Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and neurotics in dozens of films. He was noted for his portrayal of the "gunsel" Wilmer, who tries to intimidate
Humphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor.After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film...
's Sam Spade in
The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American Warner Bros. film based on novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Written and directed by John Huston, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut, and Peter...
.
Cook started out in
vaudevilleVaudeville 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
stockFor the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is an MGM 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'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of realism, associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August...
cast him in his play
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.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and neurotics in dozens of films. He was noted for his portrayal of the "gunsel" Wilmer, who tries to intimidate
Humphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor.After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film...
's Sam Spade in
The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American Warner Bros. film based on novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Written and directed by John Huston, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut, and Peter...
.
Career
Cook started out in
vaudevilleVaudeville 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
stockFor the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is an MGM 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'NeillEugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. His plays are among the first to introduce into American drama the techniques of realism, associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August...
cast him in his play
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 over sixty years. Cook's characters usually ended up being killed off (strangled, poisoned or shot); he was arguably Hollywood's most notable
fall guyA 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
Hellzapoppin'Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adapatation 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 , Hugh Herbert, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between...
, 1941. In
UniversalThis is a partial listing of films produced and/or distributed by Universal Pictures, the main motion picture production/distribution arm of Universal Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal.-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc...
's
Phantom Lady, he portrays a slimy, intoxicated nightclub-orchestra drummer.
Other notable roles included Wilmer the "gunsel" in
The Maltese Falcon (1941), a henchman of the title character in
Born to KillBorn 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...
, Harry Jones in
The Big SleepThe Big Sleep is a film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead. The Big Sleep is a prime example of the film noir genre. William Faulkner, Leigh...
(1946), the pugnacious ex-Confederate soldier Torrey in
Shane (1953), and George Peatty, the hen-pecked husband to
Marie WindsorMarie Windsor . Born as Emily Marie Bertelson in Marysvale, Piute County, Utah, Windsor was called "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many film noirs and B-movies like Cat-Women of the Moon...
, in
Stanley KubrickStanley Kubrick was an American director, writer, producer, and photographer of films, who lived in England during most of the last 40 years of his career...
's
The KillingThe Killing is the second feature length film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White...
(1956). He also starred in William Castle's classic horror film
House on Haunted HillHouse on Haunted Hill is a horror film B movie 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 House" party. Whoever stays in the house for...
, released in 1959.
Cook played a private detective in a 1953 episode of
Adventures of SupermanAdventures 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. He played lawyer Samuel T. Cogley in the
Star TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series.The original Star Trek was an American television series, created by Gene Roddenberry, which debuted in 1966 and ran for three seasons, following the interstellar adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Federation...
episode "
Court Martial"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
BatmanBatman is a 1960s American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name, which starred Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin, two crime-fighting heroes who defended "Gotham City". It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for two and a half seasons...
TV series, and later had a long-term recurring role as Icepick on
Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television show 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 played Elliott Ness in the final season of "The Odd Couple", in a flashback episode entitled "Our Fathers," in which Jack Klugman and Tony Randall portray their characters’ fathers in Roaring ‘20s Chicago. He shows up in a cameo towards the end of the episode, when he saves the lives of the fathers from some Chicago gangsters. When they ask him who he is, he replies, "Ness...Elliott Ness."
Personal life
Cook was born in
San FranciscoSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
, the son of Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Sr. (1870-?), a pharmacist. He grew up in Chicago.
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 1944. He had no children, although he spent time raising a niece. He lived in
Bishop, CaliforniaBishop is a city in Inyo County, California, USA. is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,575 at the 2000 census...
, typically summering on Lake Sabrina in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
According to
John HustonJohn Marcellus Huston was an American filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He was known for directing the films The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge The Misfits , The Man Who Would Be...
, 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."
Cook died on 18 May 1995 in
Big Pine, CaliforniaBig Pine is a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, United States. Big Pine is located south-southeast of Bishop, at an elevation of 3990 feet . The population was 1,350 at the 2000 census...
.
Filmography
- Her Unborn Child (1930) (film debut)
- Pigskin Parade (1936)
- 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 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....
(1938)
- 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 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 is a 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....
(1940)
- Ball of Fire
Ball of Fire is a 1941 comedy film about a group of professors laboring for years to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...
