Elisha Cook Jr.
Encyclopedia
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...

 who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films. He was perhaps most noted for his portrayal of the "gunsel" Wilmer, who tries to intimidate Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...

.

Career

Cook was born in San Francisco, the son of Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Sr., a pharmacist. He grew up in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He started out in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 and stock
Summer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...

 by age 14. He was a traveling actor in the East and Midwest before arriving in New York City, where Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...

 cast him in his play Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness!
Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 2 October 1933.-Plot summary:...

, which ran on Broadway for two years.
In 1936, Cook settled in Hollywood and, after playing a series of college-aged parts, began a long stint playing weaklings or sadistic losers and hoods. His acting career spanned more than 60 years. Cook's characters usually ended up being killed off (strangled, poisoned or shot); he was arguably Hollywood's most notable fall guy
Fall guy
A fall guy is a person used as a scapegoat to take the blame for someone else's actions, or someone at the butt of jokes. One placed in the position of fall guy is often referred to as "taking the fall". In the film industry, a fall guy is a form of stock character.-Origin:The origin of "fall guy"...

 for many years. He made a rare appearance in slapstick comedy in the cameo role of The Screenwriter in 1941's Hellzapoppin'
Hellzapoppin' (film)
Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adaptation of the musical of the same name directed by H.C. Potter. The cast includes Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson , Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between Hellzapoppin and a...

. In Universal
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

's Phantom Lady of 1944, he portrays a slimy, intoxicated nightclub-orchestra drummer to memorable effect. He had a substantial uncredited role as Bobo in I, The Jury
I, the Jury
I, The Jury is Mickey Spillane's first novel featuring private investigator Mike Hammer.-Plot summary:New York City, summer 1944. Although she runs a successful private psychiatric clinic on New York's Park Avenue, Dr. Charlotte Manning — young, beautiful, blonde, and well-to-do —...

(1953).

Other notable roles included Wilmer the "gunsel" in The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...

(1941), a henchman (Marty Waterman) of the murderous title character in Born to Kill
Born to Kill (1947 film)
Born to Kill is a 1947 film noir starring Lawrence Tierney and directed by Robert Wise. It was the first film noir to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up , The Captive City , and Odds Against Tomorrow...

, the doomed informant Harry Jones in The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep (1946 film)
The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...

(1946), the pugnacious ex-Confederate soldier "Stonewall" Torrey in Shane (1953), and George Peatty, the crooked hen-pecked husband to Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor
Marie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...

, in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...

's The Killing (1956). At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, he appeared in William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....

's horror film House on Haunted Hill
House on Haunted Hill
House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American B movie horror film from Allied Artists. It was directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house for a "Haunted...

, released in 1959, and Castle's adaptation of Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 best-selling horror novel by Ira Levin, his second published book. Major elements of the story were inspired by the publicity surrounding the Church of Satan of Anton LaVey which had been founded in 1966.-Plot summary:...

 (1968).

Cook did work, too, on American television. He played a private detective in a 1953 episode of Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...

TV series titled Semi-Private Eye. That same season, he guest starred on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's The Dennis Day Show
The Dennis Day Show
The Dennis Day Show was a half-hour 1953–1954 NBC comedy/variety show starring Irish singer and radio and television personality Dennis Day , whose career otherwise was rooted as a supporting cast member of the long-running The Jack Benny Program on CBS and later NBC.From 1952 to 1953, Day hosted...

.
He appeared in the second episode of The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...

. He played lawyer Samuel T. Cogley in the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...

episode "Court Martial
Court Martial (TOS episode)
"Court Martial" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. It is a first season episode, #20, production #15, and was aired on February 2, 1967. It was written by Don M. Mankiewicz, and Stephen W...

", Isaac Isaacson on the Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...

TV series, Weasel Craig in Salem's Lot
Salem's Lot (1979 TV mini-series)
Salem's Lot is a 1979 American television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stephen King...

, and later had a long-term recurring role as Honolulu crime lord "Ice Pick" on Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....

.

