{{Short description|American actress (1926–2019)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Nancy Gates | image = Nancy Gates in Suddenly.jpg | caption = Gates in the film ''Suddenly'' (1954) | birth_name = Nancy Jane Gates | birth_date = February 1, 1926 | birth_place = Dallas, Texas, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and given age|2019|3|24|93}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = Film, television actress | years_active = 1942–1969 | spouse = {{marriage|J. William Hayes|1948|1992|end=died}} | children = 4, including Chip Hayes }} [[File:Nancy Gates John Hudson The Millionaire 1955.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Nancy Gates and John Hudson on TV's ''The Millionaire'' (1955) ]] '''Nancy Gates''' (February 1, 1926<ref name=fe>Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. {{ISBN|0-399-50601-2}}.P. 471.</ref> – March 24, 2019<ref name="THR Obit">{{Cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/nancy-gates-dead-actress-comanche-station-sinatra-films-was-93-1201648 | title=Nancy Gates, Actress in 'Comanche Station' and Sinatra Films, Dies at 93 | first=Mike | last=Barnes | website=The Hollywood Reporter | date=April 19, 2019 }}</ref>) was an American film and television actress.
==Early life== Gates was born to Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Gates,<ref name=parents>{{cite news|last1=Kleypas|first1=Rosmarie|title=Nancy Gates Returns To Visit Family, Friends After Completing New Movie|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2065558/nancy_gates_parents_names/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=March 5, 1950|page=6}}</ref> in Dallas, Texas. She grew up in nearby Denton, and was described as "a child wonder."<ref name=tgth>{{cite news|title=Texas' Gift to Hollywood|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2064353/nancy_gates_gift_to_hollywood/|agency=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=December 20, 1942|page=28|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> A 1932 newspaper article about an Easter program at Robert E. Lee School noted, "Nancy Gates, presenting a soft-shoe number, will open the style show."<ref>{{cite news|title=Lee School Plans Easter Program|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2073931/nancy_gates_school_program_at_age_6/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=March 22, 1932|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> That same year, she had a part in the Denton Kiddie Revue.<ref>{{cite news|title=Big Crowd Sees Kiddie Revue Here|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077173/nancy_gates_1932_kiddie_revue/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=May 30, 1932|page=5|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
In 1935,<ref name=ci>{{cite journal|last1=Wagner|first1=Laura|title=Nancy Gates: 'I Just Work When I Feel Like It'|journal=Classic Images|date=April 2015|issue=478|pages=6–15, 65–67}}</ref> she appeared in the production ''A Kiss for Cinderella'', which starred Brenda Marshall, and a minstrel show that included Ann Sheridan, both of whom were from Denton.<ref name=tgth/> She was in show business before she finished high school, having her own radio program on WFAA in Dallas<ref name=ci/> for two years while she was a student at Denton High School,<ref name=ng>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2062712/nancy_gates_early_years/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=February 24, 1952|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> from which she graduated.<ref name=toget>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates to Get One of Top Roles in Gildersleeve Film to Be Produced by RKO|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2065490/nancy_gates_to_get/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=September 14, 1942|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> Musically oriented, Gates was featured as a singer in a 1942 concert by the North Texas State Teachers College stage band.<ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates to Remain Here for T.C. 'Concert In Swing' Jan. 8|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2064529/nancy_gates_concert/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=December 30, 1942|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref>
Gates attended the University of Oklahoma for one year before getting married.<ref name=parents/>
==Career==
===Film=== Gates entered acting at a young age, receiving a contract with RKO at the age of 15, which required court approval because of her status as a minor.<ref>{{cite news|title=Court Approves Nancy Gates' RKO Movie Contract|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2071915/nancy_gates_rko_contract_approval/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=August 13, 1947|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> Orson Welles screen-tested her for a role in the 1942 film ''The Magnificent Ambersons''. Although she did not get the role, which went to Anne Baxter, the test paved the way for her future entry into film.<ref name=tgth/> That same year she had her first credited role, in ''The Great Gildersleeve''. In 1943 she went on contract with RKO, her first film with them being ''Hitler's Children'' that same year. She began receiving roles in mostly B-movies, many of which were westerns or sci-fi, eventually receiving lead roles as the heroine. In 1948 she starred opposite Eddie Dean in ''Check Your Guns'', and in 1949 she played alongside Jim Bannon, Marin Sais, and Emmett Lynn in one installment of the ''Red Ryder'' film series, titled ''Roll, Thunder, Roll!''. She would star in several other films over the next ten years, especially in westerns such as ''Comanche Station'' (1959), and in support roles, most notably in two Frank Sinatra films, ''Some Came Running'' and ''Suddenly''.
