Roscoe Ates
Encyclopedia
Roscoe Ates was an actor
and musician
in primarily western
film
s and television
.
hamlet of Grange, Mississippi, northwest of Hattiesburg
. Grange is no longer included on road maps. Ates spent much of his childhood overcoming a severe stutter.
He entered the entertainment medium as a concert violin
ist but found economic opportunities greater as a vaudeville
comedian
. He revived his long-gone stutter for humorous effect. Besides his early films, Ates starred in his own short subject series with RKO and Vitaphone
.
His first film role was at the age of thirty-four in 1929 as a ship's cook in South Sea Rose. The next year he was cast as "Old Stuff" in the film Billy the Kid
with Johnny Mack Brown
(1904–1974) as Billy the Kid
and Wallace Beery
(1885–1949) as Deputy Sheriff Pat Garrett
.
), Stars Over Texas, and Tumbleweed Trail (all 1946), West to Glory, Shadow Valley, and Wild Country (all 1947), and Check Your Guns, Black Hills, Tornado Range, The Westward Trail, and The Tioga Kid (all 1948). His Soapy Jones character is the sidekick to the "Singing Cowboy" portrayed by native Texan
, Eddie Dean
(1907–1999). Thereafter, George "Gabby" Hayes employed archival footage from many Soapy Jones films in his 1950s children's television series, The Gabby Hayes Show
.
In 1950, Ates was cast in his first television role as Deputy Roscoe in the short-lived ABC
series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass
, which was broadcast live from a primitive studio lot in Los Angeles
, California
. Eddie Dean also appeared in this program, as did Jan Sterling
(1921–2004) in the role of Roscoe's much younger girlfriend.
Taker" of the syndicated
western series The Cisco Kid
, starring Duncan Renaldo
and Leo Carrillo
. He appeared that same year in the Gale Storm
sitcom, My Little Margie
and on the detective
series Boston Blackie
. He appeared on Gail Davis
's Annie Oakley
series as Curly Dawes, the telegraph operator, in "Showdown at Diablo" (1956) and as Walsh in "Annie and the Miser" (1957). Ates played The Ranger in the 1957 episode "Sorrowful Joe Returns" of ABC's The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
.
In 1958, the 63-year-old Ates was cast as "Old Timer" in the episode "The Sacramento Story" of NBC
's Wagon Train
starring Ward Bond
. That same year he was Edwin Winkler in the episode "Force of Habit" of Lee Marvin
's NBC crime drama, M Squad
. In 1959, Ates appeared as Juniper Dunlap in "The Painted Beauty" episode of John Payne
's NBC western, The Restless Gun
, as Dusty Peabody in "The Man from Solitary" of Rod Cameron
's syndicated western crime drama State Trooper
, and as Harrison in "A Well of Gold" on Tom Nolan
's NBC Buckskin
series. In 1960, he was cast as Fenton in the episode "Hot Ice Cream" of Charles Bronson
's ABC series Man with a Camera
, as Lou Nugget in "The Fabulous Fiddle" of Scott Brady
's syndicated Shotgun Slade
, and as Deputy Boak in "The Missing Queen" of Andrew Duggan
's ABC crime drama Bourbon Street Beat
, set in New Orleans
.
and Peter Brown
ABC western series Lawman
, set in Laramie
, Wyoming
. The episodes are entitled "The Visitor", "The Gang", "The Ring", "The Friend", "The Exchange", "The Breakup", "The Stranger", and "Man on the Mountain".
During this same time frame as he appeared on Lawman, Ates guest starred as Renton in two episodes entitled "Long Odds" of Dale Robertson
's Tales of Wells Fargo
and four times on ABC's Maverick
in episodes entitled "Gun-Shy", "Two Beggars on Horseback", "Two Tickets to Ten Strike" (with Connie Stevens
and Adam West
, with Ates cast as Joe the Barber), and "Hadley's Hunters". In 1960, he appeared as a bartender
in the episode "The Rape of Red Sky" of NBC's The Outlaws
. He appeared in Will Hutchins
's ABC western, Sugarfoot
, in the 1960 episode "The Man from Eudora".
mystery series. In the 1958 episode "And the Desert Shall Blossom," Ates and William Demarest
, later of My Three Sons
, appear as two old timers Tom and Ben, respectively, who are living in the Nevada
desert
. The local sheriff, played by Ben Johnson
, appears with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let the men stay on their property if they can make a dead rosebush bloom within the next month. Ates also appeared in the Hitchcock episode "The Jokester" in the role of Pop Henderson.
