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American actor (1928–1982)

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). Another of his most acclaimed performances was as officer Sam Wood in In the Heat of the Night (1967). Oates starred in numerous films during the early 1970s that have since achieved cult status, such as The Hired Hand (1971), Two Lane Blacktop (1971), and Race with the Devil (1975). Oates also portrayed John Dillinger in the biopic Dillinger (1973) and as the supporting character U. S. Army Sergeant Hulka in the military comedy Stripes (1981). Another notable appearance was in the classic New Zealand film Sleeping Dogs (1977), in which he played the commander of the American forces in the country.

Warren Oates was born and reared in Depoy, a tiny rural community in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, located just a few miles west of Greenville, the county seat. According to the federal census of 1940, he was the younger of two sons born to Sarah Alice (née Mercer) and Bayless Earle Oates, who owned a general store. His brother, Gordon, was five years his senior. Oates became interested in theater while attending the University of Louisville, where in 1953, he starred in several plays produced by the school's Little Theater Company. Four years later, in New York City, he got an opportunity to star in a live production of the television series Studio One.

Oates moved to Los Angeles, where in the 1950s, he began to establish himself in guest roles in weekly television Westerns, including Wagon Train, Tombstone Territory, Buckskin, Rawhide, Trackdown, Tate, The Rebel, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Virginian, Have Gun – Will Travel, Lawman, The Big Valley, Bat Masterson, and Gunsmoke. In the episode "Subterranean City" (October 14, 1958) of the syndicated Rescue 8, Oates played a gang member, Pete, who is the nephew of series character Skip Johnson (Lang Jeffries). In the story line, rescuers Johnson and Wes Cameron (Jim Davis) search for a lost girl in the sewer tunnels and encounter three criminals hiding out underground. Pete soon breaks with his gang companions and joins the firemen Wes and Skip in locating the missing child. In 1961, Oates 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 played in a number of guest roles on The Twilight Zone (in "The Purple Testament" and "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" S5 E10 1963, in which he costarred with Randy Boone and Ron Foster), The Outer Limits ("The Mutant" [1964]), Combat! ("The Pillbox" [1964]) and Lost in Space ("Welcome Stranger" [1965]). During the 1960s and 1970s, he guest starred on such shows as Twelve O'Clock High ("The Hotshot" [1965]), Lancer, and The Virginian. While making a guest appearance on a segment of the Western television series Dundee and the Culhane, Oates managed to steal the show with his off camera antics and bloopers that had everyone on the set rolling. After a long day of filming, he headed over and set his footprints in concrete along with all the other stars who appeared at Apacheland Movie Ranch. "There were 40 [Western] series, and I went from one to the other. I started out playing the third bad guy on a horse and worked my way up to the number one bad guy," Oates once quipped. The collaboration continued as he worked in Peckinpah's early films Ride the High Country (1962) and Major Dundee (1965) and 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." 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 and bartender hoping to make a final score. The character was reportedly based on Peckinpah. 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' performance. Film critic Leonard Maltin remarked that Oates' performance as GTO was as good as any he had seen and should have won the Oscar. Oates had a close relationship with Hellman, and worked with him on three other films: the western film The Shooting (1966), co starring a young Jack Nicholson, Cockfighter (1974), and China 9, Liberty 37 (1978), in which Peckinpah, who was also a friend of Hellman's, featured in a rare acting role. Oates' wife Teddy said, "Sam Peckinpah and Monte Hellman were the two directors with whom Warren would work anytime, anywhere." In addition to Peckinpah and Hellman, Oates worked with several major 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 (1973), as Muff Potter, the town drunk. He also starred in The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), Return of the Seven (1966), The Split (1968), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), Drum (1976), and played the title role in a 1971 crime drama, Chandler. Oates costarred 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). A year before his death, Oates costarred with Bill Murray in the 1981 military comedy Stripes. In the role of the drill sergeant, Sgt. Hulka, Oates 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 costarred opposite Jack Nicholson in director Tony Richardson's The Border. In 1981, Oates also costarred as a fanatical Southern preacher turned Confederate officer in The Blue and the Gray, a CBS TV miniseries that aired in November 1982. His last two films were not released until 1983: Blue Thunder and Tough Enough, both filmed in late 1981. Both films are dedicated to him, along with Monte Hellman's 1988 film Iguana, which ends with the titles "For Warren".