In total Gates starred or co-starred in 34 films and serials. She retired from acting in 1969.
===Radio=== Gates made her radio debut on the September 29, 1941, broadcast of CBS Radio's ''The Orson Welles Show'', playing opposite Welles in an adaptation of Sherwood Anderson's short story "I'm a Fool".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/2030 |title=Orson Welles Show: The Interlopers |date=September 29, 1941 |website=Orson Welles on the Air, 1938–1946 |publisher=Indiana University Bloomington |access-date=July 23, 2018 }}</ref> She performed in the soap opera ''Masquerade'' on NBC in 1946–1947.<ref name="dunningota">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22Masquerade+soap+opera+Broadcast+history+Jan+14+1946+Aug+29%22+%22Nancy+Gates%22&pg=PA442 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=Masquerade |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |page=442 |edition=Revised |access-date=March 30, 2025}}</ref> A February 21, 1944, newspaper article noted that Gates would "appear in a series of air programs for the RKO Studios beginning Feb. 28."<ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates to Be on Air|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2064029/nancy_gates_rko_programs/|work=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=February 21, 1944|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}}{{Open access}}</ref> In 1951, she starred on ''Screen Director's Playhouse'' opposite William Holden in ''Remember the Night''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://wn.com/screen_director's_playhouse_remember_the_night_classic_radio | title=''Screen Director's Playhouse'': Remember the Night – Classic Radio | date=June 12, 2014 | website=wn.com | access-date=November 11, 2018}}</ref> and on ''Lux Radio Theatre'' in a supporting role in ''Sunset Boulevard''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Miss Nancy Gates Appears Monday On Radio Show|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077777/nancy_gates_lux_radio_theater/|work=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=September 13, 1951|page=3|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}}{{Open access}}</ref>
===Television=== Gates made a total of 55 television appearances. She made two appearances on the television series ''Maverick'', three appearances on ''Perry Mason'', three on ''Wagon Train'', six on ''Lux Video Theater'', and two on ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents''. In 1957 she had a memorable role as defendant Martha Bradford in the ''Perry Mason'' episode, "The Case of the Crooked Candle"; then in 1964 she was cast in the role of the defendant, Mary Douglas, in "The Case of the Woeful Widower". In 1965 she again played the role of Perry's client, this time as Claire Armstrong, the title character, in "The Case of the Candy Queen". In 1958; she appeared on ''Trackdown'' as Ellen Hackett in "Killer Takes All".
