Acting · Cincinnati, Ohio, USA · Born May 13, 1911
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.
MovieThe Lincoln Conspiracy
1977
as Edwin M. Stanton
TVHunter
1977
MovieThe Mark of Zorro
1974
as Don Luis Quintero
MovieRemember When
1974
as Kraus, the butcher
MovieThe Harrad Experiment
1973
as Sidney Bower
MovieEven Angels Eat Beans
1973
as Angelo
TVKung Fu
1972
as Marshal Ford
MovieFair Play
1972
as Jova Purvis
TVColumbo
1971
as Victor Norris
TVAlias Smith and Jones
1971
MovieWhich Way to the Front?
1970
as Colonico
MovieCompany of Killers
1970
as Owen Brady
MovieThe Cheyenne Social Club
1970
as Barkeeper - Great Plains Saloon
TVMcCloud
1970
as Elliott Jason
TVMannix
1967
as Jake Coryell
TVMission: Impossible
1966
as Clavering
TVThe Monroes
1966
MovieA Big Hand for the Little Lady
1966
as Dennis Wilcox
TVGet Smart
1965
as The Whip
TVThe Wild Wild West
1965
as Emir El Emid
TVThe Big Valley
1965
as Judge Tyrone
TVThe Adventures of Gallegher
1965
as Dutch Mac
TVDaniel Boone
1964
as Simon Brasher
MovieFor Those Who Think Young
1964
as Burford Sanford Cronin
TVBurke's Law
1963
as Ezekiel Kindworth aka 'Rocky Mountain'
Vacation Playhouse
1963
as Homer Ferguson
MovieCattle King
1963
as Clay Mathews
TVThe Investigators
1961
as John DeLuca
TVThe New Breed
1961
as Stanley Mannis
TVTarget: The Corruptors!
1961
MovieGold of the Seven Saints
1961
as Amos Gondora
TVThe Americans
1961
MovieWitchcraft: The Doll in Brambles
1961
as Martin Plomb
MovieThe Great Impostor
1960
as R.C. Brown
TVThriller
1960
as Ohrback
TVThe Tall Man
1960
as Paul Mason
The Gun of Zangara
1960
as Mayor Anton J. Cermak
MovieHell Bent for Leather
1960
as Ambrose
TVThe Detectives
1959
as 'Big Jim'
TVThe Untouchables
1959
as Barney Loomis
MovieCareer
1959
as Robert Kensington
TVAdventures in Paradise
1959
as Howard Bailey
TVThe Rebel
1959
as Arthur Sutro
TVWichita Town
1959
TVBonanza
1959
as C.J. Shasta
MovieDon't Give Up the Ship
1959
as Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde
TVRawhide
1959
as Josh Green
TVBat Masterson
1958
as Big Keel Roberts
MovieNo Place to Land
1958
as Buck LaVonne
MovieBitter Heritage
1958
as Luke Crocker
MovieThe Law and Jake Wade
1958
as Ortero
Nightmare at Ground Zero
1958
as Narrator
MovieDay of the Badman
1958
as Charlie Hayes
MovieThe Tarnished Angels
1957
as Matt Ord
TVThe Walter Winchell File
1957
as Aaron Benjamin
So Lovely, So Deadly
1957
as Eddie Rocco
TVSuspicion
1957
as Banton
TVPerry Mason
1957
as Judge Daniel Redmond
TVWagon Train
1957
as Nate Burkett
MovieThe Death of Manolete
1957
as Perea
MovieThe Lonely Man
1957
as Ben Ryerson
MovieLove Me Tender
1956
as Mr. Siringo
MovieFriendly Persuasion
1956
as Sam Jordan
TVDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956
as Whitney 'Whit' Gaynor
MovieThe Proud Ones
1956
as Honest John Barrett
TVTelephone Time
1956
as Heinrich Schliemann
MovieRed Sundown
1956
as Rufus Henshaw
MovieThe Court Jester
1955
as Sir Griswold
TVMatinee Theater
1955
MovieTrial
1955
as A.A. "Fats" Sanders
MovieThe Desperate Hours
1955
as Sam Kobish
TVAlfred Hitchcock Presents
1955
as Sam Klinker
TVMGM Parade
1955
TVGunsmoke
1955
as Jake Worth
MovieThe Big Combo
1955
as Police Capt. Peterson
MovieThe Silver Chalice
1954
as Idbash
TVThe Wonderful World of Disney
1954
as Frank Davis
TVClimax!
1954
as Sheriff
TVStudio 57
1954
as Maggio
MovieConfessions of a Nervous Man
1953
as The Manager
TVLetter to Loretta
1953
as Henry Tremaine
MovieSomething For An Empty Briefcase
1953
as Sloane
TVGeneral Electric Theater
1953
as Lt. Toler
TVCavalcade of America
1952
as William Harper
MovieDuck and Cover
1952
as Narrator
TVSchlitz Playhouse of Stars
1951
as Sheriff Ed Mullen
TVTales of Tomorrow
1951
as Dr. John Borrow
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Titus Semple
TVMan Against Crime
1949
as Joseph Merko
TVSuspense
1949
as Bill West
