Robert Middleton (born Samuel G. Messer, May 13, 1911 – June 14, 1977) was an American film and television actor known for his large size, beetle-like brows, and a deep, booming voice (for which he was known as "Big Bob Middleton"), usually in the portrayal of ruthless villains.
Early years
A native of
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, Middleton was one of four children of a building contractor.
[ ] He trained for a musical career at the
Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, w ...
and
Carnegie Tech
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
.
Career
Middleton's career in entertainment began with a job as an announcer on
WLW
WLW (700 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as The Big One.
WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provides ...
radio in Cincinnati.
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
"Duck and cover" is a method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear explosion. Ducking and covering is useful in offering a degree of protection to personnel located outside the radius of the nuclear fireball but still within su ...
". After appearing on the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
stage and live television, Middleton began appearing in films in 1954, and in film opposite Humphrey Bogart in ''
The Desperate Hours'' (1955),
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, an ...
in ''
The Court Jester
''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 musical-comedy, medieval romance, costume drama film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker.
The movie was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman ...
'' (1955),
Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...
in ''
Friendly Persuasion'' (1956),
Richard Egan and
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
in ''
Love Me Tender'' (1956),
Dorothy Malone
Dorothy Malone (born Mary Dorothy Maloney; January 29, 1924 – January 19, 2018) was an American actress.
Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role ...
and
Robert Stack
Robert Stack (born Charles Langford Modini Stack; January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over forty feature films. He starred in the highly successful ABC tele ...
in ''
The Tarnished Angels
''The Tarnished Angels'' is a 1957 black-and-white American CinemaScope drama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, and Robert Middleton. The screenplay by George Zuckerman is based on ...
'' (1958),
Robert Taylor and
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer.
He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, ''Kiss of Death'' (1947), ...
in ''
The Law and Jake Wade
''The Law and Jake Wade'' is a 1958 American Western film released in Metrocolor by MGM in CinemaScope. It is based on the 1956 novel by Marvin H. Albert and directed by John Sturges. The film was shot on location in California's High Sierra m ...
'' (1958), and
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
in ''
Career
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Definitions
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...
'' (1959).
Middleton appeared in many television programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the CBS
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a di ...
''
Appointment with Adventure
''Appointment with Adventure'' is an American dramatic anthology program that was broadcast from April 3, 1955, until April 1, 1956, on CBS.
Format and actors
''Appointment with Adventure'' presented stories whose settings varied among locations ...
''. He played a dishonest candidate for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...
in an episode of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
The Real McCoys
''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company ...
'', starring
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
and
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor.
Crenna starred in such motion pictures as '' The Sand Pebbles'', '' Wait Until Dark'', '' Un Flic'', ''Body Heat'', the first thre ...
. 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
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
anthology series ''
The Joseph Cotten Show
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
''.
In 1956, he guest starred on James Arness’s TV Western series ''
Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central chara ...
'', 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). In 1961, he was cast as Arthur Sutro in the episode "The Road to Jericho" of the ABC
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
* Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
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
James Grover Franciscus (January 31, 1934 – July 8, 1991) was an American actor, known for his roles in feature films and in six television series: ''Mr. Novak'', '' The Naked City'', '' The Investigators'', '' Longstreet'', '' Doc Elliot'', ...
and
James Philbrook
James Philbrook was an American actor who appeared in several major films, including ''I Want to Live!'' (1958), ''Woman Obsessed'' and as Colonel Tall in the 1964 war picture '' The Thin Red Line''. He had supporting roles on television, includ ...
.
In 1958, Middleton was cast in the episode "Ambush in Laredo" as Frank Davis, who attempts in
Laredo,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, to merge five
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...
gangs into one, in the ABC
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...
''
Texas John Slaughter,'' with
Tom Tryon
Thomas Lester Tryon (January 14, 1926 – September 4, 1991) was an American actor and novelist. He is best known for playing the title role in the film '' The Cardinal'' (1963), featured roles in the war films '' The Longest Day'' (1962) and '' ...
in the title role.
Middleton was cast in ten episodes of the ABC family western drama, ''
The Monroes
Monroe or Monroes may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Monroe (surname)
* Monroe (given name)
* James Monroe, 5th President of the United States
Places United States
* Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorporated community and census-designate ...
'', with costars
Michael Anderson, Jr.
Michael Joseph Anderson Jr. (born 6 August 1943) is an actor whose 40-year career includes roles in '' The Sundowners'', ''In Search of the Castaways'', ''The Sons of Katie Elder'', and ''Logan's Run''. During the 1966 television season he starr ...