Her other TV appearances included ''The Third Man'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2079876/nancy_gates_the_third_man/|agency=Independent Press-Telegram|date=May 21, 1961|page=73|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> Science Fiction Theater, ''Bonanza'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Corpus Christi Caller-Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2079795/nancy_gates_bonanza/|agency=The Corpus Christi Caller-Times|date=August 21, 1966|page=69|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Studio 57'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2079770/nancy_gates_studio_57/|agency=Independent|date=September 13, 1958|page=16|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''The Lineup'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2079643/nancy_gates_lineup/|agency=Independent|date=January 6, 1960|page=27|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Bus Stop'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2078160/nancy_gates_bus_stop/|agency=Independent Press-Telegram|date=November 19, 1961|page=131|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2078067/nancy_gates_pepsicola_playhouse/|agency=Long Beach Independent|date=November 6, 1953|page=29|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Your Play Time'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077945/nancy_gates_your_play_time/|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=August 15, 1954|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Riverboat'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=The Times Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077683/nancy_gates_riverboat/|agency=The Times-Record|date=August 27, 1960|page=26|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''General Electric Theater'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2073974/nancy_gates_ge_theater/|agency=Independent Press-Telegram|date=July 8, 1956|page=30|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Rawhide'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2073819/nancy_gates_rawhide_tv/|agency=Independent Press-Telegram|date=October 31, 1965|page=186|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Letter to Loretta'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=The Pantagraph |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2073669/nancy_gates_loretta_young_show/|agency=The Pantagraph|date=November 9, 1957|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Laramie'', ''The Whistler'',''The Mod Squad'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=San Antonio Express |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2072582/nancy_gates_the_mod_squad/|agency=San Antonio Express|date=June 2, 1970|page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates, John Derek On 'Zane Grey'|newspaper=The Morning Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2063997/nancy_gates_zane_grey_theatre/|agency=The Morning Herald|date=April 29, 1961|page=27|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Bourbon Street Beat'',<ref>{{cite news|title=On TV This Week|newspaper=Express and News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2071518/nancy_gates_bourbon_street_beat/|issue=Express and News|date=January 3, 1960|page=75|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''The Special for Women with Dinah Shore'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Nancy Gates In Special On Housewife|newspaper=The Daily Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2071760/nancy_gates_dinah_shore_special/|agency=The Daily Herald|date=February 22, 1965|page=17|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''The Danny Thomas Hour'',<ref>{{cite news|title=(TV listing)|newspaper=Standard-Speaker |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2072283/nancy_gates_danny_thomas_hour/|agency=Standard-Speaker|date=May 11, 1968|page=24 |via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Damon Runyon Theater'',<ref>{{cite news|last1=Vernon|first1=Terry|title=Tele-Vues|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2070497/nancy_gates_damon_runyon_theater/|agency=Long Beach Independent|date=April 30, 1955|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> ''Kentucky Jones'' <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Drama/KentuckyJones.htm|title=CTVA US Drama – "Kentucky Jones" (Buzz Kulik/NBC)(1964-65) starring Dennis Weaver|website=ctva.biz}}</ref> and ''Gunsmoke''.
==Personal life and death== Gates retired in 1969 to be closer to her family. She was married to Hollywood attorney and business manager J. William Hayes, whom she met when he was a commercial pilot and she was a passenger on one of his flights.<ref>{{cite news|title=Headliners Featured On 'Here's Hollywood'|newspaper=The Daily Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2070544/nancy_gates_meeting_husband/|agency=The Daily Herald|date=August 21, 1961|page=19|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 26, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> They had four children, twin daughters Cindy and Cathy,<ref>{{cite news|title=Hollywood Actress Is A Home Girl|newspaper=The Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077280/nancy_gates_daughters_names/|agency=The Herald|date=November 16, 1961|page=10|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Twin Girls Born To Nancy Gates|newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2078202/nancy_gates_twin_girls_born/|agency=The Times|date=November 7, 1960|page=14|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> and sons who became Hollywood producers, Jeffrey M. Hayes and Chip Hayes. J. William Hayes died in 1992. Gates died in March 2019 at the age of 93.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/04/12/nancy-gates-hollywood-actress-began-career-early-teens-often/|title=Nancy Gates, Hollywood actress who began her career in her early teens and was often cast as the female lead in Westerns – obituary|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=April 12, 2019}}</ref><ref name="THR Obit" />
