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Robert Middleton

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For other people named Robert Middleton, see Robert Middleton (disambiguation).

Robert Middleton
Middleton in the TV series Bonanza (1960)
Born
Samuel Abraham Messer

(1911-05-13)May 13, 1911
Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJune 14, 1977(1977-06-14) (aged 66)
Encino, California, U.S.
Alma materCincinnati Conservatory of Music
Carnegie Institute of Technology
OccupationActor
Years active1951–1977
Spouses
Lucille Van Flymen
​
​
(m. 1934; div. 1949)​
Roberta Cecil Kelley
​
​
(m. 1951; div. 1956)​
Children2

Robert Middleton (born Samuel Abraham Messer; May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977[1]) was an American film and television actor known for his large size, beetle-like brows, and deep, booming voice (for which he was known as "Big Bob Middleton"),[2] usually in the portrayal of ruthless villains.

Early years

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A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Middleton was one of four children of a building contractor.[3] He trained for a musical career at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]

Career

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Middleton's career in entertainment began with a job as an announcer on WLW radio in Cincinnati.[3] He worked steadily as a radio announcer and actor.[4]

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, and in film opposite Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours (1955), Danny Kaye in The Court Jester (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), Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark in The Law and Jake Wade (1958), and Dean Martin in Career (1959).[5]

Middleton appeared in many television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the CBS anthology series Appointment with Adventure. He played a dishonest candidate for the United States House of Representatives in an episode of ABC's The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan and Richard Crenna. In the story line, Middleton falsely claimed to have previously been a farmer in a bid for the farm vote. Middleton was cast as "The Tichborne Claimant" in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show.

In 1956, he guest starred on James Arness’s TV Western series Gunsmoke, playing the title character in the episode “Dutch George” (S1E32), a flamboyant career horse thief who was friends with Matt Dillon in their wilder younger days (this episode unveiled some of Dillon’s shadier past, once being a young man who also might have stolen, who at a yet to be revealed crossroad in life, opted to be a lawman). He starred as Lucius Crane in 1959 in an unaired pilot episode for a detective series called The Fat Man based on a successful radio series of the same name. In 1961, he was cast as Arthur Sutro in the episode "The Road to Jericho" of the ABC Western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams, and guest-starred in the episode "A Man of Means" of the short-lived crime adventure-drama series The Investigators, starring James Franciscus and James Philbrook.[citation needed]

Middleton was cast in ten episodes of the ABC family Western drama, The Monroes, with costars Michael Anderson, Jr., and Barbara Hershey. In 1963 he portrayed Josh Green in the episode "Incident of the Mountain Man" on CBS's Rawhide.

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 NBC's Bat Masterson Western series, starring Gene Barry in the title role. He appeared in four episodes of The Untouchables, including the 2 part episode, "The Unhired Assassin", as Chicago mayor Anton Cermak. 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 appeared in three episodes of Bonanza from 1960 to 1967. In 1960, Middleton guest-starred on the episode "Death at Dawn," portraying the ruthless Sam Bryant.[6] In February 1964, he starred as mountain man Grizzly Martindale on the episode "King of the Mountain."[7] Middleton made his final appearance as the wealthy C.J. Shasta on the episode "The Greedy Ones" in May 1967.[8]

Middleton appeared as defendant "Judge Daniel Redmond" in the 1963 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Witless Witness".[9] In the early 1950s, Middleton appeared on Broadway in Ondine (1954), A Red Rainbow (1953), and The Wild Duck (1951).[10] Other significant film roles included The Court Jester (1955) as a grim and determined knight who jousts with Danny Kaye in the famous "pellet with the poison" sequence, and as Edwin M. Stanton in The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977). In between, he played an array of brutish mountain men, corrupt cigar-biting town bosses and lynch mob leaders. Middleton guest-starred on Get Smart as the KAOS villain "The Whip", intent on hypnotizing Agent 86 in the 1970 series finale "I Am Curiously Yellow".[11]

Personal life and death

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On July 14, 1951, Middleton married in Cincinnati; he and his wife, Roberta, separated on September 5, 1955. They had two sons, who were the subjects of a custody hearing on February 15, 1956. He sought custody in the divorce suit, charging that she had a romantic relationship with his cousin.[12]

Middleton died on June 14, 1977, in Encino, California, at the age of 66.[13]

Robert Middleton in the trailer of The Proud Ones (1956)

Selected Films & Television

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References

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  1. ^ U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010, via Ancestry.com, accessed November 9, 2023
  2. ^ "Deaths Elsewhere: Robert Middleton". Toledo Blade. Associated Press. June 17, 1977. p. 14. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Alexander, Pericles (April 27, 1956). "On with the Show". The Times. Louisiana, Shreveport. p. 12-C. Retrieved November 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "Allmovie.com".. Accessed: February 8, 2014.
  5. ^ "AFI Catalog of Feature Films". Accessed: February 8, 2014.
  6. ^ "BONANZA -- "Death at Dawn" Episode 32 -- Aired 4/30/60 -- Pictured:..." Getty Images. February 4, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  7. ^ "Bonanza". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  8. ^ "Bonanza". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  9. ^ Hill, Ona L. (February 9, 2012). Raymond Burr: A Film, Radio and Television Biography. McFarland. p. 253. ISBN 978-0-7864-9137-7.
  10. ^ "Robert Middleton". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  11. ^ Lentz (III.), Harris M. (2001). Science Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Film and Television Credits: Television shows. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0950-1.
  12. ^ "Actor Robert Middleton Asks Custody of Sons". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. February 16, 1956. p. 5. Retrieved November 11, 2018 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ^ "Actor Dies". The Tuscaloosa News. Associated Press. June 19, 1977. p. 4D. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
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