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. Cook's acting career spanned more than 60 years, with roles in productions including The Big Sleep, Shane, The Killing, House on Haunted Hill and Rosemary's Baby.
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Early life, stage, and military service
Born in San Francisco and raised in Chicago, Cook was the son of Elisha Vanslyck Cook Sr., a journalist and sometime playwright, and actress Helen Roslyn Henry. He first worked in theater lobbies selling programs, but by the age of 14 he was already performing in vaudeville and stock. In 1933, Eugene O'Neill cast him in the role of Richard Miller in his play Ah, Wilderness, which ran on Broadway for two years.
Cook enlisted in the United States Army in Los Angeles, on August 15, 1942. According to his enlistment record he stood 5-feet-5-inches tall and weighed 123 pounds. Cook's military record documents his level of education at "3 years of high school," received at St. Albans School for Boys in Sycamore, Illinois.
