Roscoe Ates

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Roscoe Ates
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
, California
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Actor
  • stage performer
  • comedian
  • vaudevillian
  • musician
Years active1929–1961
Spouses
Clara Callahan
​
​
(m. 1923; div. 1945)​
Leonore Belle Jumps
​
​
(m. 1949; died 1955)​
Beatrice Angelina Naranjo
​
​
(m. 1960)​

Roscoe Blevel Ates (January 20, 1895 – March 1, 1962) was an American vaudeville performer, actor of stage and screen, comedian and musician who primarily featured in western films and television. He was best known as western character Soapy Jones.[2] He was also billed as Rosco Ates.

Early years

Ates was born on January 20, 1895, in the northwest of

speech impediment,[3] succeeding when he was 18.[4]

Early career

Ates played violin to accompany silent films at a theater in Chickasha, Oklahoma.[4] Following that experience, he became an entertainer as a concert violinist but found economic opportunities greater as a vaudeville comedian, appearing as half of the team of Ates and Darling.[5] For 15 years, he was a headliner on the Orpheum Circuit,[6] and he revived his long-gone stutter for humorous effect

Military service

Ates served in World War II, training of[

Ellington Field Texas
.

Theater and personal appearances

On Broadway, Ates appeared as James McCracken in the musical comedy Sea Legs (1937).[7]

In the late 1930s, Ates made a personal appearance tour in Scotland and England. He also toured selected American cities with Hollywood Scandals, a stage revue with 35 people.[8]

Film career

His first film role was a ship's cook in South Sea Rose. The next year he was cast as "Old Stuff" in the widescreen film Billy the Kid starring Wallace Beery. Here is a listing of his films:

Musical performances

Ates performed these songs in his films:

  • Billy the Kid: "Turkey in the Straw" (1930)
  • Remote Control: "The Wedding March" (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 Range" (1946)
  • Driftin' River: "Way Back in Oklahoma" (1946)
  • Wild West, also known as Prairie Outlaw: Song, "Elmer, The Knock-Kneed Cowboy" (1946)

Television career

In 1950, Ates appeared in his first television role as Deputy Roscoe on ABC series The Marshal of Gunsight Pass.

Ates appeared on television in multiple roles. He was cast as Henry Wilson in the episode "The Census Taker" of the

syndicated western series The Cisco Kid, and he also appeared that same year in the Gale Storm sitcom, My Little Margie and Boston Blackie. He appeared on Gail Davis's Annie Oakley series as Curly Dawes, the telegraph operator.[9]

In 1958, Ates was cast as "Old Timer" in the episode "The Sacramento Story" of

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
.

Later roles

From 1958 to 1960, Ates appeared five times on

CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents mystery series.[10]

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 with 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. His final screen appearance in Jerry Lewis's 1961 film The Errand Boy was uncredited.

Family and death

Ates was married three times. After his divorce from the former Clara Callahan, he married Leonore Belle Jumps in 1949. She died in 1955.[11] In December 1960, Ates married model Beatrice Heisser.[12][13]

Ates died of lung cancer at the age of 67 at the

Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[citation needed
]

