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Robert Middleton
Actor
Died June 14, 1977 (66 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Middleton, born Samuel G. Messer (May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977), was an American film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. With a deep, booming voice, Middleton trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked steadily as a radio announcer and actor.
One of his early works was as the narrator of the educational film "Duck and Cover". After appearing on the Broadway stage and live television, Middleton began appearing in films in 1954. He's also remembered on television as the boss Mr. Marshall on The Jackie Gleason Show and in film opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours (1955), Gary Cooper in Friendly Persuasion (1956), Richard Egan and Elvis Presley in Love Me Tender (1956), Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack in The Tarnished Angels (1958), and Dean Martin in Career (1959).
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Middleton appeared in many television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the CBS anthology series Appointment with Adventure. He was cast as "The Tichborne Claimant" in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show. He appeared in ten episodes of ABC's family Western The Monroes, with costars Michael Anderson, Jr., and Barbara Hershey. Among his several appearances in the long-running Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he portrayed a gangster in high places, Mr. Koster, in the 1956 episode "The Better Bargain". In 1958, he played the villain in the first episode of Bat Masterson. In 1961, he appeared in the episode "Accidental Tourist" on the James Whitmore ABC legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones. That same year, he portrayed the highly sympathetic but fiercely dedicated state executioner in an episode of Thriller (U.S. TV series) entitled "Guillotine". He also appeared in at least one episode of Bonanza (1964).
In the early 1950s, Middleton appeared on Broadway in Ondine. Other significant film roles include The Court Jester (1956) as a grim and determined knight who jousts with Danny Kaye in the famous "pellet with the poison" sequence, and as a sinister politician in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). Betwixt and between were an array of brutish mountain daddies, corrupt, cigar-chomping town bosses and lynch mob leaders. Occasionally he showed a bit of levity, as in his recurring role as Jackie Gleason's boss on The Honeymooners (1955) sketches.
Middleton died of congestive heart failure in Hollywood at the age of sixty-six.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Robert Middleton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
| 1977 | The Lincoln Conspiracy · as Edwin M. Stanton |
| 1974 | The Mark of Zorro · as Don Luis Quintero |
| 1973 | The Harrad Experiment · as Sid Bower |
| 1973 | Even Angels Eat Beans · as Angelo |
| 1972 | Kung Fu (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1971 | Fairplay · as Jova Purvis |
| 1971 | Columbo (TV Series) · as Victor Norris |
| 1971 | Alias Smith and Jones (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1970 | The Cheyenne Social Club · as Barkeeper - Great Plains Saloon |
| 1970 | Company of Killers · as Owen Brady |
| 1970 | Which Way to the Front? · as Colonico |
| 1970 | McCloud (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1967 | Mannix (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1966 | A Big Hand for the Little Lady · as Dennis Wilcox |
| 1966 | Mission: Impossible (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | The Wild Wild West (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | The Big Valley (TV Series) · as Judge Tyrone |
| 1965 | Get Smart (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1964 | For Those Who Think Young · as Burford Sanford Cronin |
| 1964 | The Glass Cage · as Business Man |
| 1964 | Daniel Boone (TV Series) · as Simon Brasher |
| 1964 | The Rogues (TV Series) · as Mayor Ed Bramlette |
| 1963 | Cattle King · as Clay Mathews |
| 1961 | Witchcraft · as Martin Plomb |
| 1960 | Hell Bent for Leather · as Ambrose |
| 1960 | The Great Impostor · as R.C. Brown |
| 1960 | Thriller (TV Series) · as Ohrback |
| 1960 | The Tall Man (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1959 | Don't Give Up the Ship · as Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde |
| 1959 | Rawhide (TV Series) · as Matt Harger |
| 1959 | |
| 1959 | The Detectives (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1959 | The Rebel (TV Series) · as Arthur Sutro |
| 1959 | The Untouchables (TV Series) · as Mayor Anton J. Cermak |
| 1958 | Day of the Badman · as Charlie Hayes |
| 1958 | Bat Masterson (TV Series) · as Big Keel Roberts |
| 1958 | The Law and Jake Wade · as Ortero |
| 1957 | The Tarnished Angels · as Matt Ord |
| 1957 | The Lonely Man · as Ben Ryerson |
| 1957 | Perry Mason (TV Series) · as Judge Daniel Redmond |
| 1957 | Suspicion (TV Series) · as Jim Adams |
| 1957 | Tales of Wells Fargo (TV Series) · as Bodie Seaton |
| 1957 | The Real McCoys (TV Series) · as Jim Slade |
| 1957 | Wagon Train (TV Series) · as Nat Burkett |
| 1956 | Love Me Tender · as Mr. Siringo |
| 1956 | Friendly Persuasion · as Sam Jordan |
| 1956 | The Proud Ones · as Honest John Barrett |
| 1956 | Red Sundown · as Rufus Henshaw |
| 1956 | Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) · as Whitney 'Whit' Gaynor |
| 1955 | The Desperate Hours · as Sam Kobish |
| 1955 | The Big Combo · as Police Capt. Peterson |
| 1955 | Trial · as A.A. 'Fats' Sanders |
| 1955 | Gunsmoke (TV Series) · as Dutch George |
| 1955 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) · as Louis Koster |
| 1955 | The Court Jester · as Sir Griswold |
| 1954 | The Silver Chalice · as Idbash |
| 1954 | Climax! (TV Series) · as Sheriff |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as Frank Davis |
| 1953 | General Electric Theater (TV Series) · as Innkeeper |
| 1953 | The Loretta Young Show (TV Series) · as Henry Tremaine |
| 1952 | Duck and Cover · as Narrator |
| 1952 | The Jackie Gleason Show (TV Series) · as J.J. Marshall |
| 1952 | Cavalcade of America (TV Series) · as William Harper |
| 1951 | Tales of Tomorrow (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1950 | The Lux Video Theatre (TV Series) · as Titus Semple |
| 1950 | Treasury Men in Action (TV Series) · as actor |
| 1949 | Man Against Crime (TV Series) · as Joseph Merko |
| 1949 | Suspense (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1948 | Studio One (TV Series) · as The Manager |