Robert Walker (actor, born 1940)
Robert Hudson Walker Jr. (April 15, 1940 – December 5, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in films including Easy Rider (1969) and was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. He became less active in later decades.
Robert Walker Jr. | |
|---|---|
Walker in 1963 | |
| Born | Robert Hudson Walker Jr. April 15, 1940 |
| Died | December 5, 2019 (aged 79) Malibu, California, U.S. |
| Years active | 1956–2018 |
| Spouses | Ellie Wood Walker (m. 1962; div. 1976)Judy Motulsky (m. 1978; div. 1980)Dawn Walker (m. 1981) |
| Children | 7 |
| Parent(s) | Robert Walker Jennifer Jones |
Early life
Walker was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York; his parents were actors Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones.[1][2] He attended The Lawrenceville School and trained as an actor at the Actors Studio.[1][3]
He studied Tai Chi Chuan under Marshall Ho'o, a skill that he later exhibited in his role in Easy Rider.[4]
Career
Walker began his acting career in 1962 with TV roles on Route 66 ("Across Walnuts and Wine") and Naked City ("Dust Devil on a Quiet Street", playing the title role of an emotionally disturbed actor who lived and performed on the streets and in circuses). His film debut was in The Hook in 1963;[1] other film appearances, in addition to Easy Rider, included the title role in Ensign Pulver (1964) with Burl Ives and Walter Matthau; The War Wagon (1967) with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas; the title role in Young Billy Young (1969), alongside Robert Mitchum; and Beware! The Blob, or—Son of Blob (1972). He starred in Angkor: Cambodia Express (1982) with Nancy Kwan, Christopher George, Woody Strode, and Sorapong Chatree.
On television in the 1960s, in The Big Valley episode "My Son, My Son" (1965), Walker portrayed Evan Miles, an emotionally disturbed college dropout who becomes obsessed with childhood friend Audra Barkley. In 1966, at the age of 26, he was cast in the Star Trek episode "Charlie X" (1966) as Charles 'Charlie' Evans, a 17-year-old social misfit with psychic powers. Also in 1966, he appeared in the fifth season of the series Combat! in the episode "Ollie Joe" . He had the title role in an episode of The Time Tunnel titled "Billy the Kid" (1967). He also portrayed Nick Baxter, an ill alien who caused the deaths of humans by touch, in an episode of The Invaders ("Panic", 1967). He played Mark Cole in an episode of Bonanza ("The Gentle Ones", 1967).
In the 1970s, Walker had a role in an episode of Columbo ("Mind Over Mayhem", 1974), and as an innocent longshoreman who takes the blame for a murder on Quincy, M.E. ("The Hero Syndrome", 1977). He also appeared in the pilot episode of The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978).
Walker maintained an episodic presence on television in the 1980s and 1990s. He guest-starred in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote with Angela Lansbury, the first time in "The Corpse Flew First Class" (1987), and as a mentally handicapped man in "Shear Madness" (1990). He appeared in L.A. Law and In the Heat of the Night, both in 1991. He also made a television series appearance in 1993 and had a small role in the film Beyond the Darkness (2018) before officially retiring in 2018.
Personal life and death
Walker was married three times, to Ellie Wood, to Judy Motulsky, and finally to Dawn Walker. He had 7 children.[2][3][5]
He died at the age of 79 at his home in Malibu, California, on December 5, 2019.[1][2][5][6]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Naked City | Neil McCaw | Episode: "Dust Devil on a Quiet Street" |
| 1962 | Route 66 | Michael Ely | Episode: "Across Walnuts and Wine" |
| 1962-1964 | Ben Casey | Larry Franklin/David Duncan | 2 episodes |
| 1963 | The Hook | Pvt. O.A. Dennison | |
| 1963 | The Ceremony | Dominic | |
| 1964 | Ensign Pulver | Ensign Frank Pulver | feature film |
| 1964 | Dr. Kildare | Neal Tomlinson | Episode: "Quid Pro Quo" |
| 1965 | The Touching and the Not Touching | ||
| 1965 | The Defenders | Erik Davis | 2 episodes |
| 1965 | The Big Valley | Evan Miles | Episode: “My Son, My Son" |
| 1966 | COMBAT! | Ollie Joe Brown | Episode: "Ollie Joe" |
| 1966 | 12 O'Clock High | Master Sgt. Heinz Reiniger | 2 episodes |
| 1966 | The Trials of O'Brien | Arthur Barry | Episode: "The Only Game in Town" |
| 1966 | Star Trek | Charlie Evans | Episode: "Charlie X" |
