Sir Alan Bates | |
|---|---|
 Bates in 1975 | |
| Born | Alan Arthur Bates (1934-02-17)17 February 1934 |
| Died | 27 December 2003(2003-12-27) (aged 69) London, England |
| Education | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1956–2003 |
| Children | 2, includingBenedick |
Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the1960s, when he appeared in films ranging fromWhistle Down the Wind to thekitchen sink dramaA Kind of Loving.
Bates is also known for his performance withAnthony Quinn inZorba the Greek, as well as his roles inKing of Hearts,Georgy Girl,Far From the Madding Crowd andThe Fixer, for which he received anAcademy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in theKen Russell filmWomen in Love withOliver Reed andGlenda Jackson.
Bates went on to star inThe Go-Between,An Unmarried Woman,Nijinsky and inThe Rose withBette Midler, as well as many television dramas, includingThe Mayor of Casterbridge,Harold Pinter'sThe Collection,A Voyage Round My Father,An Englishman Abroad (asGuy Burgess) andPack of Lies. He also appeared on the stage, notably in the plays ofSimon Gray, such asButley andOtherwise Engaged.
Bates was born at the Queen Mary Nursing Home,Darley Abbey,Derby, England, on 17 February 1934, the eldest of three boys born to Florence Mary (née Wheatcroft), a housewife and a pianist, and Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance broker and a cellist.[1] They lived inAllestree, Derby, at the time of Bates's birth, but briefly moved toMickleover before returning to Allestree.
Both his parents were amateur musicians who encouraged Bates to pursue music. By the age of 11, having decided to become an actor, he studied drama instead.[2] He further developed his vocation by attending productions at Derby's Little Theatre.
Bates was educated at the Herbert Strutt Grammar School, Derby Road,Belper, Derbyshire (now "Strutts", a volunteer led business and community centre) and later gained a scholarship to theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he studied withAlbert Finney andPeter O'Toole, before leaving to join theRAF forNational Service atRAF Newton.
Bates's stage debut was in 1955, inYou and Your Wife, inCoventry.[3]
In 1956, Bates made his West End debut as Cliff inLook Back in Anger, a role he had originated at theRoyal Court and which made him a star. He also played the role on television (for theITV Play of the Week) and on Broadway. He also was a member of the 1967 acting company at theStratford Festival in Canada, playing the title role inRichard III.[4][5]
In the late 1950s, Bates appeared in several plays for television in Britain in shows such asITV Play of the Week,Armchair Theatre andITV Television Playhouse.
In 1960, Bates appeared as Giorgio in the final episode ofThe Four Just Men (TV series) entitled Treviso Dam.
Bates worked for thePadded Wagon Moving Company in the early 1960s while acting at theCircle in the Square Theatre in New York City.
Bates made his feature film debut inThe Entertainer (1960) oppositeLaurence Olivier,Joan Plowright,Albert Finney, and the rest of the ensemble cast. Bates played the lead in his second feature,Whistle Down the Wind (1961), oppositeHayley Mills and directed byBryan Forbes.[6] He followed it with the lead inA Kind of Loving (1962), directed byJohn Schlesinger in his film debut. Both films were very popular in the UK, with the latter earning him aBAFTA nomination for Best Actor and establishing Bates as a film star.[7] Some film critics cited the 1963 crime dramaThe Running Man as being one of Bates's finest performances.[citation needed] The film starredLaurence Harvey as a man who fakes his death andLee Remick as his increasingly conflicted wife, with Bates in the supporting role of Stephen Maddox, an insurance company investigator.
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Bates next co-starred in an adaptation ofHarold Pinter'sThe Caretaker (1963) along withDonald Pleasence andRobert Shaw. It was directed byClive Donner, who then madeNothing But the Best (1964) with Bates. He was the co-lead alongsideAnthony Quinn in the Academy Award-winning hitMichael Cacoyannis filmZorba the Greek (1964); the lead in a short film,Once Upon a Tractor (1965); and starred inPhilippe de Broca'sKing of Hearts (1966).
