Warren Oates

Warren Oates
Born	Warren Mercer Oates July 5, 1928(1928-07-05) Depoy, Kentucky, USA
Died	April 3, 1982(1982-04-03) (aged 53) Los Angeles, California, USA
Years active	1956–1982
Spouse	Judy A. Jones (1977–1982; his death) Vickery Turner (1969–1974; divorced) Teddy Farmer (1959–1966; divorced)

Warren Mercer Oates (July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982) was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch (1969) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). He starred in numerous films during the early 1970s which have since achieved cult status including The Hired Hand (1971), Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) and Race with the Devil (1975). Oates also portrayed Sergeant Hulka in Stripes (1981).

Early life

Oates was born and raised in Depoy, Kentucky, a tiny rural community west of Greenville in Muhlenberg County, the son of Sarah Alice (née Mercer) and Bayless E. Oates, who owned a general store. He attended high school in Louisville, became interested in theater at the University of Louisville and starred in several plays there in 1953 for the Little Theater Company. He got an opportunity in New York City to star in a live production of the television series Studio One in 1957.

Career

The actor migrated to Los Angeles where he began to carve out a niche playing guest roles in Western television programs of the period including Wagon Train, Tombstone Territory, Rawhide,Trackdown, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Have Gun-Will Travel, The Big Valley and Gunsmoke. Oates first met Peckinpah when he played a variety of guest roles on The Rifleman (1958–1963), the popular television series created by the director. He also played a supporting role in Peckinpah's short-lived TV series The Westerner in 1960. The collaboration continued as he worked on Peckinpah's early films Ride the High Country (1962) and Major Dundee (1965).

In 1961, he guest starred in the episode "Artie Moon" in NBC's The Lawless Years crime drama about the 1920s. In 1962, he appeared as "Ves Painter" in the short-lived ABC series Stoney Burke, co-starring Jack Lord, a program about rodeo contestants. Oates also portrayed a number of memorable characters in guest roles on the enduringly popular television series The Twilight Zone ("The Purple Testament" 1960, "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" 1963, with co-stars Randy Boone and Ron Foster), The Outer Limits ("The Mutant" 1964), and Lost in Space ("Welcome Stranger" 1965). During the 1960s and 1970s, he guest-starred on such shows as Twelve O'Clock High, Lancer, and The Virginian.

In addition to Peckinpah, Oates worked with several major film directors of his era including Leslie Stevens in the 1960 film Private Property, his first starring role; Norman Jewison in In the Heat of the Night (1967); Joseph L. Mankiewicz in There Was a Crooked Man... (1970); John Milius in Dillinger (1973); Terrence Malick in Badlands (1973); Philip Kaufman in The White Dawn (1974); William Friedkin in The Brink's Job (1978); and Steven Spielberg in 1941 (1979).

He appeared in the Sherman Brothers musical version of Tom Sawyer as "Muff Potter", the town drunk. He also starred in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), Return of the Seven (1966), The Shooting (filmed in 1965, released in 1968), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), Cockfighter (1974) and China 9, Liberty 37 (1978). Oates co-starred three times with friend Peter Fonda in The Hired Hand (1971), Race with the Devil (1975) and 92 in the Shade (1975).

Oates was cast in Roger Donaldson's 1977 New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs together with New Zealand actor Sam Neill. A political thriller with action film elements, Sleeping Dogs follows the lead character "Smith" (Neill) as New Zealand plunges into a police state, as a fascist government institutes martial law after industrial disputes flare into violence. Smith gets caught between the special police and a growing resistance movement and reluctantly becomes involved. Oates plays the role of "Willoughby", commander of the American forces stationed in New Zealand and working with the New Zealand fascist government to find and subdue "rebels" (the resistance movement).

His partnership with Peckinpah resulted in two of his most famous film roles. In the 1969 Western classic The Wild Bunch, he portrayed Lyle Gorch, a long-time outlaw who chooses to die with his friends during the film's violent conclusion. According to his wife at the time, Teddy, Oates had the choice of starring in Support Your Local Sheriff, to be filmed in Los Angeles, or The Wild Bunch in Mexico. "He had done Return of the Seven in Mexico; he got hepatitis, plus dysentery. But off he went again with Sam (Peckinpah). He loved going on location. He loved the adventure of it. He had great admiration for Sam. Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman were the two directors Warren would work with anytime anywhere." In Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, the dark 1974 action/tragedy also filmed in Mexico, Oates played the lead role of Bennie, a hard-drinking down-on-his-luck musician hoping to make a final score. The character was reportedly based on Peckinpah himself. For authenticity, Oates wore the director's sunglasses while filming scenes of the production.

Although the Peckinpah film roles are his best-known, his most critically acclaimed role is GTO in Monte Hellman's 1971 cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop. The film, although a failure at the box-office, is studied in film schools as a treasure of the 1970s, in large part due to Oates' heartbreaking portrayal of GTO. Famed film critic Leonard Maltin remarked that Oates' performance in this film was as good as any he'd seen and should have won the Oscar.

A year before his death, Oates co-starred with Bill Murray in the 1981 military comedy Stripes. In the role of drill sergeant Sergeant Hulka, Oates skillfully played the straight man to Murray's comedic character. The film was a huge financial success, earning $85 million at the box office. In 1982, he co-starred opposite Jack Nicholson in director Tony Richardson's The Border.

Death

Oates died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California on April 3, 1982. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at his ranch in Montana.

A few months before his death, he had co-starred in the TV mini-series The Blue and the Gray, which aired in November 1982. His last two films, filmed back-to-back in the months before his death, Blue Thunder and Tough Enough (both released in 1983), were posthumously dedicated to him. Monte Hellman's film Iguana ends with the titles "For Warren" as a dedication.

