Born Robert Alexander Cochran on May 25th, 1917 in Eureka, California, Steve Cochran grew up in Laramie, Wyoming. He worked as a cowboy and played basketball in school. He studied at the University of Wyoming and left college for Hollywood with hopes of becoming a star, finding work instead in summer stock appearing in performances of Macbeth, Hamlet and Richard III.
Classified 4F in WWII due to a heart murmur, Cochran performed on stage at army camps.
In 1945 Samuel Goldwyn saw him in a play and gave him a contract. Steve appeared in several films as a supporting actor, playing gangsters and villains and in 1949 he moved to Warner Brothers. He appeared in White Heat with James Cagney. Known to be a nefarious womanizer and heavy drinker, motion picture roles became less available to him and he went into television in 1959.
In 1965 Steve and an inexperienced all-girl crew were lost in a storm aboard his yacht. He ended up with hypothermia and died in June of the same year.
Turner Classic Movie host Eddie Muller calls him the Elvis of Noir.
Played a duel role in Bonanza’s season six episode The Trap in1965
IMDB lists this as his final role .
Played twins Burke and Booth Shannon in The Trap