Roscoe Ates

{{Infobox person

| name = Roscoe Ates

| image = Roscoe Ates Chad Hanna 1940.jpg

| caption = Ates in Chad Hanna (1940)

| birth_name = Roscoe Blevel Ates"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.

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1895|01|20|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Grange, Mississippi, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|3|01|1895|01|20|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

| nationality = American

| alma_mater =

| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|stage performer|comedian|vaudevillian|musician}}

| years_active = 1929–1961

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Clara Callahan|12 June 1923|1945|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Leonore Belle Jumps|1949|1955|end=her death}}
{{marriage|Beatrice Angelina Naranjo|29 December 1960}}

}}

| children =

}}

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. He was also billed as Rosco Ates.

Early years

Ates was born on January 20, 1895, in the northwest of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in the rural hamlet of Grange (Grange is no longer included on road maps). Ates spent much of his childhood learning how to manage a speech impediment,{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:2680|title=''Roscoe Ates": Biography by Hal Erickson|publisher=allmovie.com|access-date=March 1, 2009}} succeeding when he was 18.{{cite book|last1=Slide|first1=Anthony|title=The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville|date=2012|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781617032509|page=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu3nNSmRjZ0C&q=%22Roscoe+Ates%22&pg=PA15|access-date=28 February 2018|language=en}}

Early career

Ates played violin to accompany silent films at a theater in Chickasha, Oklahoma. 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.{{cite news|title=Exits and Entrances|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17854420/roscoe_ates/|work=Oakland Tribune|date=September 25, 1929|location=California, Oakland|page=20|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = February 27, 2018}} {{Open access}} For 15 years, he was a headliner on the Orpheum Circuit,{{cite news|title=(untitled brief)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17855476/roscoe_ates/|work=The Times|date=August 4, 1930|location=Indiana, Munster|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = February 27, 2018}} {{Open access}} and he revived his long-gone stutter for humorous effect

Military service

Ates served in World War II, training of{{clarify|date=July 2022|reason=What does "training of" mean?}} the Air Force fighter squad program in Houston at Ellington Field Texas.{{Citation needed |date=September 2024}}

Theater and personal appearances

On Broadway, Ates appeared as James McCracken in the musical comedy Sea Legs (1937).{{cite web|title=Rosco Ates|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/rosco-ates-30294|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|access-date=28 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228022717/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/rosco-ates-30294|archive-date=28 February 2018}}

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.{{cite news|title=Roscoe Ates and Big Stage Revue at The New Bradford Friday and Saturday|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17854086/roscoe_ates/|work=Bradford Evening Star and The Bradford Daily Record|date=September 22, 1938|location=Pennsylvania, Bradford|page=12|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = February 27, 2018}} {{Open access}}

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:

