Alan Bates
Encyclopedia
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE
(17 February 193427 December 2003) was an English
actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind
to the "kitchen sink" drama
A Kind of Loving
. He is also known for his tour-de-force with Anthony Quinn
, Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts
, Georgy Girl
, Far From the Madding Crowd
, and The Fixer
, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
. In 1969, he starred in the Ken Russell
film Women in Love
with Oliver Reed
and Glenda Jackson
.
Bates went on to star in The Go-Between
, An Unmarried Woman
, Nijinsky
, and The Rose
with Bette Midler
, as well as playing varied roles in television drama, including The Mayor of Casterbridge
, Harold Pinter
's The Collection
, A Voyage Round My Father
, An Englishman Abroad
(as Guy Burgess
), and Pack of Lies
. He also continued to appear on the stage, notably in the plays of Simon Gray
, such as Butley
and Otherwise Engaged
.
, Derby
, England
, on 17 February 1934, the eldest of three sons of Florence Mary (née
Wheatcroft), a housewife and a pianist, and Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance broker and a cellist, who lived in
Allestree
, Derby at the time. The family briefly moved to Mickleover
, then returned to Allestree.
Both of his parents were amateur musicians, and encouraged him to pursue music, but by age 11, young Bates already had determined his life's course as an actor, and so they sent him for dramatic coaching instead. He also saw productions at Derby's Little Theatre.
He was educated at the Herbert Strutt Grammar School (amalgamated in 1973 with two secondary modern schools and renamed Belper High School, which has now become Belper School
although the former buildings are now the Herbert Strutt primary school) on Thornhill Avenue in Belper
, Derbyshire
and later earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London
, where he studied with Albert Finney
and Peter O'Toole
, before leaving to join the RAF
for National Service
at RAF Newton
.
.
In 1956, Bates debuted in London in the West End
as Cliff in Look Back in Anger
, a role he had originated at the Royal Court
and which made him a star. He also played the role on television (for the ITV Playhouse) and on Broadway. In the late 1950s, he appeared in several plays for television in Britain. In 1960, he appeared in The Entertainer
opposite Laurence Olivier
, his first film role. Bates worked for the Padded Wagon Moving Company in the early 1960s while acting at the Circle in the Square Theater in New York City
. Throughout the 1960s he starred in several major films including Whistle Down the Wind
(1961), A Kind of Loving
(1962), Zorba the Greek
(1964), Philippe de Broca
's King of Hearts
(1966), Georgy Girl
(1966), Far From the Madding Crowd
(1967), and in the Bernard Malamud
film The Fixer
(1968), which gave him an Academy Award
nomination for Best Actor
. In 1969, he starred in Women in Love
.
Bates was handpicked by director John Schlesinger
(with whom he had previously worked on Far From The Madding Crowd) to star in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday
(1971) in the role of Dr. Daniel Hirsh. Bates was held up filming The Go-Between
(1970) for director Joseph Losey
, and had also become a father around that time, and so he had to pass on the project. (The part then went first to Ian Bannen
, who balked at kissing and simulating sex with another man, and then to Peter Finch
, who earned an Academy Award nomination for the role.)
Around this time he appeared as Col. Vershinin in the National Theatre
's film of Three Sisters, directed by and co-starring Laurence Olivier
.
Bates continued to work in film and television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and starred in such international films as An Unmarried Woman
(1978), Nijinsky
(1980), and also played Bette Midler
's ruthless business manager in the 1979 film The Rose
. On television, his parts ranged from classic roles such as 1978's The Mayor of Casterbridge
(his favourite role he said), in the Laurence Olivier Presents
episode of Harold Pinter
's The Collection
(1976), A Voyage Round My Father
(1982) working again with Laurence Olivier, An Englishman Abroad
(1983) (playing Guy Burgess
), and Pack of Lies
(1987) (in which he played a British Secret Service agent tracking several Soviet spies). He continued working in film and television in the 1990s, including the role of Claudius in Mel Gibson's version of Hamlet
(1990), though most of his roles in this era were more low-key.
In 2001, Bates joined an all-star cast in Robert Altman
's critically acclaimed period drama Gosford Park
, in which he played the butler
Jennings. He later played Antonius Agrippa in the 2004 TV film Spartacus
, but died before it debuted. The film was dedicated to his memory and that of writer Howard Fast
, who wrote the original novel that inspired the film Spartacus
by Stanley Kubrick
.