In 1960, Ates appeared as a guest in the presentation of the life story of honorary Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant on NBC's This Is Your Life
biography
series starring host Ralph Edwards
.
Ates's last credited roles were in 1961 as a drunk in Robert Stack
's ABC series The Untouchables
and as sheriffs in The Red Skelton Show
in an episode entitled "Candid Clem" and in "Three for One" of NBC's Whispering Smith
starring Audie Murphy
. His final screen appearance in Jerry Lewis
's 1961 film The Errand Boy
was uncredited.
from the former Clara Callahan, he married Leonore Belle Jumps in 1949. She died in 1955. In 1960, he married Beatrice Heisser who survived him.
Ates died of lung cancer
at the age of sixty-seven in Hollywood. He is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
in Glendale
, California.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
in primarily western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
Early years
Ates was born in the ruralRural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
hamlet of Grange, Mississippi, northwest of Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
. Grange is no longer included on road maps. Ates spent much of his childhood overcoming a severe stutter.
He entered the entertainment medium as a concert violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist but found economic opportunities greater as a vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
. He revived his long-gone stutter for humorous effect. Besides his early films, Ates starred in his own short subject series with RKO and Vitaphone
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film process used on feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930. Vitaphone was the last, but most successful, of the sound-on-disc processes...
.
His first film role was at the age of thirty-four in 1929 as a ship's cook in South Sea Rose. The next year he was cast as "Old Stuff" in the film Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid (1930 film)
Billy the Kid is a 1930 American film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett , the man who later killed him.-Cast:...
with Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown
Johnny Mack Brown was an All-American college football player and film actor originally billed as John Mack Brown at the height of his screen career.-Early life:...
(1904–1974) as Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
and Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
(1885–1949) as Deputy Sheriff Pat Garrett
Pat Garrett
Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett was an American Old West lawman, bartender, and customs agent who was best known for killing Billy the Kid...
.
Film career
In 1931, Ates appeared in a total of fourteen films, some roles uncredited. He appeared in the following:- CimarronCimarron (1931 film)Cimarron is a 1931 Pre-Code film directed by Wesley Ruggles and based on the Edna Ferber novel Cimarron. It won three Academy Awards.-Background:...
(1931) as Jesse Rickey, based on the Edna FerberEdna FerberEdna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
about OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state... - The ChampThe ChampThe Champ is a 1931 American film written by Frances Marion, Leonard Praskins and Wanda Tuchock, and directed by King Vidor. The movie stars Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper , and tells the story of a washed up alcoholic boxer who tries to put his life together for the sake of his young son.The...
(1931), with Wallace Beery and Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination... - Renegades of the West (1932), as Dr. Henry Fawcett
- FreaksFreaksFreaks is a 1932 American Pre-Code horror film about sideshow performers, directed and produced by Tod Browning and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with a cast mostly composed of actual carnival performers. The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"...
(1932) - Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (1933 film)Alice in Wonderland is a 1933 film version of the famous Alice novels of Lewis Carroll. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures, featuring an all-star cast. It is all live-action, except for the Walrus and The Carpenter sequence, which was animated by Leon Schlesinger Productions.Stars featured...
(1933) as Fish - Fair Exchange (1936), as Elmer Goodge
- God's Country and the Woman (1937) as Gander Hopkins
- The Great Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Great Adventures of Wild Bill HickokThe Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok is a Columbia movie serial. It was the fourth of the fifty-seven serials released by Columbia and their first western serial. The serial was the first from a new production company, the previous three serials had been produced by Weiss Brothers.-Plot:Wild...
(1938) as Oscar "Snake-Eyes" Smith. Bill ElliottWild Bill ElliottWild Bill Elliott was an American film actor. He specialized in playing the rugged heroes of B-Westerns, particularly in the Red Ryder series of films.-Early life:...
played Hickok. - Gone With the Wind (1939) as a convalescing Confederate soldier. While scratching his back on a tent pole, he utters the line "These animules is driving me crazy!"