==Filmography== {{colbegin|colwidth=30em}} *''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942)<ref name=fe/> – Tupa's Daughter – Age 14 (uncredited) *''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942) – Girl (uncredited) *''The Great Gildersleeve'' (1942)<ref name=fe/> – Marjorie Forrester *''Hitler's Children'' (1943)<ref name=fe/> – Brenda *''This Land Is Mine'' (1943)<ref name=expelled/> – Julie Grant *''Gildersleeve's Bad Day'' (1943) – Margie Forrester *''A Night of Adventure'' (1944) – Connie Matthews *''Bride by Mistake'' (1944) – Jane Mason *''The Master Race'' (1944)<ref name=expelled>{{cite news|last1=Greer|first1=Kitty|title='Expelled From School', Starlet Nancy Gates Takes Vacation From Radio Show to Visit Homefolks Here|newspaper=Denton Record-Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2062645/nancy_gates_returns_home_1946/|agency=Denton Record-Chronicle|date=June 27, 1946|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> – Nina *''Nevada'' (1944)<ref name=fe/> – Hattie Ide *''The Spanish Main'' (1945)<ref name=expelled/> – Lupita *''Cheyenne Takes Over'' (1947)<ref name=fe/> – Fay Wilkins *''Check Your Guns'' (1948) – Cathy Jordan * ''Roll, Thunder, Roll!'' (1949) – Carol Loomis *''The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1952) – Spectator (uncredited) *''At Sword's Point'' (1952) – Princess Henriette *''The Atomic City'' (1952)<ref name=ng/> – Ellen Haskell *''The Member of the Wedding'' (1952)<ref name=fe/> – Janice *''Target Hong Kong'' (1953)<ref>{{cite news|title=Target Hong Kong|url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai72unse_0#page/n776/mode/1up|access-date=March 25, 2015|agency=Motion Picture Daily|date=December 29, 1952|page=36}}</ref> – Ming Shan *''Torch Song'' (1953) – Celia Stewart *''Hell's Half Acre'' (1954)<ref name=fe/> – Sally Lee *''Suddenly'' (1954)<ref name=fe/> – Ellen Benson *''Masterson of Kansas'' (1954)<ref name=maltin>Maltin, Leonard (1995). ''Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 1995''. Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-451-18172-7}}. P. 830.</ref> – Amy Merrick *''Stranger on Horseback'' (1955)<ref name=maltin/> – Caroline Webb *''Top of the World'' (1955)<ref name=maltin/> – Lieutenant Mary Ross *''No Man's Woman'' (1955)<ref name=fe/> – Louise Nelson *''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (1955) (Season 1 Episode 6: "Salvage") – Lois Williams *''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (1956) (Season 1 Episode 28: "Portrait of Jocelyn") – Debbie Halliday *''The Bottom of the Bottle'' (1956)<ref name=fe/> – Mildred Martin *''World Without End'' (1956)<ref>{{cite news|title=Eavesdropping (photo caption)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2062667/nancy_gates_world_without_end/|agency=Abilene Reporter-News|date=July 29, 1956|page=31}}</ref> – Garnet * ''Wetbacks'' (1956) <ref name=maltin/> – Sally Parker *''Magnificent Roughnecks'' (1956)<ref name=maltin/> – Jane Rivers *''The Search for Bridey Murphy'' (1956)<ref name=fe/> – Hazel Bernstein *''Death of a Scoundrel'' (1956)<ref>{{cite news|title=George Sanders Stars In Unusual RKO Movie Now at Local Theatre|newspaper=Shamokin News-Dispatch |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077253/nancy_gates_scoundrel_movie/|agency=Shamokin News-Dispatch|date=April 15, 1957|page=12|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> – Stephanie North *''The Brass Legend'' (1956)<ref>{{cite news|title=What's Showing?|newspaper=The Jefferson Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2064599/nancy_gates_the_brass_legend/|agency=The Jefferson Bee|date=June 18, 1957|page=2|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = March 25, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> – Linda Gipson *''The Rawhide Trail'' (1958)<ref name=maltin/> – Marsha Collins *''Some Came Running'' (1958)<ref name=fe/> – Edith Barclay *''The Gunfight at Dodge City'' (1959) – Lily, Lady Gay Saloon Owner *''Comanche Station'' (1960)<ref name=fe/> – Nancy Lowe {{colend}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0309607}} *[http://www.b-westerns.com/ladies99.htm Nancy Gates B-movie heroines]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gates, Nancy}} Category:1926 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Actresses from Dallas Category:American film actresses Category:American radio actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Denton, Texas Category:RKO Pictures contract players Category:21st-century American women