On stage, Bates had a particular association with the plays of Simon Gray
, appearing in Butley, Otherwise Engaged
, Stage Struck, Melon, Life Support and Simply Disconnected, as well as the film of Butley and Gray's TV series Unnatural Pursuits. In Otherwise Engaged, Bates' co-star was Ian Charleson
, who became a good friend, and Bates later contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
Bates was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1996, and was knighted
in 2003. He was an Associate Member of RADA
and was a patron of The Actors Centre, Covent Garden, London from 1994 until his death in 2003.
from 1970 until her death from a wasting disease in 1992, although they had separated many years earlier. They had twin sons born in November 1970, the actors Benedick Bates
and Tristan Bates. Tristan died following an asthma attack in Tokyo
in 1990. Bates had numerous homosexual relationships throughout his life, including those with actors Nickolas Grace
and Peter Wyngarde
, and Olympic skater John Curry
. In 1994 Curry died from AIDS
in Bates's arms. Even when homosexuality was partially decriminalised in Britain in 1967, Bates rigorously avoided interviews and questions about his personal life, and even denied to his lovers that there was a gay component in his nature. Throughout his life Bates sought to be regarded as a ladies' man or at least as a man who, as an actor, could appear attractive to and attracted by women. He let this part of his life appear as he played the role of the sexually frustrated Rupert in the 1970 film Women in Love
.
In the later years of his life, Bates's companion was his lifelong friend, actress Joanna Pettet
, his co-star in the 1964 Broadway play Poor Richard. They divided their time between New York
and London
.
Bates died of pancreatic cancer
in 2003.
's 2007 book, Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates, is the only authorized biography of Alan Bates. It was written with the full and complete cooperation of his son Benedick Bates
and Bates's younger brother Martin, and includes more than one hundred interviews with people such as Michael Linnit and Rosalind Chatto.
, in memory of his son, Tristan, who died at the age of 19. Tristan's twin brother, Benedick
, is a vice-director.
accessdate=September 3, 2010}}
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(17 February 193427 December 2003) was an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind
Whistle Down the Wind (film)
Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:...
to the "kitchen sink" drama
Kitchen sink realism
Kitchen sink realism is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement which developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose 'heroes' usually could be described as angry young men...
A Kind of Loving
A Kind of Loving (film)
A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in 1960s West Yorkshire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer...
. He is also known for his tour-de-force with Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
, Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts
King of Hearts (1966 film)
King of Hearts is a 1966 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe de Broca and starring Alan Bates....
, Georgy Girl
Georgy Girl
Georgy Girl is a 1966 British film based on a novel by Margaret Forster. The film was directed by Silvio Narizzano and starred Lynn Redgrave as Georgy, Alan Bates, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling and Bill Owen....
, Far From the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
, and The Fixer
The Fixer (film)
The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud.-Plot:Like the book, the film's main character Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, who was unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice and the charge of having...
, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. In 1969, he starred in the Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
film Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
with Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
and Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
.
Bates went on to star in The Go-Between
The Go-Between (film)
The Go-Between is Harold Pinter's 1970 film adaptation of the novel by L. P. Hartley. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dominic Guard , Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave, Michael Gough and Edward Fox.Pinter's screenplay—his final collaboration...
, An Unmarried Woman
An Unmarried Woman
An Unmarried Woman is a 1978 American comedy-drama film that tells the story of the wealthy New York wife Erica Benton whose “perfect” life is shattered when her stockbroker husband Martin leaves her for a younger woman. The film documents Erica's attempts at being single again, where she suffers...
, Nijinsky
Nijinsky (film)
Nijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler, whose screenplay centers on the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky, used the legendary dancer's personal diaries and his wife's 1933 book Life of Nijinsky as his primary source materials.-Synopsis:The film...
, and The Rose
The Rose (film)
The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film which tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock star who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager...
with Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, as well as playing varied roles in television drama, including The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge , subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge . The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England...
, Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's The Collection
The Collection (play)
The Collection is a 1961 play by Harold Pinter featuring two couples, James and Stella and Harry and Bill. It is a comedy laced with typically "Pinteresque" ambiguity and "implications of threat and strong feeling produced through colloquial language, apparent triviality, and long pauses"...
, A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father is an autobiographical play by John Mortimer, later adapted for television.The first version of the play appeared as a series of three half-hour sketches for BBC radio in 1963. It then became a television play with Ian Richardson playing Mortimer, Tim Good as the young...
, An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess , a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6...
(as Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
), and Pack of Lies
Pack of Lies
Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore.Based on a true story, the plot centres on Bob and Barbara Jackson and their teenage daughter Julie The Jacksons are friendly with their neighbours, Peter and Helen Kroger, until the couple is...
. He also continued to appear on the stage, notably in the plays of Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
, such as Butley
Butley (film)
Butley is a 1973 film directed by Harold Pinter, an adaptation from Simon Gray's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Engel, and Michael Byrne....
and Otherwise Engaged
Otherwise Engaged
Otherwise Engaged is a bleakly comic play by English playwright Simon Gray. The play previewed at the Oxford Playhouse and the Richmond Theatre, and then opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 10 July 1975, with Alan Bates as the star and Harold Pinter as director, produced by Michael Codron....
.
Early life
Bates was born at the Queen Mary Nursing Home, Darley AbbeyDarley Abbey
Darley Abbey is a village on the outskirts of Derby, England. The village is located on the River Derwent and is associated with the world heritage site of Derwent Valley Mills.- History :...
, Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on 17 February 1934, the eldest of three sons of Florence Mary (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Wheatcroft), a housewife and a pianist, and Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance broker and a cellist, who lived in
Allestree
Allestree
-Climate:Due to its location in southern Derbyshire, Allestree has a temperate climate with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature range of 11.4 °C to 21.3 °C, and the coolest month is January, with a range of...
, Derby at the time. The family briefly moved to Mickleover
Mickleover
Mickleover is a suburb located two miles west of the city centre and is the most westerly suburb of the City of Derby in the United Kingdom.-History:...
, then returned to Allestree.
Both of his parents were amateur musicians, and encouraged him to pursue music, but by age 11, young Bates already had determined his life's course as an actor, and so they sent him for dramatic coaching instead. He also saw productions at Derby's Little Theatre.
He was educated at the Herbert Strutt Grammar School (amalgamated in 1973 with two secondary modern schools and renamed Belper High School, which has now become Belper School
Belper School
Belper School and Sixth Form Centre is a comprehensive school located in the town of Belper, Derbyshire, England. It has Foundation School status and is a specialist Technology College. In 2007, Ofsted reported that it was a 'good' school, while in 2009 it was deemed 'satisfactory' due to a dip in...
although the former buildings are now the Herbert Strutt primary school) on Thornhill Avenue in Belper
Belper
Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.-Geography:Belper is situated eight miles north of Derby and is centred in the valley of the River Derwent...
, Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
and later earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he studied with Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
and Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, before leaving to join the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
for National Service
Conscription in the United Kingdom
Conscription in the United Kingdom has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960, with the last conscripted soldiers leaving the service in 1963...
at RAF Newton
RAF Newton
RAF Newton was a Royal Air Force station, 7 miles east of Nottingham, England. It was used briefly as a bomber base and then as a flying training school during World War II....
.
Career
Bates' stage debut was in 1955, in You and Your Wife, in CoventryCoventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...
.
In 1956, Bates debuted in London in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
as Cliff in Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
, a role he had originated at the Royal Court
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
and which made him a star. He also played the role on television (for the ITV Playhouse) and on Broadway. In the late 1950s, he appeared in several plays for television in Britain. In 1960, he appeared in The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
opposite Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, his first film role. Bates worked for the Padded Wagon Moving Company in the early 1960s while acting at the Circle in the Square Theater in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Throughout the 1960s he starred in several major films including Whistle Down the Wind
Whistle Down the Wind (film)
Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:...
(1961), A Kind of Loving
A Kind of Loving (film)
A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in 1960s West Yorkshire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer...
(1962), Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek
Zorba the Greek is a 1964 film based on the novel Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis. The film was directed by Cypriot Michael Cacoyannis and the title character was played by Anthony Quinn...
(1964), Philippe de Broca
Philippe de Broca
Philippe de Broca was a French film director.Born Philippe Claude Alex de Broca de Ferrussac in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, the son of a photographer of noble origins. de Broca was a cinephile from an early age, and he studied at the l'École technique de photographie et de cinématographie...
's King of Hearts
King of Hearts (1966 film)
King of Hearts is a 1966 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe de Broca and starring Alan Bates....
(1966), Georgy Girl
Georgy Girl
Georgy Girl is a 1966 British film based on a novel by Margaret Forster. The film was directed by Silvio Narizzano and starred Lynn Redgrave as Georgy, Alan Bates, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling and Bill Owen....
