Steve Conte (actor)

One of Conte's earliest roles was in 1950 as the road agent in "Shotgun Messenger", the first episode of The Marshal of Gunsight Pass.[7] Also the same year he played the part of Matt Riley in the William Berke directed western Gunfire, which starred Don 'Red' Barry, and Robert Lowery.[8] The following year he played the part of the Apache kid in the Ten Thousand Reward episode of The Range Rider.[9][10] Also that year he played Henchman Mac in the Robert Emmett Tansey directed Cattle Queen.[11] In 1959, he played the part of Whorf in the Jerry Warren-directed Teenage Zombies.[12] [13]

In 1952, Conte was cast as a villain, Jerry, in the 1952 episode, "Self Made Man," of the syndicated anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. In the story line, San Francisco lawyer Lew Barry (William Henry) studies to become a lawyer after he loses an arm in a shooting and can no longer earn his livelihood as a rock driller. Much later, he gains the acquittal on a murder charge of Jerry, the man who had shot him years earlier.[14]

In 1960, Conte guest starred in the M Squad episode, "The Man Who Lost His Brain," starring Lee Marvin. He appeared guest starred that same year in Overland Trail in the episode, "All the O'Mara Horses."[15] In 1962, he played Cabot in the Jerry Warren directed Terror of the Bloodhunters.[16][17] In 1966, he was working with Jerry Warren again who he had had previously in Teenage Zombies,[18] Terror of the Bloodhunters, and Attack of the Mayan Mummy.[19] This time it was The Wild World of Batwoman, released in 1966.[20]

The early 1970s, Conte appeared in such films as The Gatling Gunn the role of Private Mitchell,[21] and in the Sci-Fi The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler as a radio operator. In the late 1970s, he played a prison guard in the Harold Becker-directed The Onion Field.[22]

One of his last appearances is credited as an orderly in the Jeffrey Obrow/Stephen Carpenter-directed horror film, The Kindred, in 1987.[23]

Throughout Conte's career, he played some twenty-three roles as henchman thug, and criminal types.[24]

He played the part of Henchman Mac in the 1951 film, Cattle Queen of Montana, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan,[25] and Henchman Lait in the television series, Hopalong Cassidy.[26]

In 1954, Conte played a bandit in the Wild Luke's Boy episode of General Electric Theater.[27] In 1955, he played a henchman in the Dick Ross directed film, Wiretapper,[28] and Cyclops, "One-Eyed Henchman" in the Guns Below the Border episode of The Gene Autry Show. He had also played a henchman in two previous episodes of the show. He played henchmen in three episodes of Batman which were, Penguin Is a Girl's Best Friend, Penguin Sets a Trend, and Penguin's Disastrous End.[29]