Legacy

Today, the actor has a dedicated cult following due to his memorable performances in not only Peckinpah's films, but Monte Hellman's independent works, his films with Peter Fonda and a number of B-movies from the 1970s. His occasionally crude facade, likeable persona and uncommon presence are admired by such filmmakers as Quentin Tarantino and Richard Linklater. During a recent screening of Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Linklater introduced the film and announced 16 reasons why viewers should love the 1971 movie. His sixth reason was "Because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates."

The documentary film Warren Oates: Across the Border was produced by Tom Thurman in 1993 in tribute to the actor's career.

Oates was again recognized in March 2009 with the first-ever biography of his colorful life. Featuring interviews with the late actor's former wives, children, and friends, Warren Oates: A Wild Life, was written by Susan Compo. It has received much acclaim from fans and critics alike.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Up Periscope	Seaman Kovacs	Film Debut Uncredited
	Yellowstone Kelly	Corporal	First Credited Role
1960	The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond	Eddie Diamond
	Private Property	Boots
1962	Guns in the Afternoon	Henry Hammond
	Hero's Island	Wayte Giddens
1964	West of Montana	Jace
1965	The Rounders	Harley Williams	Also played uncredited cowboy
	Major Dundee	O.W. Haldey
1966	Return of the Seven	Colbee
1967	Killer on a Horse	Leo Jenks
	In the Heat of the Night	Sam Wood
1968	The Shooting	Willett Gashade
	The Split	Marty Gough
	Something for a Lonely Man	Angus Duren	Television Movie
1969	Lanton Mills		Short
	Smith!	Walter Charlie
	Crooks and Coronets	Marty Miller
	The Wild Bunch	Lyle Gorch
1970	The Movie Murderer	Alfred Fisher	Television Movie
	Barquero	Jake (Jacob) Remy, Gang Leader
	There Was a Crooked Man...	Floyd Moon
1971	Two-Lane Blacktop	G.T.O.
	The Hired Hand	Arch Harris
	The Reluctant Heroes of Hill 656	Cpl. Leroy Sprague	Television Movie
	Chandler	Chandler
1972	A Job for Mr. Banks	Mr. Elwood Colby Banks	Nominated Saturn Award for Best Actor
1973	The Thief Who Came to Dinner	Dave
	Tom Sawyer	Muff Potter
	Dillinger	John Dillinger	Saturn Award for Best Actor
	Kid Blue	Reese Ford
	Badlands	Father
1974	The White Dawn	Billy
	Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia	Bennie
	Cockfighter	Frank Mansfield
1975	Rancho Deluxe	Hamonica played in bar	Uncredited
	Race with the Devil	Frank Stewart
	92 in the Shade	Nichol Dance
1976	Dixie Dynamite	Mack
	Drum	Hammond Maxwell
1977	American Rasberry	Celebrity Sportsman
	The African Queen	Capt. Charlie Allnut	Television Movie
	Sleeping Dogs	Col. Willoughby
1978	True Grit: A Further Adventure	Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn	Television Movie
	Amore, piombo e furore	Matthew Sebanek
	The Brink's Job	Specs O'Keefe
1979	And Baby Makes Six	Michael Kramer	Television Movie
	My Old Man	Frank Butler	Television Movie
	1941	Colonel "Madman" Maddox	Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1980	Baby Comes Home	Michael Kramer	Television Movie
1981	Stripes	Sgt. Hulka
1982	The Border	Red
1983	Blue Thunder	Captain Jack Braddock	Released Posthumously
	Tough Enough	James Neese	Released Posthumously

Television

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Gunsmoke (1958–1967, 10 episodes) — as Al Tresh/Chris Kelly/Deke Bassop/Speeler/Lafe/Tate Crocker
• Rawhide (1960–1965, 4 episodes)
• The Rifleman (1962, one episode) — "The Day of Reckoning" — as Willie Breen
• Bonanza (1962, one episode) — "The Mountain Girl"
• Stoney Burke (1962–1963, 11 episodes) — as Ves Painter (Oates' only regular role on a television series)
• The Twilight Zone (1963, one episode) — "The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms" — as CPL Langsford
• The Virginian (1963–1966, 4 episodes) — as Corbie/Roy Judd/Bowers/Buxton
• The Outer Limits (1964, one episode) — "The Mutant" — as Reese Fowler
• The Fugitive (1964, one episode) — "Devil's Carnival" — as Hanes McClure
• Twelve O'Clock High (1965) — as Lt. Col. Temple
• Lost In Space (1965, one episode) — "Welcome Stranger"
• The Big Valley (1965–1966, two episodes) — as Korby "Duke" Kyles
• The Monroes (1966, one episode) — as Nick Beresford
• Shane (1966, one episode) — as Kemp Spicer
• Dundee and the Culhane (1967, one episode) — as Lafe Doolin
• The Iron Horse (1967, one episode) — as Hode Avery
• Cimarron Strip (1967, two episodes) — as Mobeetie
• Run for Your Life (1968, one episode) — as Deputy Potter
• Disneyland (1968, two episodes) — as John Blythe
• Lancer (1969–1970, two episodes) — as Sheriff Val "Drago" Crawford
• The F.B.I. (1971, one episode) — as Richie Billings
• The Name of the Game (1971, one episode) — as John Lew Weatherford
• Black Beauty (1978, mini series) — as Jerry Barker
• Police Story (1978, one episode) — as Richey Neptune
• Insight (1979, one episode)
• East of Eden (1981, mini series) — as Cyrus Trask
• The Blue and the Gray (1982, mini series) — as Major "Preacher" Welles
• Tales of the Unexpected (1985, one episode) — as Harry

External links

• Warren Oates at the Internet Movie Database
• Time magazine interview