- Three Texas SteersThree Texas SteersThree Texas Steers is a 1939 "Three Mesquiteers" Western B-movie starring John Wayne and Carole Landis. Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one films in the series...
(1939), a John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
film, features Ates as Sheriff Brown - Cowboy from Sundown (1940), a Tex RitterTex RitterWoodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
film, with Ates as Deputy Gloomy Day - Captain CautionCaptain CautionCaptain Caution is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Richard Wallace. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording .-Cast:* Victor Mature as Daniel 'Dan' Marvin* Louise Platt as Corunna Dorman...
(1940) - Bad Men from MissouriMissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
(1941) as Lafe.
Soapy Jones
From 1946-48, Ates appeared as the western character Soapy Jones in fifteen films, including Colorado Serenade, Driftin' River (with Shirley PattersonShirley Patterson
Shirley Patterson, sometimes billed as Shawn Smith, was a Canadian born B-movie actress of the 1940s and 1950s.Patterson began her acting career after being a beauty contestant in pageants in California in 1940...
), Stars Over Texas, and Tumbleweed Trail (all 1946), West to Glory, Shadow Valley, and Wild Country (all 1947), and Check Your Guns, Black Hills, Tornado Range, The Westward Trail, and The Tioga Kid (all 1948). His Soapy Jones character is the sidekick to the "Singing Cowboy" portrayed by native Texan
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Eddie Dean
Eddie Dean (singer)
Eddie Dean was an American western singer and actor whom Roy Rogers and Gene Autry termed the best cowboy singer of all time. Dean was best known for "I Dreamed Of A Hill-Billy Heaven" , which became an even greater hit in 1961 for Tex Ritter....
(1907–1999). Thereafter, George "Gabby" Hayes employed archival footage from many Soapy Jones films in his 1950s children's television series, The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
.
In 1950, Ates was cast in his first television role as Deputy Roscoe in the short-lived ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass
The Marshal of Gunsight Pass
The Marshal of Gunsight Pass is a 1950 live broadcast western television series starring Russell Hayden , former Country music singer Eddie Dean , and Riley Hill as Marshal #1, Marshal #2, and Marshal #3, respectively. Hayden is not identified by a character name. Dean uses his own name in the...
, which was broadcast live from a primitive studio lot in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Eddie Dean also appeared in this program, as did Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
(1921–2004) in the role of Roscoe's much younger girlfriend.
Musical performances
Ates performed these songs in his films:- Billy the KidBilly the Kid (1930 film)Billy the Kid is a 1930 American film directed in widescreen by King Vidor about the relationship between frontier outlaw Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett , the man who later killed him.-Cast:...
: "Turkey in the StrawTurkey in the Straw"Turkey in the Straw" is a well-known American folk song dating from the early 19th century.The song's tune was first popularized in the late 1820s and early 1830s by blackface performers, notably George Washington Dixon, Bob Farrell and George Nichols. Another song, "Zip Coon", was sung to the...
" (1930) - Remote Control: "The Wedding MarchThe Wedding MarchThe Wedding March is a silent film directed by and starring Erich von Stroheim. It also stars Fay Wray and ZaSu Pitts. Paramount Pictures forced von Stroheim to create two films from the footage, the second being The Honeymoon...
" (1930) - Renegades of the West: "Farmer in the Dell" (1932)
- Rancho Grande: "Dude Ranch Cow Hands" (uncredited, 1938)
- Cowboy from Sundown: "The Craw-dad Song" (1940)
- Captain Caution: "Hilda" (1940)
- Colorado Serenade: "Home on the RangeHome on the Range"Home on the Range" is the state song of Kansas, U.S.Home on the Range may also refer to:* Home on the Range , a drama directed by Arthur Jacobson* Home on the Range , a Disney animated feature film...
