Ralph Meeker

Acting

Ralph Meeker

Born 1920-11-21 · Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Ralph Meeker (born Ralph Rathgeber; November 21, 1920 – August 5, 1988) was an American 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 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.

Acting credits

Paths of Glory poster
8.3

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

Paths of Glory

1957

The Dirty Dozen poster
7.6

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 Dirty Dozen

1967

The Naked Spur poster
7.0

A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.

The Naked Spur

1953

The Detective poster
5.9

New York City Police detective Joe Leland investigates the grisly murder of Teddy Leikman, the gay son of a politically influential department store owner. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in NYC in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs, homophobia, homosexuality and bisexuality.

The Detective

1968

The Anderson Tapes poster
6.1

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.

The Anderson Tapes

1971

The Night Stalker poster
6.9

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 Night Stalker

1972

Without Warning poster
5.2

When a mountain town is besieged by aliens, stranded teens Sandy and Greg team up with a local hunter as a paranoid war vet becomes convinced they're the enemy.

Without Warning

1980

Kiss Me Deadly poster
7.2

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.

Kiss Me Deadly

1955

Cry Panic poster
6.9

A man accidentally runs over and kills a pedestrian outside a small town. He begins to suspect that the locals, including the sheriff, are keeping secrets about the victim.

Cry Panic

1974

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre poster
6.3

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.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

1967

Brannigan poster
6.0

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.

Brannigan

1975

Winter Kills poster
5.7

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.

Winter Kills

1979

The Food of the Gods poster
5.0

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.

The Food of the Gods

1976

I Walk the Line poster
5.9

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.

I Walk the Line

1970

Jeopardy poster
6.7

A woman is kidnapped when she goes to get help for her husband who is trapped on a beach with the tide coming in to surely drown him.

Jeopardy

1953

Run of the Arrow poster
6.1

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.

Run of the Arrow

1957

The Devil's Eight poster
5.2

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 Devil's Eight

1969

Night Games poster
6.5

A Harvard-educated, big-city lawyer moves to a small Arizona town to set up practice. His first case is defending a beautiful socialite accused of murdering her husband. This is the pilot TV movie for what would become the Petrocelli TV series.

Night Games

1974

Gentle Giant poster
8.5

The Story of a boy and his bear. The TV series ‘Gentle Ben’ was spun-off from this movie.

Gentle Giant

1967

Somebody Loves Me poster
8.8

Backstage musical biography of nightclub star Blossom Seeley that charts her rocky relationship with vaudeville singer Benny Fields.

Somebody Loves Me

1952

Hi-Riders poster
6.1

A group of denim-clad drag-racers find themselves in trouble when a wealthy rancher's son dies during one of their competitions.

Hi-Riders

1978

Wall of Noise poster
4.1

The lives and loves behind the scenes at the racetrack are detailed in this thoroughbred soap opera. An ambitious young trainer, Joel Tarrant (Ty Hardin), enters into an illicit affair with the stable owner's wealthy wife, hot-to-trot Laura Rubio (Suzanne Pleshette), in the hope that someday he'll have enough dough to buy his own horses and stable.

Wall of Noise

1963

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller poster
5.8

Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.

The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller

2002

Something Wild poster
6.2

A young rape victim tries desperately to pick up the pieces of her life, only to find herself at the mercy of a would-be rescuer.

Something Wild

1961