Career
He wrote for 96 films between 1924 and 1953. He also directed 88 films between 1926 and 1953. He started his career in entertaintment in a vaudeville double-act called "Yates and Lawley".
Yates first worked at the Hal Roach Studios where he directed a few early Laurel and Hardy comedies (including the lost Hats Office),and later worked at the Radio-Keith-Orpheum studios directing short films featuring Edgar Kennedy and Leon Errol.
He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and died in Los Angeles, California.