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Warren Oates
Age: 53 (passed away Apr. 3rd, 1982)
Height: 5' 11"
Birth Place: Depoy, Kentucky, USA
Born: Jul. 5th, 1928
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Warren Oates' Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: American character actor of the 1960s and 1970s whose distinctive style and intensity brought him to offbeat leading roles. Oates was born in a very small Kentucky town and attended high school in Louisville, continuing on to the University of Louisville and military service with the U.S. Marines. In college he became interested in the theatre and in 1954 headed for New York to make his mark as an actor. However, his first real job in television was, as it had been for James Dean (I) before him, testing the contest gags on the game show "Beat the Clock" (1950). He did numerous menial jobs while auditioning, including serving as the hat-check man at the nightclub "21". By 1957 he had begun appearing in live dramas such as "Studio One" (1948), but Oates' rural drawl seemed more fitted for the Westerns that were proliferating on the big screen at the time, so he moved to Hollywood and immediately stared getting steady work as an increasingly prominent supporting player, often as either craven or vicious types. With his role as one of the Hammond brothers in the Sam Peckinpah masterpiece Ride the High Country (1962), Oates found a niche both as an actor and as a colleague of one of the most distinguished and distinctive directors of the period. Peckinpah used Oates repeatedly, and Oates, in large part due to the prominence given him by Peckinpah, became one of those rare character actors whose name and face is as familiar as those of many leading stars. He began to play roles which, while still character parts, were also leads, particularly in cult hits like Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). Although never destined to be a traditional leading man, Oates remained one of Hollywood's most valued character players up until his sudden death from a heart attack at the age of 53. His final two films, Tough Enough (1983) and Blue Thunder (1983), filmed back-to-back in early 1982 shortly before his death, were dedicated to his memory.
TRIVIA:
- The University of Louisville had a scholarship named after him for promising students in the arts programs.
- Father of 'Jennifer Oates (I)' (qv) and 'Tim Oates' (qv).
- Subject of the song by "Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes", title "Warren Oates", from their album "You Wanna Be There But You Don't Wanna Travel" phonogram 1994
- Sang in the backup chorus for "Rocket to Stardom" on 'Kris Kristofferson (I)' (qv)'s 1975 album "Who's to Bless . . . Who's to Blame."
- Brother of 'Gordon Oates' (qv).
- Turned down the lead role in _Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)_ (qv) in order to make _The Wild Bunch (1969)_ (qv).
- In his long and prestigious career as one of the best character actors in film, he only had three leading roles: Bennie in "Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia", the title role in "Cockfighter" and the title role of "Dillinger". He got his first official lead role in "Garcia" as a gift from director Sam Peckinpah partly in appreciation for his work in two of his films, "Ride The High Country" and "The Wild Bunch", respectively, and because Oates had never been the star before.
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