Oates was ill with influenza in the weeks before his death. On April 3, 1982, at the age of 53, he died of a heart attack while taking an afternoon nap at his home in Los Angeles, after having experienced chest pains and shortness of breath earlier that day. An autopsy determined that he had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During a screening of Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop, Richard Linklater introduced the film, and gave 16 reasons why viewers should love it. The sixth 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 as a tribute to the actor's career. Oates was the subject of a 2009 biography, Warren Oates: A Wild Life, written by Susan Compo.

Year Title Role Notes Director 1959 Up Periscope Seaman Kovacs Uncredited Gordon Douglas Yellowstone Kelly Corporal Gordon Douglas 1960 The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond Eddie Diamond Budd Boetticher Private Property 'Boots' Leslie Stevens 1962 Ride the High Country Henry Hammond Sam Peckinpah Hero's Island Wayte Giddens Leslie Stevens 1964 Mail Order Bride Jace Burt Kennedy 1965 The Rounders Harley Williams Uncredited Burt Kennedy Major Dundee O. W. Hadley Sam Peckinpah 1966 The Shooting Willett Gashade Monte Hellman Return of the Seven Colbee Burt Kennedy 1967 Welcome to Hard Times Leo Jenks Burt Kennedy In the Heat of the Night Sam Wood Norman Jewison 1968 The Split Marty Gough Gordon Flemyng 1969 Smith! Walter Charlie Michael O'Herlihy Crooks and Coronets Marty Miller Also released as Sophie's Place Jim O'Connolly The Wild Bunch Lyle Gorch Sam Peckinpah Lanton Mills Gunman Short Terrence Malick 1970 Barquero Jake (Jacob) Remy, Gang Leader Gordon Douglas There Was a Crooked Man Floyd Moon Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1971 Two Lane Blacktop G. T. O. Nominated National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Monte Hellman The Hired Hand Arch Harris Nominated National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Peter Fonda Chandler Chandler Paul Magwood 1973 The Thief Who Came to Dinner Dave Reilly Bud Yorkin Tom Sawyer Muff Potter Don Taylor Kid Blue Reese Ford James Frawley Dillinger John Dillinger John Milius Badlands Mr. Sargis Terrence Malick 1974 The White Dawn Billy Philip Kaufman Cockfighter Frank Mansfield Monte Hellman Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Bennie Sam Peckinpah 1975 Rancho Deluxe Harmonica Player In Bar Uncredited Frank Perry Race with the Devil Frank Stewart Jack Starrett 92 in the Shade Nichol Dance Thomas McGuane 1976 Dixie Dynamite Mack Lee Frost Drum Hammond Maxwell Steve Carver 1977 American Raspberry Celebrity Sportsman Also released under the titles Prime Time, and Funny America Bradley R. Swirnoff Sleeping Dogs Colonel Willoughby Roger Donaldson 1978 China 9, Liberty 37 Matthew Sebanek Monte Hellman The Brink's Job 'Specs' O'Keefe William Friedkin 1979 1941 Colonel 'Madman' Maddox Steven Spielberg 1981 Stripes Sergeant Hulka Ivan Reitman 1982 The Border 'Red' Tony Richardson 1983 Blue Thunder Captain Jack Braddock Released posthumously, filmed in 1981 John Badham Tough Enough James Neese Released posthumously, filmed in 1981 Richard Fleischer

Year Title Role Notes 1968 Something for a Lonely Man Angus Duren 1970 The Movie Murderer Alfred Fisher 1971 The Reluctant Heroes of Hill 656 Corporal Leroy Sprague 1977 The African Queen Captain Charlie Allnut 1978 True Grit: A Further Adventure Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn 1979 And Baby Makes Six Michael Kramer My Old Man Frank Butler 1980 Baby Comes Home Michael Kramer