He first rose to prominence for his roles in the Broadway productions of Mister Roberts (1948–1951) and Picnic (1953),[1] the former of which earned him a Theatre World Award for his performance.

In film, Meeker is known for his portrayal of Mike Hammer in Robert Aldrich's 1955 Kiss Me Deadly and as condemned infantryman Cpl.

Meeker went on to play a series of roles that used his husky and macho screen presence, including a lead role in Stanley Kubrick's military courtroom drama Paths of Glory (1957), as a troubled mechanic opposite Carroll Baker in Something Wild (1961), as a World War II captain in The Dirty Dozen (1967), and in the gangster film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967).

After suffering a stroke in 1980, Meeker was forced to retire from acting, and died eight years later of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California.

[3] Meeker attended the Leelanau School in Glen Arbor Township, Michigan, and later was made a member of its hall of fame.

[3] Meeker began his career on stage, appearing in minor roles in the Broadway production of Strange Fruit (1946) directed by José Ferrer, which ran for 60 performances.

[citation needed] Meeker's big breakthrough came when he took over the role of Stanley Kowalski from Marlon Brando in the second year of the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan.

He had a supporting role as a misfit ex-cavalryman in the classic Western The Naked Spur (1953) directed by Anthony Mann starring James Stewart.

In 1954, Meeker was cast in a Broadway production of William Inge's Picnic, directed by Logan and also starring Paul Newman and Janice Rule.

[citation needed] Picnic became a classic film in 1955, with William Holden and Kim Novak starring in the roles originated by Meeker and Janice Rule.

In perhaps his most-remembered role, Meeker starred as private detective Mike Hammer in the 1955 Robert Aldrich film of Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly.

In 1957, he portrayed an ex-convict who kidnaps and then falls for Jane Russell in the romantic comedy The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown,[14] which failed at the box office.

Meeker was cast with Dorothy Provine in the 1959 episode "Blood Money" of the Western series The Texan, starring Rory Calhoun.

In 1961, he starred in the political story Ada with Dean Martin, and in Jack Garfein's experimental drama Something Wild, in which he portrayed a mechanic who saves a young woman (Carroll Baker) from committing suicide, but then holds her captive in his apartment.

[19] In 1962, Meeker portrayed Jack Slade in the episode "The Crooked Angel" of the drama series Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly as a Catholic priest in New York City and loosely based on 1944 film of the same name.

During the Cold War, he appeared in a 1963 U.S. Department of Defense informational film Town of the Times, which encouraged the construction of public fallout shelters.

Meeker guest-starred as Frank Marin in the 1964 episode "Swing for the Moon" of Channing, co-starring Jason Evers and Henry Jones.

Meeker was also in the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen as Captain Stuart Kinder, a military psychologist who attempts to analyze the men.

[23] In 1971, he appeared on television as Kermit Teller in the episode "Glory Rider" of the Western Custer, with Wayne Maunder in the title role.

He spent the last year of his life in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles, and died there, age 67, of a heart attack.