 1948, and died at age 55 years old on August 16, 2003. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Ralph L Meeker.

Ralph Meeker of Tacoma, Pierce County, WA was born on June 24, 1913, and died at age 88 years old on June 21, 2002.

Ralph Meeker of California was born on February 14, 1878, and died at age 86 years old in June 1964.

Ralph Edwin Meeker of Eudora, Douglas County, Kansas was born on October 17, 1924, and died at age 86 years old on May 30, 2011.

Ralph Meeker of Bettendorf, Scott County, Iowa was born on October 5, 1907, and died at age 77 years old in February 1985.

Ralph I Meeker was born on November 22, 1917, and died at age 71 years old on October 20, 1989. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Ralph I Meeker.

Ralph Meeker was born on October 2, 1897, and died at age 62 years old in February 1960. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Ralph Meeker.

Ralph Meeker of Downers Grove, Du Page County, Illinois was born on September 6, 1922, and died at age 49 years old in May 1972.

Ralph Meeker of Illinois was born on December 17, 1895, and died at age 67 years old in June 1963.

Ralph Meeker of North Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida was born on September 8, 1900, and died at age 68 years old in May 1969.

Ralph Morris Meeker of Lyons, Fulton County, Ohio was born on December 24, 1931, and died at age 78 years old on September 23, 2010.

Ralph Meeker of Sunbury, Delaware County, Ohio was born on September 10, 1912, and died at age 72 years old in September 1984.

Ralph W Meeker of Plainfield, Union County, NJ was born on May 26, 1906, and died at age 83 years old on December 28, 1989.