| 1966-1968 | The F.B.I. | Paul Donald Thorpe/Willard Smith | 2 episodes |
| 1967 | The Monroes | Quint Gregger | Episode: "Killer Cougar" |
| 1967 | The Time Tunnel | Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney) | Episode: "Billy the Kid" |
| 1967 | The Happening | Herby | |
| 1967 | The War Wagon | Billy Hyatt | |
| 1967 | Bonanza | Mark Cole | Episode: "The Gentle Ones" |
| 1967 | The Invaders | Nick Baxter | Episode: "Panic" |
| 1968 | The Savage Seven | Johnnie | |
| 1968 | Eve | Mike Yates | |
| 1968 | Killers Three | Johnny Warder | |
| 1969 | Agilok & Blubbo | Agilok | |
| 1969 | Easy Rider | Jack | |
| 1969 | Young Billy Young | Billy Young | |
| 1970 | The Man from O.R.G.Y. | Steve Victor | |
| 1970 | Road to Salina | Jonas | |
| 1972 | Beware! The Blob | Bobby Hartford | |
| 1973 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Denny Reed | Episode: "A More Exciting Case" |
| 1973 | Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman | Le guitariste | |
| 1973 | Hex | Chupo | [7] |
| 1974 | The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe | Edgar Allan Poe | |
| 1974 | Gone with the West | Sheriff of Black Miller | |
| 1974 | Cannon | Del Foxworth | Episode: "The Avenger" |
| 1974 | Columbo | Neil Cahill | Episode: "Mind Over Mayhem" |
| 1975 | The Streets of San Francisco | Gene Watson | Episode: "Asylum" |
| 1976 | Police Woman | Nat Stark | Episode: "Tender Soldier" |
| 1976 | The Passover Plot | Bar Talmi | |
| 1977 | Quincy, M.E. | Peter Thorwald | Episode: "The Hero Syndrome" |
| 1977 | Evil Town | Mike Segal | |
| 1978 | The Six Million Dollar Man | Cloche / Bell | 2 episodes |
| 1978 | The Next Step Beyond | Walter Hastings | Episode: "Other Voices" |
| 1979 | Charlie's Angels | Burt Marshall | Episode: "Angels at the Altar" |
| 1980 | Beulah Land | Bruce Davis | 3-part miniseries |
| 1982 | CHiPs | Tom Corey | Episode: "Ice Cream Man" |
| 1982 | Angkor: Cambodia Express | Andrew Cameron | |
| 1983 | Olivia | Michael 'Mike' Grant | |
| 1983 | Making of a Male Model | Joseph | TV movie |
| 1983 | The Devonsville Terror | Matthew Pendleton | |
| 1983 | Matt Houston | Adrian Harcomb | Episode: "The Outsider" |
| 1983 | Hambone and Hillie | The Wanderer | |
| 1985 | Simon & Simon | Mr. Matt Glass | Episode: "Slither" |
| 1985 | Riptide | Oscar Davenport | Episode: "The Bargain Department" |
| 1985-1986 | Dallas | Harding Devers | 3 episodes |
| 1986 | The Fall Guy | Eye-patch Poker Player | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Days of Our Lives | Dr. Collins | 2 episodes |
| 1989 | Dragnet | Bruce Fellows | Episode: "Where's Sadie?" |
| 1990 | Murder, She Wrote | George Owens | 2 episodes |
| 1991 | In the Heat of the Night | Ray Garrett | Episode: "An Execution of Trust" |
| 1991 | LA Law | William Lowell | Episode: "Good to the Last Drop" |
| 1992 | Santa Barbara | Dr. Pressman | |
| 1993 | FBI: The Untold Stories | Berry | Episode: "Kill for Love" |
| 2017 | Lock It Up Dog | Vladimir | |
| 2018 | Beyond the Darkness | Agent Mills | (final film role) |
References
- ^ a b c d Mike Barnes (December 6, 2019). "Robert Walker Jr., 'Star Trek' Actor and Son of Hollywood Superstars, Dies at 79". The Hollywood Reporter. from the original on December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- ^ a b c Dena Miller (January 15, 2020). "Actor Robert Walker Jr. Dies". Taos News. from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ a b Harris M. Lentz III (2020). "Walker, Robert, Jr.". Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2019. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. pp. 437–38. ISBN 9781476679785. from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ^ "Tai Chi In The Movie Easy Rider". Slanted Flying. May 9, 2014. from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Robert Walker". Malibu Times. December 21, 2019. from the original on December 20, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ Will Thorne (December 7, 2019). "'Star Trek' Actor Robert Walker Jr. Dies at 79". Variety. from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ "Robert Walker Jr". TCM.com. from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
External links
- Robert Walker at IMDb
- Robert Walker at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- "Actor Robert Walker Jr. and friend, Malibu, 1965", photograph by Dennis Hopper from 2011 book of Hopper's photographs, via The Independent.