Television Appearances

  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass (1950) (Season 1 Episode 1) as Deputy Roscoe
  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass (1950) (Season 1 Episode 15: "Shotgun Messenger") as Deputy Roscoe
  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass (1950) (Season 1 Episode 22) as Deputy Roscoe
  • My Little Margie (1953) (Season 2 Episode 12: "Hillbilly Margie") as Zeke
  • Big Town (1953) (Season 3 Episode 25: "Lynch Law") as Ed Crowley
  • Boston Blackie (1953) (Season 2 Episode 30: "Grab Bag") as Professor Edgar Franklin
  • Schlitz Playhouse
     (1953) (Season 3 Episode 5: "The Prize") as Emil
  • The Mickey Rooney Show (1954) (Season 1 Episode 2: "The Moon or Bust") as Henry
  • The Adventures of Champion (1955) (Season 1 Episode 20: "The Real Unfriendly Ghost") as Canary Twigg
  • Annie Oakley (TV series) (1956) (Season 3 Episode 10: "Showdown at Diablo") as Telegrapher Curly Dawes
  • Annie Oakley (TV series) (1957) (Season 3 Episode 31: "Annie and the Miser") as Neighborly Walsh
  • The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
     (1957) (Season 3 Episode 20: "Sorrowful Joe Returns") as Jorgenson
  • Schlitz Playhouse
     (1958) (Season 7 Episode 36: "Long Distance")
  • Death Valley Days (1958) (Season 6 Episode 19: "Cockeyed Charlie Parkhurst") as Pop McCrary
  • M Squad (1958) (Season 2 Episode 6: "Force of Habit") as Edwin Winkler
  • The Restless Gun (1958) (Season 1 Episode 36: "More Than Kin") as Hotel Clerk
  • Wagon Train (1958) (Season 1 Episode 39: "The Sacramento Story") as Old Timer
  • Tales of Wells Fargo (1958) (Season 2 Episode 29: "The Newspaper") as Flanny the Typesetter
  • Sugarfoot (1958) (Season 1 Episode 14: "A Wreath for Charity Lloyd") as Old Timer (uncredited)
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 3 Episode 33: "Post Mortem") as Cemetery Clerk
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 4 Episode 3: "The Jokester") as Pop Henderson
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Season 4 Episode 11: "And the Desert Shall Blossom") as Ben White
  • The Restless Gun (1959) (Season 2 Episode 15: "The Painted Beauty") as Juniper Dunlap
  • Wagon Train (1959) (Season 2 Episode 29: "The Clara Duncan Story") as Joe the Bartender (uncredited)
  • Tales of Wells Fargo (1959) (Season 4 Episode 14: "Long Odds") as Spoon
  • Lux Playhouse
     (1959) (Season 1 Episode 9: "Deathtrap")
  • Buckskin (TV series) (1959) (Season 1 Episode 29: "A Well of Gold") as Harrison
  • State Trooper (TV series) (1959) (Season 3 Episode 11: "The Man from Solitary") as Dusty Peabody
  • Sugarfoot (1959) (Season 3 Episode 3: "MacBrewster the Bold") as Lew Long
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 1 Episode 24: "The Visitor") as Old Timer
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 1 Episode 26: "The Gang") as Ike the Townsman
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 1 Episode 34: "The Ring") as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 1 Episode 39: "The Friend") as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 2 Episode 4: "The Exchange") as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman (1959) (Season 2 Episode 6: "The Breakup") as Ike Jenkins
  • Maverick (TV series) (1959) (Season 2 Episode 16: "Gun-Shy") as Barfly
  • Maverick (TV series) (1959) (Season 2 Episode 17: "Two Beggars on Horseback") as Kibitzer
  • Maverick (TV series) (1959) (Season 2 Episode 24: "Two Tickets to Ten Strike") as Joe the Barber
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1959) (Season 5 Episode 11: "Road Hog") as Tavern Customer
  • Sugarfoot (1960) (Season 4 Episode 3: "Man from Medora") as Barber
  • Lawman (1960) (Season 2 Episode 15: "The Stranger") as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman (1960) (Season 2 Episode 36: "Man on a Mountain") as Ike Jenkins
  • Maverick (TV series) (1960) (Season 4 Episode 2: "Hadley's Hunters") as Albert
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 5 Episode 25: "The Little Man Who Was There") as Piano Player
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 6 Episode 7: "Outlaw in Town") as Zack Martin
  • Man with a Camera (1960) (Season 2 Episode 12: "Hot Ice Cream") as Fenton
  • Shotgun Slade (1960) (Season 1 Episode 29: "The Fabulous Fiddle") as Lou Nugget
  • Bourbon Street Beat (1960) (Season 1 Episode 23: "The Missing Queen") as Deputy Boak
  • Surfside 6 (1960) (Season 1 Episode 6: "Par-a-kee") as Clem (uncredited)
  • Outlaws (TV series) (1960) (Season 1 Episode 4: "The Rape of Red Sky") as Bartender
  • Outlaws (TV series) (1961) (Season 1 Episode 23: "Sam Bass") as Old Timer (uncredited)
  • The Untouchables (TV series) (1961) (Season 2 Episode 17: "Augie 'The Banker' Ciamino") as Drunk
  • Whispering Smith (TV series) (1961) (Season 1 Episode 9: "Three for One") as Sheriff Ben Stanley
  • The Red Skelton Hour
     (1961) (Season 10 Episode 29: "Candid Clem with guest stars Gene Autry and Champion) as Sheriff

References

  1. ^ "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZDV-BGV : 25 December 2021), Rosco Blevel Ates, 1917-1918.
  2. ^
    New York Times
    . March 2, 1962.
  3. ^ "Roscoe Ates": Biography by Hal Erickson". allmovie.com. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
  4. ^
    ISBN 9781617032509
    . Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  5. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ "Rosco Ates". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  8. Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ "Annie Oakley". retroland.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  10. ^ "Roscoe Ates Filmography". Fandango.com. Retrieved March 1, 2009.
  11. New York Times
    . May 20, 1955.
  12. ^ "Marriages". Variety. January 11, 1961. p. 62.
  13. ISBN 0870003844
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roscoe_Ates&oldid=1213824727"