(1941)
- The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 American Warner Bros. film based on novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. Written and directed by John Huston, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart as private investigator Sam Spade, Mary Astor as his femme fatale client, Sydney Greenstreet in his film debut, and Peter...
(1941)
- Hellzapoppin'
Hellzapoppin' is a 1941 Universal Pictures adapatation 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 , Hugh Herbert, and The Six Hits.The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between...
(1941)
- A-Haunting We Will Go
A-Haunting We Will Go is a 1942 Laurel and Hardy comedy film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel, and directed by Alfred L. Werker. The story is credited to Lou Breslow and Stanley Rauh.- Plot :...
(1942)
- 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 is a 1944 film noir 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...
(1944)
- Dillinger
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
-Cast:* Lucille Ball - Ricki Woodner* John Hodiak - Ace Connors* Lloyd Nolan - Bob Simms* Hugo Haas - Seïnor Rodriquez, Dept. of Agriculture* Lenore Ulric - Maria Ynez, Inn of the 4 Winds* Elisha Cook Jr. - Fly Feletti* Lloyd Corrigan - Dwight Chadwick...
(1946)
- The Big Sleep
The Big Sleep is a film noir directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart as detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as the female lead. The Big Sleep is a prime example of the film noir genre. William Faulkner, Leigh...
(1946)
- Born to Kill
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 Long Night
The Long Night is a film noir directed by Anatole Litvak and produced by RKO. It is a remake of Le Jour se lève by Marcel Carnè. The drama features Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vincent Price, and others.-Plot:...
(1947)
- The Great Gatsby
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 is a 1952 American thriller film starring Marilyn Monroe as Nell Forbes, a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where pilot Jed Towers is staying. He sees her through his window and the two meet...
(1952)
- Shane (1953)
- The Killing
The Killing is the second feature length film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White...
(1956)
- Accused of Murder
Accused of Murder is an American color film noir, filmed in Trucolor, and directed and produced by Joseph Kane, based on the novel Vanity Row, by W. R. Burnett...
(1956)
- Baby Face Nelson
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 is a horror film B movie 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 House" party. Whoever stays in the house for...
(1959)
- 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...
(1961)
- 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. Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Call Me Irresponsible"....
(1963)
- Black Zoo
Black Zoo is a 1963 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 is an American International Pictures horror feature film 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 based on the...
(1963)
- Welcome to Hard Times (1967)
- Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American horror/thriller film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The film received mostly positive reviews and earned numerous nominations and awards. The film has led to numerous references in film,...
(1968)
- The Night Stalker
The Night Stalker was a made for television movie which aired on ABC on January 11, 1972 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.-Background:...
(1972) (TV)
- 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. G...
(1972)
- Messiah of Evil
Messiah of Evil is a movie made in 1972 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 is a 1972 blaxploitation horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role...
(1972)
- Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) (uncredited)
- Emperor of the North Pole
Emperor of the North Pole is a 1973 American movie 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 is a 1973 film starring Robert Blake as a motorcycle cop in Arizona and Billy Green Bush as his partner. The movie was filmed in Monument Valley, and was produced and directed by James William Guercio . The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, but was loathed...
(1973)
- The Outfit
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 the character of Parker introduced in The Hunter....
(1973)
- St. Ives (1976)
- The Champ
The Champ is a 1979 remake of the 1931 Academy Award-winning film of the same name which was directed by King Vidor.The remake was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, based on a story by Frances Marion and screenwriting by Walter Newman....
(1979)
- Salem's Lot (1979) (TV)
- 1941
1941 is a period comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by friends Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It starred John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd and premiered in December 1979...
(1979)
- Tom Horn
Tom Horn was an American Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw and assassin...
(1980)
- Carny
Carny is a 1980 drama film about a waitress who joins a travelling carnival. It stars Gary Busey, Jodie Foster, and Robbie Robertson.-Cast:*Gary Busey as Frankie*Jodie Foster as Donna*Robbie Robertson as Patch*Meg Foster as Gerta...
(1980)
- Harry's War (1981)
- Hammett (1982)
- Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse
Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse is a 1984 illustrated book and accompanying video by Sheldon Renan published in the United States by Warner Books...
(1984)
External links