17 Facts About 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.

Roscoe Ates was best known as western character Soapy Jones.

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

Roscoe Ates played violin to accompany silent films at a theater in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

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

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

Roscoe Ates toured selected American cities with Hollywood Scandals, a stage revue with 35 people.

Roscoe Ates's first film role was a ship's cook in South Sea Rose.

Roscoe Ates was cast as Henry Wilson in the episode "The Census Taker" of the syndicated western series The Cisco Kid, and he appeared that same year in the Gale Storm sitcom, My Little Margie and Boston Blackie.

Roscoe Ates appeared on Gail Davis's Annie Oakley series as Curly Dawes, the telegraph operator.

In 1958, Roscoe Ates was cast as "Old Timer" in the episode "The Sacramento Story" of NBC's Wagon Train.

In 1959, Roscoe Ates appeared in western series The Restless Gun, State Trooper, and Buckskin.

Roscoe Ates had a nameless role as a barfly in the 1958 episode of "Maverick" called "Gun-Shy", a spoof of the series Gunsmoke.

From 1958 to 1960, Roscoe Ates appeared five times on CBS's Alfred Hitchcock Presents mystery series.

In 1960, Roscoe 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.

Roscoe 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.

Roscoe Ates died of lung cancer at the age of 67 at the West Valley Community Hospital in Encino, California.