Robert Walker, Jr.

Robert Walker, Jr.
Born	April 15, 1940(1940-04-15) Queens, New York, United States
Years active	1956–1991
Spouse(s)	Ellie Wood Walker (1961-?) 3 children Dawn Walker (?-present)

Robert Hudson Walker Jr., born 15 April 1940, is an American actor.

He was born in Queens, New York and is the elder son of actors Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones. He has at least one younger brother, Michael Walker.

Gary Brumburgh, writing for the Internet Movie Database, wrote the following brief biography of Walker Jr.:

"As the son of actors Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker Jr. certainly had the right pedigree to make the grade in Hollywood. Born at Queens Hospital on April 14, 1940, he experienced severe emotional upheavals in his childhood. His parents separated when Robert was only three, and at age 9, his stepfather became the powerful film mogul David O. Selznick, who by this time had already taken firm control of his mother's career. His mother suffered a miscarriage in 1950 and his severely depressed father, who had never recovered from losing his wife, died a year later at age 32 of respiratory failure after suffering an acute reaction to a prescriptive sedative. Neither his mother nor Robert Jr. attended the funeral.

"Despite those setbacks, Walker Jr. began assuredly enough training at the Actors' Studio in the early 1960s. He also married wife Ellie Wood in the early '60s, and they had three children. Walker Jr. preferred to find his own place in the entertainment field and tried to avoid the obvious comparisons, but his startling resemblance to his late father made it extremely difficult for film audiences to separate the two. He started his film career in good company and with two strong roles in The Hook (1963), a morality story set during the Korean war starring Kirk Douglas and Nick Adams, and The Ceremony (1963) in which he received a Golden Globe Award for 'promising newcomer' as Laurence Harvey's brother. Walker Jr. also worked on TV and earned a Theatre World Award for his two 1964 off-Broadway roles in I Knock at the Door and Pictures in the Hallway.

"Of slight build and boyishly handsome, Robert seemed on his way when he was handed the biggest challenge of his film career taking over Jack Lemmon's Oscar-winning role as Ensign Pulver (1964) in the sequel to the popular service comedy Mister Roberts (1955). Unfortunately, his comparison to Lemmon paled significantly, and the script of Ensign Pulver proved to have neither the charm nor wit of its predecessor. The film and Walker were torpedoed by the reviewers, and Walker lost major ground in Hollywood. His films thereafter have lacked the quality and promise of his first two, including The Happening (1967), The Savage Seven (1968), Killers Three (1968) and the title role in Young Billy Young (1969) starring Robert Mitchum. He and his wife Ellie appeared in lesser roles in the hit cult film Easy Rider (1969) and he delved into pure exploitation with The Man from O.R.G.Y. (1970), Hex (1973) and the title role in The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974). In later years, Walker Jr. maintained on TV episodics, his final appearances occurring in 1991 with 'L.A. Law and In the Heat of the Night. His younger brother (by a year) Michael Walker has also been an actor."

Walker Jr. has appeared in films and television since the early 1960s. His movies include 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 alongside Robert Mitchum in 1969, Easy Rider, also in 1969, and Beware! The Blob, or--Son Of Blob in 1972.

Walker Jr. also had a memorable Star Trek role as "Charles 'Charlie' Evans" in the episode "Charlie X." In addition, he played Billy the Kid in episode 22 of The Time Tunnel, which originally aired on February 10, 1967, and also portrayed Nick Baxter, an ill alien who caused the deaths of humans by touch, in the episode "Panic" in the television series The Invaders, which aired on April 11, 1967.

Known personal life

Walker Jr. had married Eleanor "Ellie" Wood, a native of Maysville, Kentucky, in the 1960s. They resided in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico for years, and three children were born of this marriage. Ellie appeared as the titular Amazonian super-heroine in Wonder Woman: "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?"^{[citation needed]} Their marriage eventually failed under unknown circumstances.

Robert's second wife was Judy Claire Walker (maiden name, Motulsky). Together they had two children, Jordan Walker (born May 26 1982) and Colette Walker (born July 16th 1984). Dawn Walker is Robert's 3rd and current wife. Together they have two children, Henry and Emily.

Walker Jr.'s younger brother, Michael Walker, died on December 27, 2007. The circumstances of his death were also not known as of September of 2009.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Robert Walker, Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Walker, Jr. at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

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