Warren Oates

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Warren Oates 1963

Warren Mercer Oates (born July 5, 1928 in Depoy , Kentucky - † April 3, 1982 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor . Known as an unconventional character actor, Oates played his most famous role as the hapless bar pianist in Bring Me the Head by Alfredo Garcia (1974).

life and work

Oates was born in a small town in Kentucky and was seen in theatrical productions in college. He studied in Louisville and served in the Marines . In 1954 he went to New York to work as an actor. Oates got smaller jobs in television, where he could be seen in the live dramas that were common at the time. Since he couldn't make a living from acting, he was forced to find other ways to earn a living. From the early 1960s he played minor supporting roles in Hollywood.

In 1962, Oates was hired by director Sam Peckinpah for the late western Sacramento . In the 1960s, the unglamorous but very talented actor slowly made his way forward in Hollywood, but he continued to appear in TV productions. He appeared in the low-budget western The Shooting (1967) alongside Jack Nicholson and played a prominent supporting role as deputy sheriff in the hit detective film In the Heat of the Night (1967). In 1969 he was one of the doomed outlaws in Sam Peckinpah's western classic The Wild Bunch - They knew no law . He played one of his first leading roles in 1973 in John Milius ' gangster drama The Hunt for Dillinger .

Warren Oates in The Hunt for Dillinger (1973)

The mostly unshaven, rebellious-looking Oates was a type-specific actor for New Hollywood films like Der weite Ritt (1971) or Badlands - Zerschossene Träume (1973). He played his best-known role, again under the direction of Sam Peckinpah, in Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia in 1974 , where he was seen as a hapless bar pianist and bounty hunter. The director who Oates used most often was Peckinpah in a total of four films. Another successful partnership was that with independent director Monte Hellman. For him, Oates played in asphalt races (1971) and Cockfighter (1974), among others .

In the second half of the 1970s, Oates was also seen in commercial productions such as Die Sklavenhölle der Mandingos and Four in the Frenzied Coffin and increasingly appeared again in TV films, such as the remake of African Queen in the role of Humphrey Bogart . He got a typical role for him in Steven Spielberg's crazy war grotesque 1941 - Where Please Go to Hollywood (1979), where he played Colonel "Madman" Maddox. Oates also played supporting roles in successful films like I think a moose smooches me! (1981) and The Flying Eye (1982). Oates was slated to be Fitzcarraldo in Werner Herzog 's film of the same name when he had to leave production before shooting began due to illness.

In 1982, Warren Oates died of a heart attack at the age of 53. His last film, The Flying Eye , was dedicated to him.

Filmography

Feature films

Television (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Oates, Warren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oates, Warren Mercer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Depoy , Kentucky , USA
DATE OF DEATH April 3, 1982
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA