Jeanne Bates

Infobox actor


caption=Jeanne Bates as Irene in "Mulholland Drive",
pictured with Betty (Naomi Watts)]
birthdate = birth date|1918|5|21
birthplace = Berkeley, California
deathdate = death date and age|2007|11|28|1918|3|21
deathplace = Woodland Hills, California
occupation = Film, television actress
yearsactive = 1943 - 2002
spouse = Lew X. Lansworth (1943-1981)

Jeanne Bates (May 21 1918 – November 28 2007) was an American radio, film and television actress. She signed a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1942 which began her career in films both in bit parts and larger roles.

She began her acting career while attending San Mateo Junior College, with roles on radio soap operas produced in San Francisco. Bates had the lead role, and supplied the signature scream, on the radio mystery series "Whodunit". She married the writer of "Whodunit", Lew X. Lansworth (b. 1904, d. 1981), in 1943.

She also had her film debut in 1943, in a Boston Blackie mystery, "The Chance of a Lifetime". She played Bela Lugosi's first victim in "Return of the Vampire" (1943), Diana Palmer in "The Phantom" (1943), and she had a minor role in "Death of a Salesman" (1952). Bates worked steadily in television beginning in the 1950s and is remembered for playing Nurse Wills on the weekly program "Ben Casey" (1961-66). Bates, who also taught acting, also appeared, as Mrs. X, in the cult-classic "Eraserhead" (1977).

Bates' last roles were small parts in "Die Hard 2" (1992) and "Mulholland Drive" (2001). She died of breast cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, aged 89.

External links

*imdb name|id=0060931|name=Jeanne Bates
*amg name|2:4528
* [http://www.einsiders.com/features/columns/nov07obituaries.php Obituary]
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-passings1dec01,1,1835405.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california Obituary in the Los Angeles Times]
* [http://finaltaxi.wordpress.com/2007/12/11/podcast-phantom-character-actress-jeanne-bates Final Taxi Podcast on Jeanne Bates]

Persondata
NAME= Bates, Jeanne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= May 21 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH= Berkeley, California
DATE OF DEATH= November 28 2007
PLACE OF DEATH= Woodland Hills, California