(1966), Far From the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
(1967), and in the Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud
Bernard Malamud was an author of novels and short stories. Along with Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, he was one of the great American Jewish authors of the 20th century. His baseball novel, The Natural, was adapted into a 1984 film starring Robert Redford...
film The Fixer
The Fixer (film)
The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud.-Plot:Like the book, the film's main character Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, who was unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice and the charge of having...
(1968), which gave him an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nomination for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. In 1969, he starred in Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
.
Bates was handpicked by director John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
(with whom he had previously worked on Far From The Madding Crowd) to star in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday
Sunday Bloody Sunday (film)
Sunday Bloody Sunday is a 1971 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Murray Head, Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch. It tells the story of a free-spirited young bisexual artist and his simultaneous relationships with a female recruitment consultant and a male Jewish doctor...
(1971) in the role of Dr. Daniel Hirsh. Bates was held up filming The Go-Between
The Go-Between (film)
The Go-Between is Harold Pinter's 1970 film adaptation of the novel by L. P. Hartley. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dominic Guard , Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave, Michael Gough and Edward Fox.Pinter's screenplay—his final collaboration...
(1970) for director Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
, and had also become a father around that time, and so he had to pass on the project. (The part then went first to Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen
Ian Bannen was a Scottish character actor and occasional leading man.-Early life and career:Bannen was born in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the son of Clare and John James Bannen, a lawyer. Bannen served in the British Army after attending St Aloysius' College, Glasgow and Ratcliffe College,...
, who balked at kissing and simulating sex with another man, and then to Peter Finch
Peter Finch
Peter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
, who earned an Academy Award nomination for the role.)
Around this time he appeared as Col. Vershinin in the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
's film of Three Sisters, directed by and co-starring Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
.
Bates continued to work in film and television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and starred in such international films as An Unmarried Woman
An Unmarried Woman
An Unmarried Woman is a 1978 American comedy-drama film that tells the story of the wealthy New York wife Erica Benton whose “perfect” life is shattered when her stockbroker husband Martin leaves her for a younger woman. The film documents Erica's attempts at being single again, where she suffers...
(1978), Nijinsky
Nijinsky (film)
Nijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler, whose screenplay centers on the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky, used the legendary dancer's personal diaries and his wife's 1933 book Life of Nijinsky as his primary source materials.-Synopsis:The film...
(1980), and also played Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
's ruthless business manager in the 1979 film The Rose
The Rose (film)
The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film which tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock star who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager...
. On television, his parts ranged from classic roles such as 1978's The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Mayor of Casterbridge , subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge . The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England...
(his favourite role he said), in the Laurence Olivier Presents
Laurence Olivier Presents
Laurence Olivier Presents is a British television series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978.The plays, with the exception of Hindle Wakes, all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on productions staged at the National Theatre during the period when Olivier was...
episode of Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's The Collection
The Collection (play)
The Collection is a 1961 play by Harold Pinter featuring two couples, James and Stella and Harry and Bill. It is a comedy laced with typically "Pinteresque" ambiguity and "implications of threat and strong feeling produced through colloquial language, apparent triviality, and long pauses"...
(1976), A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father is an autobiographical play by John Mortimer, later adapted for television.The first version of the play appeared as a series of three half-hour sketches for BBC radio in 1963. It then became a television play with Ian Richardson playing Mortimer, Tim Good as the young...
(1982) working again with Laurence Olivier, An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad
An Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess , a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6...
(1983) (playing Guy Burgess
Guy Burgess
Guy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
), and Pack of Lies
Pack of Lies
Pack of Lies is a 1983 play by English writer Hugh Whitemore.Based on a true story, the plot centres on Bob and Barbara Jackson and their teenage daughter Julie The Jacksons are friendly with their neighbours, Peter and Helen Kroger, until the couple is...
(1987) (in which he played a British Secret Service agent tracking several Soviet spies). He continued working in film and television in the 1990s, including the role of Claudius in Mel Gibson's version of Hamlet
Hamlet (1990 film)
Hamlet is a 1990 drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. It was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, with Mel Gibson as the young Prince Hamlet...
(1990), though most of his roles in this era were more low-key.
In 2001, Bates joined an all-star cast in Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's critically acclaimed period drama Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
, in which he played the butler
Butler
A butler is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for the entire house and its...