, and
Barbara Hershey
Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including weste ...
. 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
''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was r ...
'', 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
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was born to ...
'' western series, starring
Gene Barry
Gene Barry (born Eugene Klass, June 14, 1919 – December 9, 2009) was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films '' The Atomic City'' (1952) and ''The War of The Worl ...
in the title role. He appeared in four episodes of ''
The Untouchables
Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to:
American history
* Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness
* ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley
* ''The Un ...
'', including the 2 part episode, "The Unhired Assassin", as Chicago mayor
Anton Cermak
Anton Joseph Cermak ( cs, Antonín Josef Čermák, ; May 9, 1873 – March 6, 1933) was an American politician who served as the 44th mayor of Chicago, Illinois from April 7, 1931 until his death on March 6, 1933. He was killed by an assassin, ...
. In 1961, he appeared in the episode "Accidental Tourist" on the
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Aca ...
ABC
legal drama
A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...
''
The Law and Mr. Jones
''The Law and Mr. Jones'' is an American legal drama series starring James Whitmore. The series aired on ABC in two nonconsecutive seasons from October 7, 1960 to June 2, 1961, and again from April 19 to July 12, 1962. The program was created ...
''. That same year, he portrayed the highly sympathetic but fiercely dedicated state executioner in an episode of ''
Thriller (U.S. TV series)
''Thriller'' (also known as ''Boris Karloff's Thriller'' and ''Boris Karloff Presents'') is an American anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing ...
'' entitled "Guillotine". He also appeared in three episodes of ''
Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on ...
'' from 1960 to 1967, as brutal gangster Sam Bryant. Middleton appeared as defendant "Judge Daniel Redmond" in the 1963 ''
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
'' episode, "The Case of the Witless Witness". In the early 1950s, Middleton appeared on Broadway in ''Ondine'' (1954), ''A Red Rainbow'' (1953), and ''The Wild Duck'' (1951). Other significant film roles included ''
The Court Jester
''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 musical-comedy, medieval romance, costume drama film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker.
The movie was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman ...
'' (1955) as a grim and determined knight who jousts with
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, an ...
in the famous "pellet with the poison" sequence, and as
Edwin M. Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...
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
''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s, with the release of the '' James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, ...
as the KAOS villain "The Whip", intent on hypnotizing Agent 86 in the 1970 series finale "I Am Curiously Yellow".
Personal life and death
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.
Middleton died on June 14, 1977, in
Encino Encino is Spanish for oak. Encino may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places United States
* Encino, Los Angeles, California, a neighborhood
* Encino, New Mexico, a village
* Encino, Texas, a census-designated place
Colombia
* Encino, Santander, a municipalit ...
, California, at the age of 66.
Selected filmography

*''
The Silver Chalice
''The Silver Chalice'' is a 1952 English language historical novel by Thomas B. Costain. It is the fictional story of the making of a silver chalice to hold the Holy Grail (itself here conflated with the Holy Chalice) and includes 1st century b ...
'' (1954) – Idbash
*''
The Big Combo
''The Big Combo'' is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Joseph H. Lewis, written by Philip Yordan and photographed by cinematographer John Alton, with music by David Raksin. The film stars Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte and Brian Donlev ...
'' (1955) – Police Capt. Peterson
*''
The Desperate Hours'' (1955) – Sam Kobish
*''
Trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...
'' (1955) – A.A. 'Fats' Sanders
*''
The Court Jester
''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 musical-comedy, medieval romance, costume drama film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker.
The movie was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman ...
'' (1955) – Sir Griswold
*''
Red Sundown
''Red Sundown'' is a 1956 American Western film directed by Jack Arnold and starring Rory Calhoun, Martha Hyer and Dean Jagger.
Plot
Alec Longmire (Rory Calhoun), a gunfighter, decides to change his ways after nearly losing his life. He refor ...
'' (1956) – Rufus Henshaw
*''
The Proud Ones
''The Proud Ones'' is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Ryan and Virginia Mayo. The film was based on the 1952 novel by Verne Athanas who after suffering an early heart attack, he gave up ...
'' (1956) – Honest John Barrett
*''
Friendly Persuasion'' (1956) – Sam Jordan
*''
Love Me Tender'' (1956) – Mr. Siringo
*''
The Lonely Man
''The Lonely Man'' is a 1957 American Western film directed by Henry Levin and written by Harry Essex and Robert Smith. The film stars Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Elaine Aiken,Neville Brand, Robert Middleton, Elisha Cook, Jr., Claude Akins ...