South Sea Rose (1929) as Ship's Cook
Marianne (1929) as Orderly (uncredited)
City Girl (1930) as Reaper
Double Cross Roads (1930) as Ticket Agent (uncredited)
Caught Short (1930) as Bit Part (uncredited)
The Big House (1930) as Putnam
Check and Double Check (1930) as Brother Arthur
Love in the Rough (1930) as Proprietor
Soup to Nuts (1930) as Pants Presser at Al's Tailor Shop (uncredited)
Those Three French Girls (1930) as Elmer (uncredited)
Billy the Kid (1930) as Old Stuff
Remote Control (1930) as Stuttering Piccolo Player (uncredited)
Cimarron (1931) as Jesse Rickey
The Champ (1931) as Sponge
Politics (1931) as Peter Higgins, the town barber
Reducing (1931) as Stuttering Ticket Agent (uncredited)
A Free Soul (1931) as Man Shot at in Men's Room (uncredited)
The Great Lover (1931) as Roscoe
Too Many Cooks (1931) as Mr. Wilson
She Went for a Tramp (Short) (1931)
The Voice of Hollywood Number 7 (Second Series) (Short) (1931)
Cut It Out, Doctor (Short) (1931)
Use Your Noodle (Short) (1931)
A Clean-Up on the Burb (Short) (1931)
The Lone Starved Ranger (Short) (1931) as Roscoe, the Stuttering Man
The Big Shot (1931) as Rusty, the Barber
The Rainbow Trail (1932) as Ike Wilkins
Come on Danger! (1932) as Rusty
Renegades of the West (1932) as Dr. Henry Fawcett
Freaks (1932) as Roscoe
The Roadhouse Murder (1932) as Edmund Joyce
Ladies of the Jury (1932) as Andrew MacKaig
Never the Twins Shall Meet (1932) as Alfred Guppy / Albert Guppy
Young Bride (1932) as Mike, the Pool Hall Bartender
Hold 'Em Jail (1932) as Slippery Sam Brown
Sham Poo, the Magician (1932) as Roscoe / Tourist
Deported (1932)
Lucky Devils (1933) as Gabby
What! No Beer? (1933) as Schultz the Brewmaster
Alice in Wonderland (1933) as Fish
The Cheyenne Kid (1933) as Bush
The Past of Mary Holmes (1933) as Bill-Poster Klondike
King Kong (1933) as Press Photographer (uncredited)
Scarlet River (1933) as Ulysses Mope
Golden Harvest (1933) as Louis Jenkins aka Loopey Lou
She Made Her Bed (1934) as Santa Fe
Merry Wives of Reno (1934) as The Trapper
Woman in the Dark (1934) as Tommy Logan
Dizzy and Daffy (1934) as 'Call-'Em-Wrong Jones', the Umpire
So You Won't T-T-T-Talk (1934) as Elmer Whipple
The People's Enemy (1935) as Slip Laflin
Why Pay Rent? (Short) (1935) as Elmer Whipple
Once Over Lightly (Short) (1935)
On the Wagon (1935) as Elmer
Fair Exchange (1936) as Elmer Goodge
God's Country and the Woman (1937) as Gander Hopkins
Drug Store Follies (Short) (1937) as The Stuttering Comic
Alpine Cabaret (Short) (1937) as Elmer
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938) as Oscar "Snake-Eyes" Smith
Riders of the Black Hills (1938) as Sheriff Brown
Gone with the Wind (1939) as a convalescing Confederate soldier. While scratching his back on a tent pole, he utters the line "These animules is driving me crazy!"
Three Texas Steers (1939) as Sheriff Brown
Rancho Grande (1940) as Tex
You're Next! (1940) as Mr. Tillson (uncredited)
The Cowboy from Sundown (1940) as Deputy Gloomy Day
Captain Caution (1940) as Chips
Chad Hanna (1940) as Ike Wayfish
Untamed (1940) as Bert Dillon
I Want a Divorce (1940) as Process Server (uncredited)
Fireman, Save My Choo Choo (Short) (1940) as Fireman
Bad Men of Missouri (1941) as Lafe
Sullivan's Travels (1941) as Hollywood Diner Counterman (uncredited)
I'll Sell My Life (1941) as Happy Hogan
Robin Hood of the Pecos (1941) as Jailer Guffy
She Knew All the Answers (1941) as Gas Station Attendant
Glove Affair (Short) (1941) as Uncle Tom
Ziegfeld Girl (1941) as Janitor Changing Pictures (uncredited)
Mountain Moonlight (1941) as Gardener
Reg'lar Fellers (1941) as Emory McQuade
Birth of the Blues (1941) as Cab Driver (uncredited)
One Foot in Heaven (1941) as George Reynolds (uncredited)
The Palm Beach Story (1942) as Fourth Member, Ale and Quail Club
The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942) as Dan Kady
Can't Help Singing (1944) as Lemuel (uncredited)
The Great Moment (1944) as Morton's Sign Painter (uncredited)
Wild West (1946) as Soapy Jones
Colorado Serenade (1946) as Soapy
Driftin' River (1946) as Soapy Jones
Stars Over Texas (1946) as Soapy Jones
Tumbleweed Trail (1946) as Soapy Jones
West to Glory (1947) as Soapy Jones
Shadow Valley (1947) as Soapy Jones
Wild Country (1947) as Soapy Jones
Range Beyond the Blue (1947) as Soapy Jones
Black Hills (1947) as Soapy Jones
Check Your Guns (1948) as Soapy Jones
The Hawk of Powder River (1948) as Soapy Jones
The Westward Trail (1948) as Soapy Jones
Tornado Range (1948) as Soapy Jones
The Tioga Kid (1948) as Soapy Jones
Thunder in the Pines (1948) as Wheezer, Boomer's Head Logger
Inner Sanctum (1948) as Willie
Father's Wild Game (1950) as Rancher
Hills of Oklahoma (1950) as Dismal, the Cook
Honeychile (1951) as Bob
The Blazing Forest (1952) as Beans
Trail Guide (1952) as Stammering Man (uncredited)
Those Redheads from Seattle (1953) as Dan Taylor
The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) as Jake Hooper, the Stage Driver (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955) as Wagon Driver
Lucy Gallant (1955) as Clem Anderson, the Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956) as Scotty (uncredited)
Come Next Spring (1956) as Shorty Wilkins
The Birds and the Bees (1956) as Vendor (uncredited)
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) as Townsman (uncredited)
The Big Caper (1957) as Falkenburg (uncredited)
Short Cut to Hell (1957) as Road Driver (uncredited)
The Sheepman (1958) as Town Loafer (uncredited)
Cissie (TV Movie) (1959) as Papa
The Silent Call (1961) as Sid
The Ladies Man (1961) as Pet Shop Owner
The Errand Boy (1961) as Ralph the Prop Man (uncredited)