Jennings. He later played Antonius Agrippa in the 2004 TV film Spartacus
Spartacus (2004 film)
Spartacus is a 2004 North American Movie directed by Robert Dornhelm and produced by Ted Kurdyla from a teleplay by Robert Schenkkan. It stars Goran Visjnic, Alan Bates, Angus Macfadyen, Rhona Mitra, Ian McNeice, Ross Kemp and Ben Cross. It is based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
, but died before it debuted. The film was dedicated to his memory and that of writer Howard Fast
Howard Fast
Howard Melvin Fast was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E. V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson.-Early life:Fast was born in New York City...
, who wrote the original novel that inspired the film Spartacus
Spartacus (film)
Spartacus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
by Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
.
On stage, Bates had a particular association with the plays of Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
, appearing in Butley, Otherwise Engaged
Otherwise Engaged
Otherwise Engaged is a bleakly comic play by English playwright Simon Gray. The play previewed at the Oxford Playhouse and the Richmond Theatre, and then opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 10 July 1975, with Alan Bates as the star and Harold Pinter as director, produced by Michael Codron....
, Stage Struck, Melon, Life Support and Simply Disconnected, as well as the film of Butley and Gray's TV series Unnatural Pursuits. In Otherwise Engaged, Bates' co-star was Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...
, who became a good friend, and Bates later contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.
Bates was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(CBE) in 1996, and was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 2003. He was an Associate Member of RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
and was a patron of The Actors Centre, Covent Garden, London from 1994 until his death in 2003.
Personal life
Bates was married to Victoria WardVictoria Ward
Victoria Ward was an English actress. She was married to the actor Sir Alan Bates from 1970 until her premature death from a heart attack in 1992....
from 1970 until her death from a wasting disease in 1992, although they had separated many years earlier. They had twin sons born in November 1970, the actors Benedick Bates
Benedick Bates
Benedick Bates is a British actor.The son of actor Alan Bates and actress Victoria Ward, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art....
and Tristan Bates. Tristan died following an asthma attack in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in 1990. Bates had numerous homosexual relationships throughout his life, including those with actors Nickolas Grace
Nickolas Grace
Nickolas Grace is a British actor known for his roles on television, including Anthony Blanche in the acclaimed ITV adaptation of Brideshead Revisited and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1980s series Robin of Sherwood...
and Peter Wyngarde
Peter Wyngarde
Peter Paul Wyngarde is an Anglo-French actor best known for playing the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two British television series in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Department S and Jason King .-Biography:He was born Cyril Goldbert in Marseilles, France, the...
, and Olympic skater John Curry
John Curry
John Anthony Curry, OBE was a British figure skater. He was the 1976 Olympic and World Champion. He was famous for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating.-Early life:...
. In 1994 Curry died from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in Bates's arms. Even when homosexuality was partially decriminalised in Britain in 1967, Bates rigorously avoided interviews and questions about his personal life, and even denied to his lovers that there was a gay component in his nature. Throughout his life Bates sought to be regarded as a ladies' man or at least as a man who, as an actor, could appear attractive to and attracted by women. He let this part of his life appear as he played the role of the sexually frustrated Rupert in the 1970 film Women in Love
Women in Love (film)
Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
.
In the later years of his life, Bates's companion was his lifelong friend, actress Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet is a British actress.-Biography:Her parents, Harold Nigel Edgerton Salmon, a British Royal Air Force pilot killed in World War II, and mother, Cecily J. Tremaine, were married in London in 1940...
, his co-star in the 1964 Broadway play Poor Richard. They divided their time between New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Bates died of pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
in 2003.
Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates
The posthumous publication of Donald SpotoDonald Spoto
Donald Spoto is an American celebrity biographer, Catholic theologian, and former monk. He is best known for his best-selling biographies of film and theatre celebrities such as Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Ingrid Bergman, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly,...
's 2007 book, Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates, is the only authorized biography of Alan Bates. It was written with the full and complete cooperation of his son Benedick Bates
Benedick Bates
Benedick Bates is a British actor.The son of actor Alan Bates and actress Victoria Ward, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art....
and Bates's younger brother Martin, and includes more than one hundred interviews with people such as Michael Linnit and Rosalind Chatto.
Tristan Bates Theatre
Bates and his family set up the Tristan Bates Theatre at the Actors' Centre in Covent GardenCovent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, in memory of his son, Tristan, who died at the age of 19. Tristan's twin brother, Benedick
Benedick Bates
Benedick Bates is a British actor.The son of actor Alan Bates and actress Victoria Ward, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art....
, is a vice-director.
Selected filmography
- It's Never too LateIt's Never Too Late (1956 film)It's Never Too Late is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Michael McCarthy and starring Phyllis Calvert, Patrick Barr, Susan Stephen and Guy Rolfe...
