Ralph Meeker
Birthday: 1920-11-21 Place of Birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Synopsis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 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. contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.
Winter Kills
The younger brother of an assassinated US President is led down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and dead ends after learning of a man claiming to be the real shooter.
My Boys Are Good Boys
Teenagers at a correctional facility devise a plan to rob an armored van.
The Alpha Incident
A space probe brings back a micro-organism from Mars which terrorizes passengers at a railhead.
Hi-Riders
Story of a group of drag races and the young boy and girl who join them.
The Food of the Gods
Morgan and his friends are on a hunting trip on a remote Canadian island when they are attacked by a swarm of giant wasps. Looking for help, Morgan stumbles across a barn inhabited by an enormous killer chicken. After doing some exploring, they discover the entire island is crawling with animals that have somehow grown to giant size. The most dangerous of all of these, however, are the rats, who are mobilizing to do battle with the human intruders.
Brannigan
A hard-nosed Chicago cop is sent to London to bring back an American mobster being held for extradition. Brannigan in his Irish-American way brings American law to the people of Scotland Yard but has to contend with a stuffy old London first.
Johnny Firecloud
An American Indian war veteran avenges the hanging of his grandfather by local thugs.
The Dead Don't Die
In the 1930s, a sailor trying to prove that his brother was wrongly executed for murder finds himself becoming drawn into the occult world.
The Girl on the Late, Late Show
A television producer decides to find out the whereabouts of a former movie actress whose career has long since faded, then discovers that his inquiries have set off a string of murders.
Birds of Prey
Harry Walker, a former military pilot, works as a helicopter pilot and traffic reporter for a Salt Lake City radio station. One day while working he observes a bank robbery in progress and the kidnapping of a young woman who worked at the bank. Harry goes into pursuit which leads to an exciting conclusion.
You'll Never See Me Again
After a couple have an argument, the wife disappears. The husband searches for her, only to discover evidence that implicates him in her murder.
The Night Stalker
Wisecracking reporter Carl Kolchak investigates a string of murders in Las Vegas and suspects the culprit is a vampire. His editor thinks he's crazy and the police think he's a nuisance, so Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
The Mind Snatchers
A German scientist works on a way of quelling overly aggressive soldiers by developing implants that directly stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.
The Reluctant Heroes
An army tale about an egghead ninety-day-wonder who relies on ancient tactics he remembers from the history books to save his beleaguered squad on an important mission in Korea.
The Anderson Tapes
Thief Duke Anderson—just released from ten years in jail—takes up with his old girlfriend in her posh apartment block, and makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is being recorded on audio and video, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.
I Walk the Line
Henry Tawes, a middle-aged sheriff in a rural Tennessee town, is usually the first man to criticize others for their bad behavior. Miserable in his marriage, Henry falls in love with teenage seductress Alma, who is the daughter of local criminal and moonshiner Carl McCain. Henry's moral character comes further into question when he is tempted to conceal Carl's crimes in order to prolong his relationship with Alma.
The Devil's Eight
The Devil's 8 is a 1969 film from American International Pictures. It is about a Federal agent (Christopher George) who recruits six convicts to bust a moonshine ring.
The Detective
Police detective Joe Leland investigates the murder of a gay man.
The Dirty Dozen
12 American military prisoners in World War II are ordered to infiltrate a well-guarded enemy château and kill the Nazi officers vacationing there. The soldiers, most of whom are facing death sentences for a variety of violent crimes, agree to the mission and the possible commuting of their sentences.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Chicago February 14th 1929. Al Capone finally establishes himself as the city's boss of organised crime. In a north-side garage his hoods, dressed as policemen, surprise and mow down with machine-guns the key members of Bugs Moran's rival gang. The film traces the history of the incident, and the lives affected and in some cases ended by it.
Ada
A popular but naive country singer is elected governor of a southern state and, once in office, decides to dismantle the corrupt political machine that got him elected. Director Daniel Mann's 1961 political drama stars Susan Hayward, Dean Martin, Wilfred Hyde-White, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Connie Sawyer, William Walker, Ray Teal, Larry Gates and Kathryn Card.
Paths of Glory
A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.
Run of the Arrow
When the South loses the war, Confederate veteran O'Meara goes West, joins the Sioux, takes a wife and refuses to be an American but he must choose a side when the Sioux go to war against the U.S. Army.
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown
When a movie star is kidnapped, everyone thinks it's a publicity stunt. It's not.
A Woman's Devotion
An artist suffering from mental problems from his experiences during the war goes to Acapulco on his honeymoon. Soon young women are turning up dead in the area, and the ex-GI comes to believe he might be responsible, as he has long stretches where he can't remember anything.
Desert Sands
The French Foreign Legion battles rebellious Arabs in North Africa.
Big House, U.S.A
A tough and realistic crime drama unfolds as merciless kidnapper Jerry Barker (Ralph Meeker) demands ransom paid against a young runaway whose fate lands Barker in Casabel Island Prison.
Kiss Me Deadly
One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.
The Naked Spur
A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.
