Warren Oates: A Wild Life

by Susan Compo

Book Overview

Though he never reached the lead actor status he labored so relentlessly to achieve, Warren Oates (1928--1982) is one of the most memorable and skilled character actors of the 1970s. With his rugged looks and measured demeanor, Oates crafted complex characters who were at once brazen and thoughtful, wild and subdued. Friends remember the hard-living, hard-drinking actor as kind and caring, but also sometimes as mean as a blue-eyed devil. Married four...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 081319346X
• ISBN13: 9780813193465
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

excellent read

I must confess up front that I have not read this entire book yet. However, I have very many times picked it up and just started reading at random or searched the index for a favorite film and read the corresponding pages. Either way it has been fascinating reading.

Excellent biography on one of the great Hollywood character actors

Warren Oates was such a great talent that I was excited to see that a full scale biography was coming out on him. Susan Compo's book is an excellent look at the man and the actor and I think movie fans will find quite a bit of information to chew over. Compo has a very easy to read writing style and the book has a nice selection of photographs, many of which have never been published. Oates and his movie roles are given good treatment by Compo. I found out quite a bit on some of Oates' more obscure work that made for interesting reading and makes me want to see out those movies on DVD or TV. Oates' famous roles are detailed quite well. I enjoyed the anecdotes of his work with Sam Peckinpah in some of my favorite films. The reading is particularly fascinating on Oates' work in, 'The Wild Bunch' and 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia'. Also, 'Two Lane Blacktop' which is one of the great cult films of all time and is given a good depiction by Compo. Also, interesting information is imparted about making the landmark film 'In the Heat of the Night' and Oates' excellent role in it. She really details Oates' work in all of these pictures large and small. It makes for fascinating reading. There is also good, interesting info about Oates' personal life and includes many details which have never been published in book form before. I am so glad that a first class biography of this legendary performer is finally available. This book is highly recommended especially for all fans of '60s and '70s movies! A+

The only human being in pictures

Loved the book. It was really about time someone took care of everybody's favorite actor. Thanks so much Susan Compo! Although I'm into film history for 30 years now, so far I didn't really learn too much about him besides the stories around him, Fonda, Hellman & Peckinpah. It was great to finally get a complete picture (as complete as a book can deliver of course). A lot of books on film talent I push myself to read because I want and need to know... This one was a pleasure to read. Thanks for the effort !!

BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK FOR 37 YEARS!!!

COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN A MORE ENTERTAINING MANNER.....BUT IF YOU LOVE WARREN OATES & KNOW THAT THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING....WHATS NOT TO LOVE?!!?

I Never Had the Pleasure to Meet Warren Oates...

....until now! And what a joy and thrill it was to "meet" Mr. Oates - if only in the pages of this moving book. I have known him as an actor through his work; now I feel I know him as a man because of Susan Compo's labor of love. In a world overflowing with books about major stars, it is pure joy to learn about the life and times of an actor whose name is and was never on everyone's lips. But what an actor! "Dillinger" may have been a bad movie, but Oates was perfect in the part. (I can hardly imagine Johnny Depp being one-tenth as good in the role of Public Enemy Number One in the upcoming "Public Enemies" despite Depp's incredible talents.) And "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" - love it or hate it or be indifferent to it - Oates' truly compelling acting at the heart of it cannot be denied. And "The Wild Bunch" would not have been near as wild without the talents of Mr. Oates bringing Lyle Gorch to such vivid, violent life: what other actor could man the machine gun in the film's climactic battle with such maniacal merriment as Warren Oates? I could go on and on - but the book tells it all, in depth and detail. Ms. Compo has definitely done her homework. Despite a few clumsy moments and doors that are opened for no apparent reason (such as her up-in-the-air description of the death of William Holden), the book is replete with trenchant commentary and a wonderfully choice offering of various quotes from those who knew Warren Oates best: friends, family, lovers, fellow actors, directors. If you have the slightest interest in an actor's life - and this one's in particular - get this book and read it and then go back to the man's work and enjoy anew. Warren Oates gave us much - and Ms. Compo's is a book "justified." One point, however, I have always been curious about and it is, unfortunately, not addressed in this book. Warren Oates' starred in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" entitled "The Seventh is Made Up of Phantoms." Three modern-era soldiers are transported to the time of Custer's Last Stand. The end sequence - where the soldiers join the battle - is so similar to the Wild Bunch's readying for their own march to massacre that I have often wondered if Peckinpah drew inspiration from Warren Oates via the closing moments of the TZ episode. The similarities between the two scenes are extraordinary and it is hard to believe that Rod Serling's ending did not influence the Peckinpah film. The men approach each conflict side-by-side, they lock and load their weapons in a similar fashion and Pike Bishop's "Let's go" sounds like an echo of Sgt. Conner's "Let's do it!" as they enter the fray. The actor playing the Sgt. even resembles William Holden! Anyway - just a thought. One more thought: thank you again, Ms. Compo, for writing your thoroughly enjoyable biography of a great man and actor.