kansascdr
06-01-05, 07:38 AM
One of my favorite character actors was Warren Oates. According to his biography he was in the Marines. Does anyone know where and when?
Ed Palmer
06-01-05, 08:02 AM
He was born July 5, 1928, in Depoy, Kentucky, a very small town, and attended high school in Louisville. He went on to the University of Kentucky 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 before him, testing the contest gags on the game show 'Beat the Clock." 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," but Oates' rural drawl seemed more fitted for the filmed Westerns that were proliferating at the time, so he moved to Hollywood and immediately began working steadily 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, especially for Monte Hellman in cult hits like The Shooting (1967), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Cockfighter (1974) and China 9, Liberty 37 (1978). 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 on April 3, 1982, in Los Angeles, at the age of 53.
"Got to give props to Anchor Bay for finally releasing Two Lane Blacktop (on both DVD and VHS), I don't think that film was available since its original release date... Great transfer with a sweet commentary by Hellman. Good stuff." -- Kyle.
"Totally agree. Anchor Bay is a cool outfit that puts out a lot of stuff that was previously hard/impossible to find." -- Ted.
Cockfighter DVD
Oates on TV
Oates on TV: http://www.tv-now.com/stars/waroates.html "Got to give props to Anchor Bay for finally releasing Two Lane Blacktop (on both DVD and VHS), I don't think that film was available since its original release date... Great transfer with a sweet commentary by Hellman. Good stuff." -- Kyle. Totally agree. Anchor Bay is a cool outfit that puts out a lot of stuff that was previously hard/impossible to find.
Newish: An article lent to us by Nic Dafis, an interview with Monte Hellman from Sight and Sound in 1971.
Brand New! A 1963 TV Guide article on Warren Oates as Ves Painter on the TV show Stoney Burke:
TV Guide Cover.
TV Guide Listing of the episode of Stoney Burke on that week (guest star James Coburn!).
TV Guide article Photo and Title.
TV Guide article itself.
And a minor bit on Oates in the Kristy MacNichol-Oates telefilm My Old Man from TV Guide.
New! Warren Oates: Living on the Edge from Razor Magazine 2004!
Pictures/Photos/Pix/Gallery of Oates!
1998 Article on Oates from The Kentucky Explorer!
Melissa Holbrook Pierson's Essay on Oates!
Richard Luck's Essay on Oates, The Brown Dirt Cowboy!
David Thomson's Essay on Warren Oates.
Salon.com's Michael Sragow on Oates.
Great Interview with Oates.
Vincent Canby on Oates, Hellman and Two-Lane Blacktop.
An interview with frequent Oates director, and pal, Monte Hellman.
From Charles Willeford, who wrote the Oates/Hellman picture Cockfighter: "Warren Oates died, at the age of 53, from a heart attack, and this affected me deeply for several weeks, as it always does when someone you admire, who is also younger than you, dies suddenly. I have survived three heart attacks, and part of my depression was caused by the recognition of my own mortality. Warren smoked, of course, and so do I. Most people with heart trouble smoke, as a way to defy the odds, but Warren did several movies after Cockfighter, both bad and good, and he could have worked as a character actor forever." For more on Oates, Hellman, Willeford and Cockfighter visit the Willeford site.