(1956) - The EntertainerThe Entertainer (film)The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
(1960) - Whistle Down the WindWhistle Down the Wind (film)Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British film, directed by Bryan Forbes, screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, from the novel by Mary Hayley Bell.-Plot:...
(1961) - A Kind of LovingA Kind of Loving (film)A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in 1960s West Yorkshire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer...
(1962) - The CaretakerThe Caretaker (film)The Caretaker is a 1963 British drama film directed by Clive Donner and based on the Harold Pinter play of the same name. It was entered into the 13th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize....
(1963) - The Running ManThe Running Man (1963 film)The Running Man is a 1963 British drama film directed by Carol Reed, starring Laurence Harvey as a man who fakes his own death in a glider accident, then runs into trouble when an insurance investigator starts taking a close interest....
(1963) - Zorba the Greek (1964)
- Nothing But the Best (1964)
- Once Upon a Tractor (1965)
- Georgy GirlGeorgy GirlGeorgy Girl is a 1966 British film based on a novel by Margaret Forster. The film was directed by Silvio Narizzano and starred Lynn Redgrave as Georgy, Alan Bates, James Mason, Charlotte Rampling and Bill Owen....
(1966) - Roi de coeur, LeKing of Hearts (1966 film)King of Hearts is a 1966 French comedy-drama film directed by Philippe de Broca and starring Alan Bates....
(1966) (AKA "King of Hearts") - Far From the Madding CrowdFar from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
(1967) - The FixerThe Fixer (film)The Fixer is a 1968 British drama film based on the 1966 semi-biographical novel of the same name, written by Bernard Malamud.-Plot:Like the book, the film's main character Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, who was unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice and the charge of having...
(1968) - Women in LoveWomen in Love (film)Women in Love is a 1969 British film directed by Ken Russell. It stars Alan Bates , Oliver Reed, Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden. The film was adapted by Larry Kramer from the novel of the same name by D. H. Lawrence....
(1969) - Three Sisters (1970)
- The Go-BetweenThe Go-Between (film)The Go-Between is Harold Pinter's 1970 film adaptation of the novel by L. P. Hartley. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dominic Guard , Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave, Michael Gough and Edward Fox.Pinter's screenplay—his final collaboration...
(1970) - A Day in the Death of Joe EggA Day in the Death of Joe EggA Day in the Death of Joe Egg is a 1967 play by English playwright Peter Nichols, first staged at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland before transferring to London's West End theatres in 1968.-Plot summary:Characters* Bri* Grace* Joe* Freddie...
(1972) - Story of a Love StoryStory of a Love StoryStory of a Love Story, also known as Impossible Object, is a 1973 drama film starring Alan Bates and Dominique Sanda. It was directed by John Frankenheimer and based on a novel by Nicholas Mosley...
(1973) - ButleyButley (film)Butley is a 1973 film directed by Harold Pinter, an adaptation from Simon Gray's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Engel, and Michael Byrne....
(1974) - In CelebrationIn CelebrationIn Celebration is a 1975 film directed by Lindsay Anderson. It is based in the 1969 stage production of the same name by David Storey which was also directed by Anderson. The movie was meant to be shown theatrically with tickets sold in advance....
(1975) - Royal FlashRoyal Flash (film)Royal Flash is a 1975 film based on George MacDonald Fraser's second Flashman novel, Royal Flash. It starred Malcolm McDowell as Flashman. Oliver Reed appeared in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan played Lola Montez...
(1975) - An Unmarried WomanAn Unmarried WomanAn Unmarried Woman is a 1978 American comedy-drama film that tells the story of the wealthy New York wife Erica Benton whose “perfect” life is shattered when her stockbroker husband Martin leaves her for a younger woman. The film documents Erica's attempts at being single again, where she suffers...
(1978) - The ShoutThe ShoutThe Shout is a 1978 British horror film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, based on a short story by Robert Graves which was adapted for the screen by Michael Austin...
(1978) - The RoseThe Rose (film)The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film which tells the story of a self-destructive 1960s rock star who struggles to cope with the constant pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager...
(1979) - NijinskyNijinsky (film)Nijinsky is a 1980 American biographical film directed by Herbert Ross. Hugh Wheeler, whose screenplay centers on the later life and career of Vaslav Nijinsky, used the legendary dancer's personal diaries and his wife's 1933 book Life of Nijinsky as his primary source materials.-Synopsis:The film...