He also appeared in The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman
The Bionic Woman is an American television series starring Lindsay Wagner that aired for three seasons between 1976 and 1978 as a spin off from The Six Million Dollar Man. Wagner stars as tennis pro Jaime Sommers who is nearly killed in a skydiving accident. Sommers' life is saved by Oscar Goldman ...

episode "Once a Thief" in 1977 opposite Lindsay Wagner
Lindsay Wagner
Lindsay Jean Wagner is an American actress. She is probably best known for her portrayal of Jaime Sommers in the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman , though she has maintained a lengthy career in a variety of other film and television productions since.-Early life:Wagner was born in Los...

.

Personal life

Cook married twice. His first marriage was to Mary Lou Cook in 1929, but they divorced in 1942. His second marriage, which lasted until his death, was to Peggy McKenna Cook in 1943. He had no children, although he spent time raising a niece. He lived in Bishop, California
Bishop, California
Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...

, typically summering on Lake Sabrina in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

According to John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...

, who directed him in The Maltese Falcon:
"[Cook] lived alone up in the High Sierra, tied flies and caught golden trout between films. When he was wanted in Hollywood, they sent word up to his mountain cabin by courier. He would come down, do a picture, and then withdraw again to his retreat."

Filmography

  • Her Unborn Child (1930) (film debut)
  • Pigskin Parade (1936)
  • They Won't Forget
    They Won't Forget
    They Won't Forget is a 1937 film directed by Mervyn LeRoy . It was based on a novel by Ward Greene called Death in The Deep South, which was in turn a fictionalized account of a real life case: the trial and subsequent lynching of Leo Frank after the murder of Mary Phagan in 1913...

    (1937)
  • Submarine Patrol
    Submarine Patrol
    Submarine Patrol is a 1938 film starring Richard Greene and Nancy Kelly. The supporting cast includes Preston Foster and George Bancroft. The movie was partly written by William Faulkner and directed by John Ford.-Cast:...

    (1938)
  • He Married His Wife
    He Married His Wife
    He Married His Wife is a 1940 film about a race horse owner who wants his ex-wife to remarry so he'll no longer have to pay alimony...

    (1940)
  • Stranger on the Third Floor
    Stranger on the Third Floor
    Stranger on the Third Floor is a film noir thriller, featuring Peter Lorre, co-written by Nathaniel West, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The picture was directed by Boris Ingster....

    (1940)
  • Tin Pan Alley
    Tin Pan Alley (film)
    Tin Pan Alley is a 1940 musical film starring Alice Faye and Betty Grable as vaudeville singers/sisters and John Payne and Jack Oakie as songwriters in the years before World War I.Alfred Newman received the 1940 Academy Award for his work on the film...

    (1940)
  • Ball of Fire
    Ball of Fire
    Ball of Fire is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The RKO Pictures film is about a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...

    (1941)
  • I Wake Up Screaming
    I Wake Up Screaming
    I Wake Up Screaming is a 1941 film noir. It is based on the novel of the same name by Steve Fisher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dwight Taylor...

    (1941)
  • The Maltese Falcon
    The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
    The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...

    (1941)
  • Hellzapoppin'
    Hellzapoppin' (film)
    Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adaptation of the musical of the same name directed by H.C. Potter. The cast includes Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson , Martha Raye, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between Hellzapoppin and a...

    (1941)
  • A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)
  • Baptism of Fire
    Baptism of Fire
    Baptism of Fire is a 1943 documentary film starring Elisha Cook Jr. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature....

    (1943)
  • Phantom Lady (1944)
  • Dark Waters
    Dark Waters (1944 film)
    Dark Waters is a 1944 Gothic horror film based on the novel of the same name by Francis and Marian Cockrell. It was directed by André De Toth and starred Merle Oberon, Franchot Tone and Thomas Mitchell.-Plot:...

    (1944)
  • Dillinger
    Dillinger (1945 film)
    Dillinger is a 1945 gangster film telling the story of John Dillinger. The film was directed by Max Nosseck. Dillinger was the first major film to star Lawrence Tierney. The B-movie was shot in black and white and features a smoke-bomb bank robbery edited into the film from the 1937 Fritz Lang...

