The Cheaper the Crook:
The Crime Films of Elisha Cook Jr.

From his first memorable appearance in The Maltese Falcon as Wilmer, the hapless gunsel who Bogey constantly thwarts, Elisha Cook, Jr. went on to star in a long line of distinguished hardboiled, noir and detective films, even, eventually, reprising the role of Wilmer in The Black Bird in 1975. He usually played a loser of some sort. You saw Elisha in a film, you knew he wouldn't be the one walking into the sunset as the closing credits roll...

• Stranger on the Third Floor (1940, RKO)
  Many consider this the "first true film noir."
• The Maltese Falcon (1941, Warner Brothers)
• I Wake Up Screaming (1942, 20th Century-Fox)
• Phantom Lady (1944, Universal)
• The Big Sleep (1946, Warner Brothers)
• The Falcon's Alibi (1946, RKO)
• Born To Kill (1947, RKO)
• Fall Guy (1947, Monogram)
• The Gangster (1947, King Brothers)
• I, the Jury (1953, Parklane Productions)
• The Killing (1956, Harris-Kubrick)
• Baby Face Nelson (1957, Fryman-ZS)
• Plunder Road (1957, Regal Films)
• Staccato (1960, P.I. television series)
  Guest-starred in the episode entitled "Solomon," broadcast February 11, 1960.
• The Outfit (1973, MGM)
• The Black Bird (1975, Columbia)
• St. Ives (1976, Warner Brothers)
• Tom Horn (1980, Warner Bros.)
• Magnum P.I. (1981-1988, P.I. television series)
  Guest-starred and later had recurring role as "Ice Pick."
• Hammett (1983, Orion Pictures/Warner Brothers)