Ralph Meeker

Biography

Burly American character actor Ralph Meeker first acted on stage at his Alma mater, Northwestern University, alongside other budding performers Charlton Heston and Patricia Neal. He graduated as a music major, because his dean had discouraged him from pursuing a theatrical career. Ignoring that advice, Meeker nevertheless moved to New York to study method acting and performing in local stock companies. After being injured during a brief wartime stint with the navy and consequently discharged from active duty, Meeker went overseas to play his part in entertaining the troops as a member of the USO. He finally 'arrived' on Broadway in 1945 and was given small roles in two plays produced by 'Jose Ferrer (I)', making his debut in "Strange Fruit". He was still relatively unknown in 1947 when he replaced Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" two years later, giving a commanding and critically acclaimed performance. After playing Kowalski in the touring company of 'Streetcar', Meeker was further noticed for his part in the original production of "Mister Roberts" . As a result, he had several European motion picture offers and selected to play the role of an army sergeant in Teresa (1951), co-starring Pier Angeli. That same year, he was in another continental drama, shot on location in Switzerland, Four in a Jeep (1951). After a two-year sojourn at MGM, Meeker returned to Broadway to star as the swaggering, likeable, larger-than-life rogue Hal Carter, in William Inge's play "Picnic" on Broadway. His performance was not only highly praised by reviewers like Brooks Atkinson, but also won him the New York Critics Circle Award. In later years, Meeker claimed to have spurned Columbia's offer of reprising his role on screen because he disdained being…