American actor (1903-1995). Born in
San Francisco on the day after
Christmas, he attended the
Chicago Academy of Dramatic Art and
St. Albans College. He made his
stage debut at only 14 and worked for several years in
Vaudeville,
stock companies, and
Broadway, in plays like "
Kingdom of God," "
Henry Behave," "
Many a Slip," "
Ah Wilderness!", and "
Her Unborn Child," which was adapted for the screen in 1929. This marked his official screen debut, though he didn't return to
Hollywood until the mid-'30s.
Cook's first roles on
film cast him as a
wholesome,
wide-eyed college student, mainly because he looked so wholesome and wide-eyed, and he was
short enough to be able to pass as a
youngster. But once directors realized that he could
neurotics,
cowards, and
psychopaths, many of his roles began to gravitate in those directions. Not that long after co-starring with
Judy Garland in
sweet romances, he appeared in "
They Won't Forget" in 1937 as a student whose astounding
rage at the news of
Lana Turner's death makes him the
prime suspect, and in 1944's "
Phantom Lady," he played a
drummer whose
drum solo serves as a not-very-subtle bit of
innuendo on what he'd like to do with sexy
Ella Raines. He is still best known as
Wilmer Cook, the
cheap,
dim-witted gunsel in
John Huston's "
The Maltese Falcon." Because of his
small build and tendency to play
thugs and
villains, he was sometimes called the
silver screen's lightest
heavy.
Still, Cook's
talents allowed him to play a wide variety of characters, both on
television and on
film. He made occasional returns to the stage, performing memorably in
plays like
Bertolt Brecht's "
Arturo Ui."
Some of Cook's
movies included: "
Her Unborn Child," "
Two in a Crowd," "
Pigskin Parade," "
Love is News," "
They Won't Forget," "
Life Begins in College," "
Tin Pan Alley," "
The Maltese Falcon," "
I Wake Up Screaming," "
A-Haunting We Will Go," "
Wildcat," "
Phantom Lady," "
Dillinger," "
The Big Sleep," "
The Great Gatsby," "
Don't Bother to Knock," "
I, the Jury," "
Shane," "
Superman's Peril," "
Trial," "
The Killing," "
Chicago Confidential," "
Plunder Road," "
Baby Face Nelson," "
The House on Haunted Hill," "
The Haunted Palace," "
Rosemary's Baby," "
The Scarecrow," "
The Night Stalker," "
Blacula" (I kid you not!), "
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," "
Electra Glide in Blue," "
The Black Bird" (a
parody of "The Maltese Falcon," Cook reprised his role as Wilmer), "
The Champ," "
Salem's Lot," "
1941," "
Tom Horn," "
Carny," and "
Hammett."
Cook also made
guest appearances in a colossal number of
television shows, including "
The Twilight Zone," "
Star Trek," "
Gunsmoke," "
Perry Mason," "
Bonanza," "
Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "
The Odd Couple," "
Rawhide," "
The Wild Wild West," "
Ironside," "
Police Story," "
Baretta," "
Batman," "
The A-Team," "
ALF," and "
Magnum, P.I.," where he had a recurring role as Francis "Icepick" Hofstetler.
In his later years, Cook moved to the
California desert. He didn't employ an
agent and worked for whoever cared to go to the trouble of
tracking him down. He suffered a
stroke in 1990 that robbed him of his ability to
speak. He died after another stroke five years later in
Big Pine, California.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)