" (1946) - Driftin' River: "Way Back in Oklahoma" (1946)
- Wild West, also known as Prairie Outlaw: Song, "Elmer, The Knock-Kneed Cowboy" (1946)
Television career
Ates soon appeared on television in multiple roles. He was cast as Henry Wilson in the episode "The CensusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
Taker" of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
western series The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, starring Duncan Renaldo
Duncan Renaldo
Renault Renaldo Duncan , better known as Duncan Renaldo, was an American actor who portrayed The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.-Early years:...
and Leo Carrillo
Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo , was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.-Family roots:...
. He appeared that same year in the Gale Storm
Gale Storm
Gale Storm was an American actress and singer who starred in two popular television programs of the 1950s, My Little Margie and The Gale Storm Show.-Early life:...
sitcom, My Little Margie
My Little Margie
My Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...
and on the detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
series Boston Blackie
Boston Blackie
Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle . Originally a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's novels, he became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."-Literature:Jack...
. He appeared on Gail Davis
Gail Davis
Gail Davis was an American actress, best known for her starring role as Annie Oakley in the 1950s television Western series Annie Oakley.-Life and career:...
's Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley (TV series)
Annie Oakley is an American Western television series which fictionalized the life of famous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It ran from January 1954 to February 1957 in syndication. ABC showed reruns on Saturday and Sunday daytime from 1959–1960 and from 1964-1965...
series as Curly Dawes, the telegraph operator, in "Showdown at Diablo" (1956) and as Walsh in "Annie and the Miser" (1957). Ates played The Ranger in the 1957 episode "Sorrowful Joe Returns" of ABC's The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin is an American children's television program which originally aired in 166 episodes on ABC from October 1954 until August 1959. It starred child actor Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy orphaned in an Indian raid, who was being raised by the soldiers at a US Cavalry post known...
.
In 1958, the 63-year-old Ates was cast as "Old Timer" in the episode "The Sacramento Story" of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Wagon Train
Wagon Train
Wagon Train is an American Western series that ran on NBC from 1957–62 and then on ABC from 1962–65...
starring Ward Bond
Ward Bond
Wardell Edwin "Ward" Bond was an American film actor whose rugged appearance and easygoing charm were featured in over 200 movies and the television series Wagon Train.-Early life:...
. That same year he was Edwin Winkler in the episode "Force of Habit" of Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
's NBC crime drama, M Squad
M Squad
M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...
. In 1959, Ates appeared as Juniper Dunlap in "The Painted Beauty" episode of John Payne
John Payne (actor)
John Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered as a singer in 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC western television series The Restless Gun.-Background:Payne was born in Roanoke, Virginia...
's NBC western, The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun
The Restless Gun is a western television series that appeared on NBC between 1957 and 1959, with John Payne in the role of Vint Bonner, a wandering cowboy in the era after the American Civil War. A skilled gunfighter, Bonner is an idealistic person who prefers peaceful resolutions of conflict...
, as Dusty Peabody in "The Man from Solitary" of Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....
's syndicated western crime drama State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...
, and as Harrison in "A Well of Gold" on Tom Nolan
Tom Nolan (actor)
Tom Nolan is an actor whose career dates back to his work as a child star in the 1950s.Nolan was born Bernard Girouard in Montreal, Canada, to parents of French and Irish descent. His family moved to Beverly, Massachusetts, where he immediately started dance classes...
's NBC Buckskin
Buckskin (TV series)
Buckskin is an American Western television series starring Tom Nolan, Sally Brophy, and Mike Road. The series aired on the NBC from July 3, 1958 until May 25, 1959, followed by summer reruns in 1959 and again in 1965.-Synopsis:...
series. In 1960, he was cast as Fenton in the episode "Hot Ice Cream" of Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
's ABC series Man with a Camera
Man with a Camera (TV series)
Man with a Camera is a 1950s television crime drama starring Charles Bronson.Throughout the 1950s, Charles Bronson spent most of his early acting career in TV-shows as well as small parts in films, until he landed the lead in the ABC series The Man with a Camera.-Plot:In the series Bronson...
, as Lou Nugget in "The Fabulous Fiddle" of Scott Brady
Scott Brady
Scott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...
's syndicated Shotgun Slade
Shotgun Slade
Shotgun Slade is an American western television series starring Scott Brady that aired in syndication from October 24, 1959, until 1961. Created by Frank Gruber, the stories were written by John Berardino, Charissa Hughes, and Martin Berkeley...
