
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995                   TAG: 9505220052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ELISHA COOK, CHARACTER ACTOR, DIES

Elisha Cook Jr., whose intense, bug-eyed portrayal of Wilmer, the psychotic, baby-faced killer in ``The Maltese Falcon,'' made him a cult figure to a generation of moviegoers, died Thursday in Big Pine, Calif. He was 91.

He was the last surviving cast member of John Huston's 1941 classic, whose company included Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Mary Astor.

Cook had been disabled since suffering a stroke five years ago.

Cook, who made more than 100 movies, once claimed that he had appeared in more ``B-for-bomb turkeys'' than any other actor. Maybe so, but few actors could claim to have played as many memorable roles in as many recognized classics or to have become the answer to so many Hollywood trivia questions.

He was the ``hophead jazz drummer'' in ``Phantom Lady'' (1944). He was Jonesy, the lovesick loser forced to drink poison in ``The Big Sleep'' (1946). And he was the homesteader who took an unforgettable dying fall into the mud after being shot by Jack Palance in ``Shane'' (1953).

But to dedicated fans who never leave the theater until the last credit has rolled, none was as memorable as his role as ``Wilmer the gunsel,'' Sydney Greenstreet's bodyguard in ``The Maltese Falcon.''

by CNB