Robert Middleton
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 13, 1911
- Died
- June 14, 1977 (aged 66)
- Birthplace
- Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Biography
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
James Dean: Forever Young
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
The Lincoln Conspiracy
Movie · as Edwin M. Stanton
Hunter
TV · 1 ep
Remember When
Movie · as Kraus, the butcher
The Mark of Zorro
Movie · as Don Luis Quintero
The Harrad Experiment
Movie · as Sidney Bower
Even Angels Eat Beans
Movie · as Angelo
Fair Play
Movie · as Jova Purvis
Kung Fu
TV · as Marshal Ford · 1 ep
Columbo
TV · as Victor Norris · 1 ep
Alias Smith and Jones
TV · 2 eps
Company of Killers
Movie · as Owen Brady
Which Way to the Front?
Movie · as Colonico
The Cheyenne Social Club
Movie · as Barkeeper - Great Plains Saloon
McCloud
TV · as Elliott Jason · 1 ep
Mannix
TV · as Jake Coryell · 1 ep
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Movie · as Dennis Wilcox
Mission: Impossible
TV · as Clavering · 1 ep
The Monroes
TV · 4 eps
Get Smart
TV · as The Whip · 1 ep
The Wild Wild West
TV · as Emir El Emid · 1 ep
The Big Valley
TV · as Judge Tyrone, Sidney Glover · 1 ep
The Adventures of Gallegher
TV · as Dutch Mac · 3 eps
For Those Who Think Young
Movie · as Burford Sanford Cronin
Daniel Boone
TV · as Simon Brasher · 1 ep
Cattle King
Movie · as Clay Mathews
Burke's Law
TV · as Ezekiel Kindworth aka 'Rocky Mountain', Jed Hawkes, Ragnar Windsor · 1 ep
Vacation Playhouse
TV · as Homer Ferguson · 1 ep
Gold of the Seven Saints
Movie · as Amos Gondora
Witchcraft: The Doll in Brambles
Movie · as Martin Plomb
Target: The Corruptors!
TV · 2 eps
The New Breed
TV · as Stanley Mannis · 1 ep
The Americans
TV · 1 ep
The Investigators
TV · as John DeLuca · 1 ep
The Great Impostor
Movie · as R.C. Brown
Hell Bent for Leather
Movie · as Ambrose
The Gun of Zangara
Movie · as Mayor Anton J. Cermak
The Tall Man
TV · as Paul Mason · 1 ep
Thriller
TV · as Ohrback, Monsieur de Paris · 1 ep
Don't Give Up the Ship
Movie · as Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde
Career
Movie · as Robert Kensington
Rawhide
TV · as Josh Green, Matt Harger, Judge John Jefferson Hogan, Duke Aberdeen · 1 ep
Adventures in Paradise
TV · as Howard Bailey · 1 ep
The Rebel
TV · as Arthur Sutro · 1 ep
The Detectives
TV · as 'Big Jim' · 1 ep
Wichita Town
TV · 1 ep
The Untouchables
TV · as Mayer Wartel, Barney Loomis, Mayor Anton J. Cermak · 1 ep
Bonanza
TV · as Sam Bryant, C.J. Shasta, Grizzly Martingale · 1 ep
The Law and Jake Wade
Movie · as Ortero
No Place to Land
Movie · as Buck LaVonne
Day of the Badman
Movie · as Charlie Hayes
Bitter Heritage
Movie · as Luke Crocker
Nightmare at Ground Zero
Movie · as Narrator
Bat Masterson
TV · as Big Keel Roberts · 1 ep
The Lonely Man
Movie · as Ben Ryerson
The Tarnished Angels
Movie · as Matt Ord
The Death of Manolete
Movie · as Perea
So Lovely, So Deadly
Movie · as Eddie Rocco
Perry Mason
TV · as Judge Daniel Redmond · 1 ep
The Walter Winchell File
TV · as Aaron Benjamin · 1 ep
Suspicion
TV · as Banton · 1 ep
Wagon Train
TV · as Nate Burkett · 1 ep
Friendly Persuasion
Movie · as Sam Jordan
Love Me Tender
Movie · as Mr. Siringo
The Proud Ones
Movie · as Honest John Barrett
Red Sundown
Movie · as Rufus Henshaw
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
TV · as Whit Gaynor · 1 ep
Telephone Time
TV · as Heinrich Schliemann · 1 ep
The Big Combo
Movie · as Police Capt. Peterson
The Court Jester
Movie · as Sir Griswold
The Desperate Hours
Movie · as Sam Kobish
Trial
Movie · as A.A. "Fats" Sanders
Gunsmoke
TV · as Jake Worth, Dutch George, Dorf · 1 ep
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV · as Sam Klinker, Louis Koster, Cato Stone · 1 ep
Matinee Theater
TV · 1 ep
MGM Parade
TV · 2 eps
The Silver Chalice
Movie · as Idbash
Climax!
TV · as Sheriff · 1 ep
The Wonderful World of Disney
TV · as Frank Davis, Dutch Mac · 2 eps
Studio 57
TV · as Maggio · 1 ep
Something For An Empty Briefcase
Movie · as Sloane
Confessions of a Nervous Man
Movie · as The Manager
General Electric Theater
TV · as Lt. Toler, Innkeeper · 1 ep
Letter to Loretta
TV · as Henry Tremaine · 1 ep
Duck and Cover
Movie · as Narrator
Cavalcade of America
TV · as William Harper · 1 ep
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV · as Sheriff Ed Mullen · 1 ep
Tales of Tomorrow
TV · as Dr. John Borrow · 2 eps
Lux Video Theatre
TV · as Titus Semple · 1 ep
Suspense
TV · as Bill West · 1 ep
Man Against Crime
TV · as Joseph Merko · 1 ep