Elisha Cook, Jr.

Infobox actor
name = Elisha Cook, Jr.


caption =
birthdate = December 26, 1903
birthplace = San Francisco, California
deathdate = May 18, 1995
deathplace = Big Pine, California

Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr.California Death Index] (December 26, 1903Social Security Death Index] – May 18, 1995)cite news |last=Robert Mcg. Thomas Jr. |title=Elisha Cook Jr., Villain in Many Films, Dies at 91. | work=New York Times | quote= Elisha Cook Jr., whose intense, bug-eyed portrayal of Wilmer, the psychotic, baby-faced killer in "The Maltese Falcon," made him a cult figure to a generation of moviegoers, died on Thursday at a nursing home in Big Pine, California. He was 91. He was the last surviving cast member of John Huston's 1941 film noir classic, whose company included Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Mary Astor. |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5D91531F932A15756C0A963958260 | date=May 21, 1995 ] was an American actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and neurotics, earning him the nickname "Hollywood's lightest heavy". and then became a Broadway actor.

Biography

Early life

He was born in San Francisco, the son of Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Sr. (1870-?), a pharmacist in San Francisco, California, USA [1900 US Census] He grew up in Chicago.

Career

Cook started out in vaudeville and stock by age 14. He was a traveling actor in the East and Midwest before arriving in New York City, where Eugene O'Neill cast him in his play "Ah, Wilderness!", which ran on Broadway for two years.

In 1936, he settled in Hollywood and, after playing a series of college-aged parts, began a long stint playing weaklings or sadistic losers and hoods. His acting career spanned over sixty years. Cook's characters usually ended up being killed off (strangled, poisoned or shot); he was arguably Hollywood's most notable fall guy for many years. He made a rare appearance in slapstick comedy in the cameo role of The Screenwriter (another of Cook's shy anti-heroes) in "Hellzapoppin'", 1941. In Universal's "Phantom Lady", he portrays a slimy, intoxicated nightclub-orchestra drummer. Other notable roles include Wilmer the "gunsel" in "The Maltese Falcon" (1941), "pug ugly" Marty Waterman in "Born to Kill", Harry Jones in "The Big Sleep" (1946), Torrey in "Shane" (1953), and George Peatty, the hen-pecked husband to Marie Windsor, in Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956).

Cook played a private detective in a 1953 episode of "Adventures of Superman" TV series entitled "Semi-Private Eye". In the series DVD commentary, Jack Larson describes this as his favorite episode, both for being allowed to play a self-styled Humphrey Bogart-style shamus, and for the chance to work with "Cookie", who became a good friend. He played lawyer Samuel T. Cogley on in the Star Trek episode "Court Martial", and later had a long-term recurring role as Icepick on "Magnum, P.I.".

Personal life

According to John Huston, who directed him in "The Maltese Falcon", Cook “lived alone up in the High Sierra, tied flies and caught golden trout between films. When he was wanted in Hollywood, they sent word up to his mountain cabin by courier. He would come down, do a picture, and then withdraw again to his retreat.”

He married twice, first to Mary Lou Cook between 1929 and 1942. After they divorced, he was married to Peggy McKenna Cook from 1944 until his death. He had no children, although he spent time raising a niece. He lived in Bishop, California, typically summering on Lake Sabrina in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and died on May 18, 1995 in Big Pine, California.

His ashes were scattered somewhere after his cremation.

Filmography

*"Her Unborn Child" (1930) (film debut)
*"Pigskin Parade" (1936)
*"They Won't Forget" (1937)
*"Submarine Patrol" (1938)
*"He Married His Wife" (1940)
*"Stranger on the Third Floor" (1940)
*"Tin Pan Alley" (1940)
*"Ball of Fire" (1941)
*"The Maltese Falcon" (1941)
*"Hellzapoppin'" (1941)
*"A-Haunting We Will Go" (1942)
*"Phantom Lady" (1944)
*"Dark Waters" (1944)
*"Dillinger" (1945)
*"Two Smart People" (1946)
*"The Big Sleep" (1946)
*"Born to Kill" (1947)
*"The Long Night" (1947)
*"The Great Gatsby" (1949)
*"Don't Bother to Knock" (1952)
*"Shane" (1953)
*"The Killing" (1956)
*"Accused of Murder" (1956)
*"Baby Face Nelson" (1957)
*"House on Haunted Hill" (1959)
*"One-Eyed Jacks" (1961)
*"Papa's Delicate Condition" (1963)
*"Black Zoo" (1963)
*"The Haunted Palace" (1963)
*"Welcome to Hard Times" (1967)
*"Rosemary's Baby" (1968)
*"The Night Stalker" (1972) (TV)
*"The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid" (1972)
*"Messiah of Evil" (1972)
*"Blacula" (1972)
*"Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" (1973) (uncredited)
*"Emperor of the North Pole" (1973)
*"Electra Glide in Blue" (1973)
*"The Outfit" (1973)
*"St. Ives" (1976)
*"The Champ" (1979)
*"Salem's Lot" (1979) (TV)
*"1941" (1979)
*"Tom Horn" (1980)
*"Carny" (1980)
*"Hammett" (1982)

References

reflistDark Passage (1947)

External links

*imdb name|id=0176879|name=Elisha Cook Jr.
*tcmdb name|id=38491|name=Elisha Cook Jr.
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6622584&pt Find-A-Grave profile for Elisha Cook Jr.]

Persondata
NAME= Cook, Elisha, Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= December 26, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH= San Francisco, California
DATE OF DEATH= May 18, 1995
PLACE OF DEATH= Big Pine, California