, and as Deputy Boak in "The Missing Queen" of Andrew Duggan
Andrew Duggan
-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway...
's ABC crime drama Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which...
, set in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
Recurring role on Lawman
From 1959-1960, Ates appeared once as "Old Timer" and in seven episodes as Ike Jenkins in the John RussellJohn Russell (actor)
John Lawrence Russell was an American actor, and World War II veteran, most noted for playing Marshal Dan Troop in the successful ABC western television series Lawman from 1958 to 1962....
and Peter Brown
Peter Brown (actor)
Peter Brown is an American television actor known for his role as Deputy Johnny McKay opposite John Russell in the 1958 Warner Bros. western series Lawman.-Early life:...
ABC western series Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
, set in Laramie
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. The episodes are entitled "The Visitor", "The Gang", "The Ring", "The Friend", "The Exchange", "The Breakup", "The Stranger", and "Man on the Mountain".
During this same time frame as he appeared on Lawman, Ates guest starred as Renton in two episodes entitled "Long Odds" of Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
's Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
and four times on ABC's Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
in episodes entitled "Gun-Shy", "Two Beggars on Horseback", "Two Tickets to Ten Strike" (with Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:...
and Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...
, with Ates cast as Joe the Barber), and "Hadley's Hunters". In 1960, he appeared as a bartender
Bartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
in the episode "The Rape of Red Sky" of NBC's The Outlaws
The Outlaws (1960 TV series)
Outlaws is an NBC Western television series, starring Barton MacLane as U.S. marshal Frank Caine, who operated in a lawless section of Oklahoma Territory about Stillwater. The program aired 50 one-hour episodes from September 29, 1960, to May 10, 1962. The first season was shot in black-and-white,...
. He appeared in Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster in the Warner Brothers Western television series Sugarfoot on ABC from 1957-1961.-Biography:...
's ABC western, Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...
, in the 1960 episode "The Man from Eudora".
Later roles
From 1958-60, Ates appeared five times on CBS's Alfred Hitchcock PresentsAlfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
mystery series. In the 1958 episode "And the Desert Shall Blossom," Ates and William Demarest
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
, later of My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, appear as two old timers Tom and Ben, respectively, who are living in the Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
. The local sheriff, played by Ben Johnson
Ben Johnson (actor)
Ben "Son" Johnson, Jr. was an American motion picture actor who was mainly cast in Westerns. He was also a rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and rancher.-Personal life:...
, appears with an eviction notice, but he agrees to let the men stay on their property if they can make a dead rosebush bloom within the next month. Ates also appeared in the Hitchcock episode "The Jokester" in the role of Pop Henderson.
In 1960, Ates appeared as a guest in the presentation of the life story of honorary Hollywood mayor Johnny Grant on NBC's This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
series starring host Ralph Edwards
Ralph Edwards
Ralph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:Born in Merino, Colorado , Edwards worked for KROW-AM in Oakland, California while he was still in high school...
.
Ates's last credited roles were in 1961 as a drunk in Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
's ABC series The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
and as sheriffs in The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
in an episode entitled "Candid Clem" and in "Three for One" of NBC's Whispering Smith
Whispering Smith (TV series)
Whispering Smith is a short-lived American Western series that aired on NBC. Based on a 1948 movie, the series stars Audie Murphy as Tom "Whispering" Smith, a police detective in Denver, Colorado...
starring Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy
Audie Leon Murphy was a highly decorated and famous soldier. Through LIFE magazine's July 16, 1945 issue , he became one the most famous soldiers of World War II and widely regarded as the most decorated American soldier of the war...
. His final screen appearance in Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
's 1961 film The Errand Boy
The Errand Boy
The Errand Boy is a 1961 American comedy film directed, co-written and starring Jerry Lewis.-Plot:Paramutual Pictures decides that they need a spy to find out the inner workings of their studio. Morty Tashman is a paperhanger who happens to be working right outside their window. They decide that...
was uncredited.
Family and death
Ates was married three times. After his divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
from the former Clara Callahan, he married Leonore Belle Jumps in 1949. She died in 1955. In 1960, he married Beatrice Heisser who survived him.
Ates died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
at the age of sixty-seven in Hollywood. He is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
in Glendale
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
, California.