Bernard Kates

Bernard Kates (December 26, 1922 – February 2, 2010) was an American actor born in Boston, Massachusetts, whose career spanned stage, film, and television across several decades. A life member of The Actors Studio, Kates worked in a wide range of dramatic contexts, from Broadway productions to regional theater to screen roles.

Before his acting career took shape, Kates served in the United States military during World War II, attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. He flew as a waist gunner aboard a B-17G with the 336th Bomb Squadron, 95th Bomb Group (H), 8th United States Army Air Forces. His wartime service earned him an Air Medal with three clusters and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Kates made his Broadway debut in 1949 with At War With the Army, launching a stage career that continued through 1965. His subsequent Broadway appearances included Billy Budd in 1951, The Disenchanted in 1958, Have I Got a Girl for You! in 1963, and The Devils in 1965. Beyond Broadway, Kates spent nine summers as a resident actor with the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, and performed in a sustained run of productions at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California.

His film work included a role as Max Perkins in Judgment at Nuremberg, as well as appearances in The Babe and The Phantom. On television, Kates portrayed Sigmund Freud in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Phantasms" and played a Jewish resistance fighter in the 1960 Playhouse 90 television production In the Presence of Mine Enemies.

Kates died on February 2, 2010, in a hospital in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, from complications of sepsis and pneumonia. He was 87 years old.