    (1945)
  • Two Smart People
    Two Smart People
    Two Smart People is a film starring Lucille Ball and John Hodiak, and directed by Jules Dassin.-Cast:* Lucille Ball - Ricki Woodner* John Hodiak - Ace Connors* Lloyd Nolan - Bob Simms* Hugo Haas - Seïnor Rodriquez, Dept. of Agriculture...

    (1946)
  • The Big Sleep
    The Big Sleep (1946 film)
    The Big Sleep is a 1946 film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead in a film about the "process of a criminal investigation, not its...

    (1946)
  • Born to Kill
    Born to Kill (1947 film)
    Born to Kill is a 1947 film noir starring Lawrence Tierney and directed by Robert Wise. It was the first film noir to be directed by Wise, who later directed The Set-Up , The Captive City , and Odds Against Tomorrow...

    (1947)
  • The Gangster
    The Gangster
    The Gangster is an American crime film noir directed by Gordon Wiles. The drama features Barry Sullivan, Belita, Joan Lorring and Akim Tamiroff...

    (1947)
  • The Long Night
    The Long Night (1947 film)
    The Long Night is a 1947 film noir directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by RKO. It is a remake of Le Jour se lève by Marcel Carné. The drama features Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, Ann Dvorak, and others.-Plot:...

    (1947)

*Flaxy Martin
Flaxy Martin
Flaxy Martin is a film noir directed by Richard L. Bare. The crime thriller features Virginia Mayo, Zachary Scott, Dorothy Malone, among others...

(1949)
  • The Great Gatsby
    The Great Gatsby (1949 film)
    The Great Gatsby is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Elliott Nugent and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume based on the novel of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the play by Owen Davis. The music score was by Robert...

    (1949)
  • Don't Bother to Knock
    Don't Bother to Knock
    Don't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark, directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Daniel Taradash. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying...

    (1952)
  • I, The Jury
    I, the Jury
    I, The Jury is Mickey Spillane's first novel featuring private investigator Mike Hammer.-Plot summary:New York City, summer 1944. Although she runs a successful private psychiatric clinic on New York's Park Avenue, Dr. Charlotte Manning — young, beautiful, blonde, and well-to-do —...

    (1953) (uncredited)
  • Shane (1953)
  • The Killing (1956)
  • Accused of Murder
    Accused of Murder
    Accused of Murder is a 1956 film noir, based on the novel Vanity Row by W. R. Burnett and directed and produced by Joseph Kane. Accused of Murder was filmed in Trucolor and stars David Brian, Verna Ralston and Sidney Blackmer.-Plot:...

    (1956)
  • Baby Face Nelson
    Baby Face Nelson (film)
    Baby Face Nelson is a 1957 film directed by Don Siegel, starring Mickey Rooney as Baby Face Nelson, and featuring Leo Gordon as John Dillinger.-Cast:Mickey Rooney ... Lester M. 'Baby Face Nelson' Gillis Carolyn Jones ... Sue...

    (1957)

  • House on Haunted Hill
    House on Haunted Hill
    House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American B movie horror film from Allied Artists. It was directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house for a "Haunted...

    (1959)
  • One-Eyed Jacks
    One-Eyed Jacks
    One-Eyed Jacks, a 1961 Western, is the only film directed by actor Marlon Brando, who also played its lead character, Rio.The film was originally to be directed by Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah...

    (1961)
  • Papa's Delicate Condition
    Papa's Delicate Condition
    Papa's Delicate Condition is a 1963 comedy film starring Jackie Gleason and Glynis Johns. It was an adaptation of the Corinne Griffith memoir of the same name, about her father and growing up in Texarkana, Texas. Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Call Me...

    (1963)
  • Black Zoo
    Black Zoo
    Black Zoo is a 1963 American horror film produced and co-written by Herman Cohen. It is a violent, gore-filled tale directed by Robert Gordon.- Plot :Michael Conrad is a private zookeeper who owns Conrad's Animal Kingdom...

    (1963)
  • The Haunted Palace
    The Haunted Palace
    The Haunted Palace is a 1963 horror film released by American International Pictures, starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., and Debra Paget in a story about a village held in the grip of a cult. The film was directed by Roger Corman, and is usually listed as one in his series of eight films...

