Biography
John Dierkes (10 February 1905 – 8 January 1975) was an American character actor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he attended Brown University and worked as an economist for the United States Department of State. During the Second World War he served with the Red Cross in Britain, where he met director John Huston. After the war he joined the United States Treasury Department and was sent to Hollywood as technical adviser on the film To the Ends of the Earth (1948).
Dierkes began acting the same year, appearing as Ross in Orson Welles’s Macbeth (1948). His tall frame (6 ft 6 in) led to numerous supporting roles, often as villains or soldiers. He is remembered for playing Morgan Ryker in Shane (1953), Dr Chapman in The Thing from Another World (1951), and Jocko Robertson in The Alamo (1960). He also appeared in Touch of Evil (1958), The Raven (1963) and The Omega Man (1971). Dierkes was married to Cynthia Dierkes and had four children.
