Photo: 不明 / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Elisha Cook Jr. is the patron saint of the great character actor, and I have enormous affection for performers like him. His turn as the twitchy, in-over-his-head gunman Wilmer in the 1941 Maltese Falcon is the definitive small man trying to act tough, and it cast him forever as film noir's go-to nervous wreck. What I love is how he weaponized his unthreatening, baby-faced look into something genuinely unsettling. He worked from the 1930s deep into television, never a leading man but utterly indispensable, the texture that made those movies feel real. Careers like his remind me that the supporting players often define a film's atmosphere.
Overview
Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in film noir. He played cheerful, brainy collegiates until he was cast against type as the bug-eyed baby-faced killer Wilmer Cook in the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon. He went on to play deceptively mild-mannered villains.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Elisha Cook Jr.
- Name (Japanese)
- エリシャ・クック・Jr
- Reading
- えりしゃ・くっく・Jr
- Born
- December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Rabbit
- Origin
- San Francisco, California, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / character actor / stage actor / television actor / film actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Character actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.