Wilke was an American film and television actor noted primarily for his roles as villains, mostly in Westerns.

Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco (1936).  He soon began to acquire regular character parts, mainly as a heavy, and made his mark when, along with Lee Van Cleef and Sheb Wooley, he played one of the "three men waiting at the station" in High Noon (1952).

Wilke appeared in many, if not most, television westerns, including seven episodes each of NBC's Laramie and CBS's Gunsmoke.

He appeared eight times from 1951 to 1953 on the syndicated western series The Range Rider. He was a guest star five times each on Cheyenne and Bonanza, four times on Wagon Train and Death Valley Days, and three times on Rawhide, The Cisco Kid, Tombstone Territory, and Daniel Boone. He appeared twice on The Virginian, Cimarron Strip, and The Guns of Will Sonnett, and once on The Tall Man, Sky King, Lancer, The Wild Wild West, Bat Masterson, Riverboat, Laramie and The Monroes.

Wilke played a hired gun in The Far Country (1954) and continued to work steadily in films and television over the next 20 years. More western credits followed in Man of the West (1958) and numerous lesser-known films.

In 1960 Wilke appeared in the film The Magnificent Seven as the railroad bully, Wallace, who was quickly killed off by James Coburn. He also appeared in Days of Heaven (1978) as the farm foreman.

In 1966 Wilke was cast as the courageous Sheriff McBain in the episode "Brute Angel" of the syndicated western series Death Valley Days.

Wilke guest-starred on many other television westerns, including Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo, Have Gun – Will Travel, Bronco, The Westerner, Lawman, Wanted Dead or Alive, Zorro, The Rifleman, and Rango.

Outside of westerns, Wilke appeared in From Here to Eternity (1953) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). In the former film, Wilke's character tells Maggio he has guard duty, which begins a series of events leading to the plot's climax. In the later film, he was cast as the first mate of the Nautilus. It is Wilke who, in the film, warns Captain Nemo that a giant squid is approaching the ship, and who utters the line, "We understand, sir, and we're with you", when Nemo announces his final intentions.

His drama/adventure roles included U.S. Marshal, Peter Gunn, Tarzan, Bourbon Street Beat, 77 Sunset Strip, and The Untouchables. In 1953 Wilke, playing a henchman for an East European counterfeiter, shoved John Hamilton and George Reeves into side-by-side steam cabinets, locked them in, turned up the thermostat to charbroil and left them to bake in "Perry White's Scoop", an episode of the Adventures of Superman.

Wilke played Deputy Sheriff Connors in the 1963 episode, "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito" on CBS' Perry Mason. He portrayed golf professional Danny Donnigan in a 1962 episode, "Robbie the Caddie", on the ABC sitcom, My Three Sons. In 1964 Wilke played Tom Carter, the golf instructor of Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball), in The Lucy Show episode "Lucy Takes Up Golf".

Wilke's final film role was somewhat against type as Gen. Barnicke in the 1981 comedy Stripes.

Details from Wikipedia

Learn more about this actor and many others by clicking the "Sign Up" button below to register at MyOldTV.

MyOldTV is a web application that allows users to generate and play challenging trivia games with 1-4 players or teams.
It is also home to crossword puzzles, word searches and jigsaw puzzles that are based upon classic television shows and actors.