Roscoe Ates


Roscoe Blevel Ates 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. Ates spent much of his childhood learning how to manage a speech impediment, succeeding when he was 18.

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. For 15 years, he was a headliner on the Orpheum Circuit, and he revived his long-gone stutter for humorous effect

Military service

Ates served in World War II, training of the Air Force fighter squad program in Houston at Ellington Field Texas.

Theater and personal appearances

On Broadway, Ates appeared as James McCracken in the musical comedy Sea Legs.
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.

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

    Musical performances

Ates performed these songs in his films:
  • Billy the Kid: "Turkey in the Straw"
  • Remote Control: "The Wedding March"
  • Renegades of the West: "Farmer in the Dell"
  • Rancho Grande: "Dude Ranch Cow Hands"
  • Cowboy from Sundown: "The Craw-dad Song"
  • Captain Caution: "Hilda"
  • Colorado Serenade: "Home on the Range"
  • Driftin' River: "Way Back in Oklahoma"
  • Wild West, also known as Prairie Outlaw: Song, "Elmer, The Knock-Kneed Cowboy"

    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.
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.
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. In December 1960, Ates married model Beatrice Heisser.
Ates died of lung cancer at the age of 67 at the West Valley Community Hospital in Encino, California.

Television appearances

  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass as Deputy Roscoe
  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass as Deputy Roscoe
  • The Marshal of Gunsight Pass as Deputy Roscoe
  • My Little Margie as Zeke
  • Big Town as Ed Crowley
  • Boston Blackie as Professor Edgar Franklin
  • Schlitz Playhouse as Emil
  • The Mickey Rooney Show as Henry
  • The Adventures of Champion as Canary Twigg
  • Annie Oakley as Telegrapher Curly Dawes
  • Annie Oakley as Neighborly Walsh
  • The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin as Jorgenson
  • Schlitz Playhouse
  • Death Valley Days as Pop McCrary
  • M Squad as Edwin Winkler
  • The Restless Gun as Hotel Clerk
  • Wagon Train as Old Timer
  • Tales of Wells Fargo as Flanny the Typesetter
  • Sugarfoot as Old Timer
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Cemetery Clerk
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Pop Henderson
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Ben White
  • The Restless Gun as Juniper Dunlap
  • Wagon Train as Joe the Bartender
  • Tales of Wells Fargo as Spoon
  • Lux Playhouse
  • Buckskin as Harrison
  • State Trooper as Dusty Peabody
  • Sugarfoot as Lew Long
  • Lawman as Old Timer
  • Lawman as Ike the Townsman
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Maverick as Barfly
  • Maverick as Kibitzer
  • Maverick as Joe the Barber
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Tavern Customer
  • Sugarfoot as Barber
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Lawman as Ike Jenkins
  • Maverick as Albert
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Piano Player
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Zack Martin
  • Man with a Camera as Fenton
  • Shotgun Slade as Lou Nugget
  • Bourbon Street Beat as Deputy Boak
  • Surfside 6 as Clem
  • Outlaws as Bartender
  • Outlaws as Old Timer
  • The Untouchables as Drunk
  • Whispering Smith as Sheriff Ben Stanley
  • The Red Skelton Hour as Sheriff