'' (1957) – Ben Ryerson
*''So Lovely... So Deadly'' (1957) – Eddie Rocco
*''
The Tarnished Angels
''The Tarnished Angels'' is a 1957 black-and-white American CinemaScope drama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, Jack Carson, and Robert Middleton. The screenplay by George Zuckerman is based on ...
'' (1957) – Matt Ord
*''
The Walter Winchell File
''The Walter Winchell File'' is a television crime drama series that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the ''New York Daily Mirror''. The series featured columnist a ...
'' "The Law and Aaron Benjamin" (1957) – Aaron Benjamin
*''
Day of the Badman
''Day of the Badman'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Harry Keller and starring Fred MacMurray, Joan Weldon and John Ericson.
Plot
Judge Jim Scott (Fred MacMurray) wants to sentence a killer to die, but the outlaw's family members ...
'' (1958) – Charlie Hayes
*''
The Law and Jake Wade
''The Law and Jake Wade'' is a 1958 American Western film released in Metrocolor by MGM in CinemaScope. It is based on the 1956 novel by Marvin H. Albert and directed by John Sturges. The film was shot on location in California's High Sierra m ...
'' (1958) – Ortero
*''
No Place to Land'' (1958) – Buck LaVonne
*''
Don't Give Up the Ship'' (1959) – Vice Adm. Philo Tecumseh Bludde
*''
Career
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Definitions
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defi ...
'' (1959) – Robert Kensington
*''
Hell Bent for Leather'' (1960) – Ambrose
*''
The Great Impostor
''The Great Impostor'' is a 1961 American comedy-drama film movie based on the true story of an impostor named Ferdinand Waldo Demara. The film is loosely based on Robert Crichton's 1959 biography of the same name, it stars Tony Curtis in the ...
'' (1961) – R.C. Brown
*''
Gold of the Seven Saints
''Gold of the Seven Saints'' is a 1961 American Western film adaptation of a 1957 Steve Frazee novel titled ''Desert Guns''. Released by Warner Brothers, the 88-minute film starred Clint Walker, Roger Moore, Letícia Román, Robert Middleton, an ...
'' (1961) – Amos Gondora
*''
Cattle King
''Cattle King'' is a 1963 American Western film directed by Tay Garnett. It stars Robert Taylor and Robert Loggia. It was also known by the alternative title of ''Guns of Wyoming'' in some countries.
Plot
A range war is building in Wyoming. C ...
'' (1963) – Clay Mathews
*''
For Those Who Think Young'' (1964) – Burford Sanford Cronin
*''
A Big Hand for the Little Lady
''A Big Hand for the Little Lady'' (released in the UK under the misleading title ''Big Deal at Dodge City'', as the film is set in Laredo, Texas) is a 1966 American Western film made by Eden Productions Inc. and released by Warner Bros. The ...
'' (1966) – Dennis Wilcox
*''
The Cheyenne Social Club
''The Cheyenne Social Club'' is a 1970 American Western comedy film written by James Lee Barrett, directed and produced by Gene Kelly, and starring James Stewart, Henry Fonda and Shirley Jones. The film is about an aging cowboy who inherits ...
'' (1970) – Barkeeper – Great Plains Saloon
*''
Which Way to the Front?
''Which Way to the Front?'' is a 1970 American comedy film produced, directed by and starring Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and hum ...
'' (1970) – Colonico
*''
Even Angels Eat Beans
''Even Angels Eat Beans'' (Italian: ''Anche gli angeli mangiano fagioli'') is a 1973 Italian comedy film written and directed by Enzo Barboni with Giuliano Gemma and Bud Spencer. It was awarded with the Golden Screen Award in 1974.
The film prod ...
'' (1973) – Angelo
*''
The Harrad Experiment
''The Harrad Experiment'' is a 1973 coming-of-age film about a fictional school called Harrad College where the students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this film ...
'' (1973) – Sidney Bower
*''
The Lincoln Conspiracy'' (1977) – Edwin M. Stanton
References
External links
*
*
*
*
* (interviewed in Cincinnati – 1959)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Robert
1911 births
1977 deaths
20th-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male television actors
Male Western (genre) film actors
Male actors from Cincinnati
Male actors from Los Angeles
Male actors from Ohio
University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni
Western (genre) television actors