Miss Bates was born in Portland, Oregon, and made her first stage appearance in San Francisco in 1894 when she was twenty-one. She joined Augustin Daly's company in New York City in 1897 and played Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew and Celia in As You Like It. She played the modern repertoire until 1904 when she returned to Shakespeare as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew; in 1905 she opened in David Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West, and it was so hugely successful that she took it on tour for several years. Opera-lovers will recall that Puccini turned the play into an opera that, unlike the play, has never left the repertory.

Miss Bates had found her niche; she never returned to Shakespeare after that.

                                                             

A studio postcard

A studio postcard

A role in a non-Shakespearean play

A role in a non-Shakespearean play

A role in a non-Shakespearean play