    (1963)
  • Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
  • Rosemary's Baby
    Rosemary's Baby (film)
    Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin...

    (1968)
  • The Night Stalker
    The Night Stalker (telemovie)
    The Night Stalker is a made for television movie which aired on ABC on January 11, 1972. It is about an investigative reporter, played by Darren McGavin, who comes to suspect that a serial killer in the Las Vegas area is in fact a vampire.-Plot:...

    (1972) (TV)
  • The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
    The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid
    The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid is a 1972 Technicolor Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starred Cliff Robertson as Cole Younger, Robert Duvall as Jesse James, Luke Askew as Jim Younger, R....

    (1972)
  • Messiah of Evil
    Messiah of Evil
    Messiah of Evil is a film made in 1973 by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the husband and wife team behind the film version of Howard the Duck as well as the screenplay for American Graffiti....

    (1972)
  • Blacula
    Blacula
    Blacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...

    (1972)
  • Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) (uncredited)
  • Emperor of the North Pole
    Emperor of the North Pole
    Emperor of the North Pole is a 1973 American film starring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, and Keith Carradine. It was re-released under the shorter title Emperor of the North, and is better known under the latter name....

    (1973)
  • Electra Glide in Blue
    Electra Glide in Blue
    Electra Glide in Blue is a 1973 film starring Robert Blake as a motorcycle cop in Arizona and Billy Green Bush as his partner. The name stems from the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide motorcycle issued to traffic cops....

    (1973)
  • The Outfit
    The Outfit (1973 film)
    The Outfit is a 1973 film directed by John Flynn. It stars Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker and Robert Ryan. The film is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Richard Stark and features a character modeled on Parker, who was introduced in The Hunter.- Plot :Released from prison In...

    (1973)
  • The Black Bird
    The Black Bird
    The Black Bird is a 1975 film released December 25, 1975 starring George Segal and Stephane Audran. It is a comedy sequel to the well-regarded 1941 film version of The Maltese Falcon with Segal playing Sam Spade's son, Sam Spade Jr and Elisha Cook Jr...

    (1975)
  • St. Ives
    St. Ives (1976 film)
    St. Ives is a 1976 American action film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson.- Plot summary :Abner Procane, top L.A. burglar, finds that somebody stole his plans for his next ambitious heist. He hires Raymond St. Ives, crime books writer, to negotiate the return of those...

    (1976)
  • The Champ
    The Champ (1979 film)
    The Champ is a 1979 remake, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, of the 1931 Academy Award-winning film of the same name which was directed by King Vidor. It stars Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway, and Ricky Schroder. It is also the final film for actress Joan Blondell....

    (1979)
  • Salem's Lot (1979) (TV)
  • 1941
    1941 (film)
    1941 is a 1979 period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and featuring an ensemble cast including John Belushi, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Dan Aykroyd...

    (1979)
  • Tom Horn
    Tom Horn
    Thomas "Tom" Horn, Jr. was an American Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw and assassin. On the day before his 43rd birthday, he was hanged in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the murder of Willie Nickell.-Early life:Born to Thomas S. Horn, Sr...

    (1980)
  • Carny
    Carny (film)
    Carny is a 1980 drama film about a waitress who joins a travelling carnival. It stars Gary Busey, Jodie Foster, and Robbie Robertson. It also includes an early role for Fred Ward.-Plot:...

    (1980)
  • Harry's War
    Harry's War (1981 film)
    Harry's War is a feature length independent film from American Film Consortium and Taft International Pictures, released in 1981. Starring Edward Herrmann, Geraldine Page, Karen Grassle, David Ogden Stiers, Elisha Cook, Salome Jens and Noble Willingham...

    (1981)
  • Hammett (1982)
  • Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse
    Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse
    Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse, or TISOTGH, was a treasure hunting puzzle published in 1984 by the Intravision production company. It was conceived as a story-based contest by filmmaker Sheldon Renan similar in concept to that of Kit Williams' Masquerade...

    (1984)


External links

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