(1980) - Very Like a Whale (1981)
- Rece do góryRęce do góryRęce do góry is a Polish drama film directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. It is the fourth of a series of semi-autobiographical films in which Skolimowski himself plays his alter ego, Andrzej Leszczyc.The film was originally made in 1967 in monochrome...
(1981) - The TrespasserThe TrespasserThe Trespasser is an American film directed and written by Edmund Goulding, starring Gloria Swanson, Robert Ames, Purnell Pratt, Henry B...
(1981) - QuartetQuartet (1981 film)Quartet is a 1981 Merchant Ivory Film, starring Isabelle Adjani, Maggie Smith, Anthony Higgins and Alan Bates, set in 1924 Paris. It premiered at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival and was an entry for the Selection Officielle...
(1981) - The Return of the SoldierThe Return of the Soldier (film)The Return of the Soldier is a 1982 British film starring Alan Bates as Baldry and co-starring Julie Christie, Ian Holm, Glenda Jackson, and Ann-Margret about a shell-shocked officer's return from the First World War....
(1982) - Britannia HospitalBritannia HospitalBritannia Hospital is a 1982 black comedy film by British director Lindsay Anderson which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society...
(1982) - A Voyage Round My FatherA Voyage Round My FatherA Voyage Round My Father is an autobiographical play by John Mortimer, later adapted for television.The first version of the play appeared as a series of three half-hour sketches for BBC radio in 1963. It then became a television play with Ian Richardson playing Mortimer, Tim Good as the young...
(1982) - Separate Tables (1983)
- An Englishman AbroadAn Englishman AbroadAn Englishman Abroad is a 1983 BBC television drama, based on the true story of a chance meeting of an actress, Coral Browne, with Guy Burgess , a member of the Cambridge spy ring who worked for the Soviet Union whilst with MI6...
(1983) - The Wicked LadyThe Wicked Lady (1983 film)The Wicked Lady is a 1983 British drama film directed by Michael Winner. It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. It is a remake of the 1945 film of the same name, which was one of the popular series of Gainsborough melodramas....
(1983) - Dr. Fischer of Geneva (1985)
- Duet for OneDuet for OneDuet for One is a film adapted from an award-winning British play, a two-hander by Tom Kempinski, about a world-famous concert violinist named Stephanie Anderson who is suddenly struck with multiple sclerosis. It is set in London and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky...
(1986) - A Prayer for the DyingA Prayer for the DyingA Prayer for the Dying is a 1987 thriller film about a former IRA member trying to escape his past. The film was directed by Mike Hodges, and stars Mickey Rourke, Liam Neeson, Bob Hoskins, and Alan Bates...
(1987) - We Think the World of You (1988)
- Force majeure (1989)
- The Dog It Was That DiedThe Dog it was that DiedThe Dog It Was That Died is a play by the British playwright Tom Stoppard.Written for BBC Radio in 1982, it concerns the dilemma faced by a spy over whom he actually works for. The play was also adapted for television by Stoppard, and broadcast in 1988....
(1989) - Mister FrostMister FrostMister Frost is a 1990 psychological thriller film starring Jeff Goldblum. The film was directed by French filmmaker Philippe Setbon, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Derry Hall, Brad Lynch and Louise Vincent.-Synopsis:...
(1990) - 102 Boulevard Haussmann (1990)
- HamletHamlet (1990 film)Hamlet is a 1990 drama film based on the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet. It was directed by Franco Zeffirelli, with Mel Gibson as the young Prince Hamlet...
(1990) - Dr. MDr. M (film)Dr. M. is a 1990 film co-written and directed by Claude Chabrol. The film is a remake of 1922's Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler, which was in turn based on Mabuse der Spieler by Norbert Jacques.-Plot:...
(1990) - ShuttlecockShuttlecock (film)Shuttlecock is a 1991 French-British drama film directed by Andrew Piddington and starring Alan Bates, Lambert Wilson and Kenneth Haigh. It is based on the 1982 novel Shuttlecock by Graham Swift.-Cast:* Alan Bates - Major James Prentis VC...
(1991) - Secret FriendsSecret FriendsSecret Friends is a 1991 British drama films directed by Dennis Potter and starring Alan Bates, Gina Bellman and Ian McNeice. It was based on the novel Ticket to Ride by Dennis Potter...
(1991) - Losing Track (1992)
- Silent TongueSilent TongueSilent Tongue is a Western written and directed by Sam Shepard. It was filmed in Spring 1992, but not released until 1994. It was filmed near Roswell, New Mexico and features Richard Harris, Sheila Tousey, Alan Bates, Dermot Mulroney and River Phoenix....
