Elisha Cook, Jr.
Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor, probably best remembered as the "gunsel" Wilmer, who tries to intimidate Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, but his acting career spanned more than 60 years, with roles in films such as The Big Sleep, Shane, The Killing, and House on Haunted Hill.
Career
Cook was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Sr., a pharmacist. He grew up in Chicago, starting out in vaudeville and stock by the age of fourteen. He was a traveling actor in the East Coast and the 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. Cook served in the United States Army during World War II.
In film
In 1936, Cook settled in Hollywood and, after playing a series of college-aged parts, began a long period playing weaklings or sadistic losers and hoods. Cook's characters usually ended up being killed off (strangled, poisoned or shot). Hollywood's most notable fall guy for many years, he made a rare appearance in slapstick comedy in the cameo role of The Screenwriter in Hellzapoppin' (1941). In Universal's Phantom Lady (1944), he portrays a slimy, intoxicated nightclub-orchestra drummer to memorable effect. He had a substantial uncredited role as Bobo in I, the Jury (1953).