Michael Pate

Naissance
26 février 1920 · Drummoyne, New South Wales, Australie
Décédé(e)
1 septembre 2008 · Sydney, Nouvelle-Galles du Sud, Australie (pneumonie et infection pulmonaire)
Nom de naissance
Michael Edward John Pate
Taille
5′ 11″ (1,80 m)

Fought in the Australian army during World War II.
Though he often played Indians in movie and TV westerns, he was in fact a Caucasian born and raised in Australia.
He was awarded the O.A.M. (Order of Australia Medal) in the 1997 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to the performing arts as an actor, producer, and writer for the Australian film, radio and television Industries.
Was the first actor to play James Bond's CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter, in the television adaptation of Casino Royale. In this version, however, he is renamed Clarence Leither and, since Bond and Leiter's nationalities were reversed, he was an MI6 agent instead.
Interviewed in "It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 1996).

[on his villain roles] I remember one critic, who used to write for a magazine in New York, who said I played the most likable villains that he'd ever seen in the movies. Well, what may have accounted for it was the fact that I always played my villains as if I was the hero and all the others were the villains!
[on portraying villains] Everyone enjoys playing that kind of role; it's always fun to do a really good villain, a chance to show another side of your "actor's personality." And it's challenging to think up ways of being loved at the same time!
[reflecting on his career in a 1992 magazine interview] I didn't set any specific goals when I first got into acting. I thought, how nice would it be if I could simply continue to act, whether in the theater, films or whatever. I had to make a career for myself, and I was very fortunate to have had enough talent to do so -- to become a professional actor. I wasn't dead set on being a "big star;" I saw too many unhappy people being "big stars." I just wanted to be well thought of in the same profession. I wanted to be successful in the sense that I was in demand. But otherwise I was very happy just being in the profession. Enjoy is the key word. If you don't, you shouldn't get into the business in the first place. So my advice to any aspiring actor is enjoy, and try to keep working!