(1994) - The GrotesqueThe Grotesque (film)The Grotesque is a 1995 British film by John-Paul Davidson, adapted from the 1989 novel by Patrick McGrath...
(1995) - Oliver's TravelsOliver's TravelsOliver's Travels is a five-part television miniseries written by Alan Plater and starring Alan Bates, Sinéad Cusack, Bill Paterson, and Miles Anderson. It first aired in the UK in 1995....
(1995) - Nicholas' GiftNicholas' GiftNichola's Gift is a 1998 television film directed by Robert Markowitz. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Alan Bates. Curtis was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance.-Cast:*Jamie Lee Curtis as Maggie Green*Alan Bates as Reg Green...
(1998) - The Cherry OrchardThe Cherry Orchard (film)The Cherry Orchard is a 1999 drama film directed by Mihalis Kakogiannis and starring Charlotte Rampling, Alan Bates and Owen Teale. It was based on the 1904 play The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov...
(1999) - The Prince and the Pauper (2000)
- Arabian Nights (2000)
- St. Patrick: The Irish LegendSt. Patrick: The Irish LegendSt. Patrick: The Irish Legend is a 2000 historical drama film about the life of St. Patrick Who was born in England., the man who brought Christianity to Ireland.-Cast:* Patrick Bergin as St. Patrick* Malcolm McDowell as Quentin...
(2000) - In the BeginningIn the Beginning (2000 film)In the Beginning is a 2-part miniseries directed by Kevin Connor. It stars Martin Landau and Jacqueline Bisset and it premiered on NBC on 12 November 2000.-Plot:...
(2000) - Gosford ParkGosford ParkGosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
(2001) - Love in a Cold Climate (2001)
- Bertie and Elizabeth (2002)
- The Sum of All FearsThe Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
(2002) - The Mothman PropheciesThe Mothman Prophecies (film)The Mothman Prophecies is a 2002 psychological horror film directed by Mark Pellington, based on the 1975 book of the same name by parapsychologist and Fortean author John Keel. The screenplay was written by Richard Hatem...
(2002) - EvelynEvelyn (film)Evelyn is a 2002 drama film, loosely based on the true story of Desmond Doyle and his fight against the Irish courts to be reunited with his children. The film stars Sophie Vavasseur in the title role, Pierce Brosnan as her father and Aidan Quinn, Julianna Margulies and Stephen Rea as supporters to...
(2002) - Salem Witch Trials (2002)
- Hollywood NorthHollywood North (film)Hollywood North is a 2003 feature film, starring Matthew Modine and Jennifer Tilly. It is a mockumentary detailing the struggles of two Canadian movie producers in Toronto circa 1979.The title is a reference to the colloquialism "Hollywood North"....
(2003) - Meanwhile (2003)
- The Statement (2003)
- SpartacusSpartacus (2004 film)Spartacus is a 2004 North American Movie directed by Robert Dornhelm and produced by Ted Kurdyla from a teleplay by Robert Schenkkan. It stars Goran Visjnic, Alan Bates, Angus Macfadyen, Rhona Mitra, Ian McNeice, Ross Kemp and Ben Cross. It is based on the novel of the same name by Howard Fast...
(2004)
Other projects and contributions
- When Love SpeaksWhen Love SpeaksWhen Love Speaks is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April 2002.-Track listing:...
(2002, EMI ClassicsEMI ClassicsEMI Classics is a record label of EMI, formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases....
)—"Sonnet 66Sonnet 66Sonnet 66 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.-Synopsis:...
" ("Tired with all these, for restful death I cry")
Awards
- 2002 Best Actor Tony and Drama Desk, for Fortune's Fool
- 2000 Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award for Unexpected Man
- 1983 Variety Club Award for A Patriot for Me
- 1975 Variety Club Award for Otherwise Engaged
- 1971 Evening Standard Best Actor Award for Butley
- 1972 Best Actor Tony for Butley (a performance he recreated in the film version of the same name, ButleyButley (film)Butley is a 1973 film directed by Harold Pinter, an adaptation from Simon Gray's 1971 play of same name. The film starred Alan Bates, Jessica Tandy, Richard O'Callaghan, Susan Engel, and Michael Byrne....
in 1974) - 1959 Clarence Derwent Award for A Long Day's Journey Into Night
External links
accessdate=September 3, 2010}}