AustLit

Actor, writer, director and producer

Michael Pate began his working life at the age of 18, writing and broadcasting an ABC program Youth Speaks, as well as writing book and theatre reviews for newspapers and magazines. His first appearance as an actor was in 1939 in Lux Radio Theatre where his abilities were noticed by the film director Charles Chauvel (q.v.) who cast him in three roles in Forty Thousand Horsemen (1941). Chauvel later cast him in the starring role in The Sons of Matthew (1949).

During World War 2, he wrote and performed with the 1st Australian Army Amenities Entertainment Unit, and continued to write short stories for magazines. After the war he was active in radio, writing, adapting, producing, directing, and acting in radio plays. His performance in the English playwright Charlotte Hasting's Bonaventure was noticed by Hollywood and he left Australia in 1950 for a major role in its screen adaptation Thunder on the Hill (1951). Before leaving he had a major role in Bitter Springs (1950).

In America he was often cast as a Native American, Mexican, or the bad man, gaining a reputation as a character actor across many genres. Pate also began teaching film acting and stagecraft at the Screen Actors Studio which he had helped establish in 1963. He continued writing, most notably the screenplay of Escape from Fort Bravo (1953). He co-wrote the original story for The Most Dangerous Man Alive (1961). He appeared in at least two films a year, and episodes of top rating TV series such as Zorro, Broken Arrow, Hawaiian Eye, Have Gun - Will Travel, 77 Sunset Strip and Perry Mason. Apart from writing screenplays and teleplays, he appeared in theatre and worked on the US version of the Lux Radio Theatre hosted by Cecile B. De Mille. He returned to Australia periodically to work on projects.

Pate finally left America in 1968, having acted in over 50 feature films and over 300 television shows, and collaborated on many scripts. He returned to Australia to be the associate producer of Norman Lindsay's (q.v.) Age of Consent (1969). Peter Yeldham's (q.v.) screenplay was preferred over Pate's version which is housed in the Fryer Library at The University of Queensland. The 1970's saw him working as a TV executive and producer as well as acting. In 1970 Pate wrote a textbook The Film Actor : Acting for Motion Pictures and Television, and acted in the TV series Matlock Police (1971-75), winning the Penguin 1972 Best Actor award. Pate's son Christopher starred in Mango Tree (1977) which was scripted and produced by Pate from the novel by Ronald McKie (q.v.). Tim (1979), based on Colleen McCullough's (q.v.) novel of the same name was Pate's next writing, directing and producing project and it won him the 1979 AWGIE for Best Screenplay. The film also won 1979 AFI awards for Best Actor (Mel Gibson), Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. He continued to act in theatre and film, narrated documentaries, was often interviewed, and retired from acting in 2001.