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.retroland.com/pages/retropedia/tv/item/396/ |title=Annie Oakley |publisher=retroland.com |access-date=January 11, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091210160034/http://retroland.com/pages/retropedia/tv/item/396 |archive-date=December 10, 2009 }}

In 1958, Ates was cast as "Old Timer" in the episode "The Sacramento Story" of NBC's Wagon Train. In 1959, Ates appeared in western series The Restless Gun, State Trooper, and Buckskin. He had a nameless role as a barfly in the 1958 episode of "Maverick" called "Gun-Shy", a spoof of the series Gunsmoke. In 1960, he was cast as Fenton in the episode "Hot Ice Cream" of Charles Bronson's ABC series 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.fandango.com/roscoeates/filmography/p2680|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607091451/http://www.fandango.com/roscoeates/filmography/p2680|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 7, 2008|title=Roscoe Ates Filmography|publisher=Fandango.com|access-date=March 1, 2009}}

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.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Roscoe Ates |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/05/20/archives/mrs-roscoe-ates.html |newspaper=New York Times |date=May 20, 1955}} In December 1960, Ates married model Beatrice Heisser.{{cite news |author= |date=January 11, 1961 |title=Marriages |url=https://archive.org/details/variety221-1961-01/page/n355/mode/2up?q=%22Beatrice+Heisser%22 |page=62 |periodical=Variety }}Parish, James Robert (1978). [https://archive.org/details/hollywoodcharact0000pari/page/36/mode/2up?q=%22beatrice+heisser%22 Hollywood Character Actors]. Westport, CN: Arlington House Publishers. p. 37. {{ISBN|0870003844}}.

Ates died of lung cancer at the age of 67 at the West Valley Community Hospital in Encino, California.{{cite news |title=Roscoe Ates, 67, Comedian, Dies. Veteran Of Movies Played Stuttering Cowboy Roles |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F04E7DA1E3DE53BBC4A53DFB5668389679EDE&legacy=true |newspaper=New York Times | date=March 2, 1962 }}

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