Robert Middleton
Known for: Acting
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.
Filmography
Series
Columbo
Victor Norris
1971
Series
Perry Mason
Judge Daniel Redmond
1957
Series
Bonanza
Sam Bryant
1959
Series
Bonanza
C.J. Shasta
1959
Series
Bonanza
Grizzly Martingale
1959
Series
Wagon Train
Nate Burkett
1957
Series
Mannix
Jake Coryell
1967
Series
Matinee Theater
1955
Series
Climax!
Sheriff
1954
Series
Get Smart
The Whip
1965
Series
Mission: Impossible
Clavering
1966
Series
The Untouchables
Mayer Wartel
1959
Series
The Untouchables
Barney Loomis
1959
Series
The Untouchables
Mayor Anton J. Cermak
1959
Series
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
Whitney 'Whit' Gaynor
1956
Series
Rawhide
Josh Green
1959
Series
Rawhide
Matt Harger
1959
Series
Rawhide
Judge John Jefferson Hogan
1959
Series
Rawhide
Duke Aberdeen
1959
Series
Daniel Boone
Simon Brasher
1964
Series
The Wild Wild West
Emir El Emid
1965
Series
The Big Valley
Judge Tyrone
1965
Series
The Big Valley
Sidney Glover
1965
Series
Burke's Law
Ezekiel Kindworth aka 'Rocky Mountain'
1963
Series
Burke's Law
Jed Hawkes
1963
Series
Burke's Law
Ragnar Windsor
1963
Series
Gunsmoke
Jake Worth
1955
Series
Gunsmoke
Dutch George
1955
Series
Gunsmoke
Dorf
1955
Series
Bat Masterson
Big Keel Roberts
1958
Series
McCloud
Elliott Jason
1970
Series
Thriller
Ohrback
1960
Series
Thriller
Monsieur de Paris
1960
Series
Adventures in Paradise
Howard Bailey
1959
Series
The Rebel
Arthur Sutro
1959
Series
Alias Smith and Jones
1971
Series
Telephone Time
Heinrich Schliemann
1956
Series
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Sam Klinker
1955
Series
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Louis Koster
1955
Series
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Cato Stone
1955
Series
Suspense
Bill West
1949
Series
The Detectives
'Big Jim'
1959
Lux Video Theatre
Titus Semple
1950
Series
Studio 57
Maggio
1954
Series
Tales of Tomorrow
Dr. John Borrow
1951
Series
The Tall Man
Paul Mason
1960
Series
Cavalcade of America
William Harper
1952
Series
MGM Parade
1955
Series
Suspicion
Banton
1957
Series
The New Breed
Stanley Mannis
1961
Series
Target: The Corruptors!
1961
Series
The Wonderful World of Disney
Frank Davis
1954
Series
The Wonderful World of Disney
Dutch Mac
1954
Vacation Playhouse
Homer Ferguson
1963
Series
The Monroes
1966
Series
Letter to Loretta
Henry Tremaine
1953
Series
Hunter
1977
Series
The Walter Winchell File
Aaron Benjamin
1957
Series
Wichita Town
1959
Series
The Americans
1961
Series
The Investigators
John DeLuca
1961
Series
General Electric Theater
Lt. Toler
1953
Series
General Electric Theater
Innkeeper
1953
Series
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Sheriff Ed Mullen
1951
Series
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
Series
Man Against Crime
Joseph Merko
1949
Film
Friendly Persuasion
Sam Jordan
1956
Film
The Harrad Experiment
Sidney Bower
1973
Film
Red Sundown
Rufus Henshaw
1956
Film
The Court Jester
Sir Griswold
1955
Film
Cattle King
Clay Mathews
1963
Film
The Silver Chalice
Idbash
1954
Film
Love Me Tender
Mr. Siringo
1956
Film
The Big Combo
Police Capt. Peterson
1955
Film
The Desperate Hours
Sam Kobish
1955
Film
The Cheyenne Social Club
Barkeeper - Great Plains Saloon
1970
Film
The Tarnished Angels
Matt Ord
1957
Film
Trial
A.A. "Fats" Sanders
1955
Film
Career
Robert Kensington
1959
Film
Even Angels Eat Beans
Angelo
1973
Film
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
Dennis Wilcox
1966
Series
Kung Fu
Marshal Ford
1972
Film
The Great Impostor
R.C. Brown
1960
Film
For Those Who Think Young
Burford Sanford Cronin
1964
Film
The Law and Jake Wade
Ortero
1958
Film
The Lonely Man
Ben Ryerson
1957
Film
Don't Give Up the Ship
Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde
1959
Film
Which Way to the Front?
Colonico
1970
Series
The Adventures of Gallegher
Dutch Mac
1965
Film
Day of the Badman
Charlie Hayes
1958
Film
The Proud Ones
Honest John Barrett
1956
Film
Bitter Heritage
Luke Crocker
1958
Film
The Lincoln Conspiracy
Edwin M. Stanton
1977
Film
Gold of the Seven Saints
Amos Gondora
1961
Film
No Place to Land
Buck LaVonne
1958
Film
Hell Bent for Leather
Ambrose
1960
Film
Something For An Empty Briefcase
Sloane
1953
Film
The Mark of Zorro
Don Luis Quintero
1974
Film
The Adventures of Gallegher
Dutch Mac
1965
Film
Remember When
Kraus, the butcher
1974
Nightmare at Ground Zero
Narrator
1958
Film
Witchcraft: The Doll in Brambles
Martin Plomb
1961
Film
Company of Killers
Owen Brady
1970
Film
Fair Play
Jova Purvis
1972
Film
Confessions of a Nervous Man
The Manager
1953
Film
Duck and Cover
Narrator
1952
Film
The Death of Manolete
Perea
1957
Film
So Lovely, So Deadly
Eddie Rocco
1957