Bates also starred as the male lead oppositeLynn Redgrave as the titularGeorgy Girl (1966), which also featuredJames Mason andCharlotte Rampling in supporting roles. He was reunited with Schlesinger inFar From the Madding Crowd (1967), starringJulie Christie,Terence Stamp, andPeter Finch. For these two films, Bates earned himself three Golden Globe nominations:Best Comedy/Musical Actor andBest Male Newcomer; andBest Drama Actor the following ceremony, respectively.
In 1968, Bates starred alongsideDirk Bogarde andIan Holm in theJohn Frankenheimer filmThe Fixer (1968), adapted from theBernard Malamud novel based off the true story ofMenahem Mendel Beilis. It earned Bates anAcademy Award nomination forBest Actor, as well as another Golden Globe nomination. He followed that up withWomen in Love (1969), directed byKen Russell and co-starringOliver Reed andGlenda Jackson, in which Bates and Reed wrestled completely naked. The scene was groundbreaking fortaboos of the time, as it wasthe first studio film to ever feature full frontal male nudity.[8] Bates also earned another BAFTA nomination for Best Actor for his performance.
Following that success, he appeared as Col Vershinin in theNational Theatre's film ofThree Sisters, reuniting him with Olivier (who directed) and Plowight.[9] He was handpicked by director Schlesinger to play the male lead in the filmSunday Bloody Sunday (1971). However, he was preoccupied filmingThe Go-Between (1971) for directorJoseph Losey alongside Christie again, and had also become a father around that time, so thusly refused the role (which ultimately went to Finch opposite co-lead Jackson).
Bates starred in the film adaptation ofA Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) withJanet Suzman and produced and appeared in a short,Second Best (1972). He starred inStory of a Love Story (1973). He also starred in two adaptations of his successful theatrical roles: hisTony-winning role inButley (1974), as well asIn Celebration (1975). He was the villain inRoyal Flash (1975). He appeared alongsideSusannah York andJohn Hurt inThe Shout (1978); and oppositeJill Clayburgh inAn Unmarried Woman (1978). He also playedBette Midler's ruthless business manager in the filmThe Rose (1979).
Bates starred in the TV moviePiccadilly Circus (1977) andThe Mayor of Casterbridge (1978). In the latter he played Michael Henchard, the ultimately-disgraced lead, which he described as his favourite role. Bates played two diametrically opposed roles inAn Englishman Abroad (1983), asGuy Burgess, a gay member of the Cambridge spy ring exiled in Moscow, and inPack of Lies (1987), as a British Secret Service agent tracking several Soviet spies.
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His film roles this decade were more sparse, but includedHerbert Ross'sNijinsky (1980), in which he portrayed yet another role as both a closeted gay lover and a domineering mentor. The following year, he was part ofJames Ivory'sQuartet (1981), also starringMaggie Smith,Isabelle Adjani, andAnthony Higgins. Bates succeeded that withThe Return of the Soldier (1982), which reunited him withJulie Christie,Glenda Jackson, andIan Holm.The Wicked Lady (1983) teamed him up withFaye Dunaway but received poor reviews.
Bates then starred alongsideJulie Andrews as the husband of herviolinist who is stricken withmultiple sclerosis inDuet for One (1986). In theNorth IrishIRA thrillerA Prayer for the Dying (1987) from directorMike Hodges, he plays the mainantagonist oppositeMickey Rourke andBob Hoskins. And inWe Think the World of You (1988), he portrays the older lover of young convictGary Oldman—the latter of whom gets sent to jail and entrusts his beloved, mischievousGerman Shepherd (a.k.a. Alsatian) to the former's care.
Bates continued working in film and television in the 1990s, including the role of Claudius inFranco Zeffirelli's version ofHamlet (1990). In 2001 he joined an all-star cast inRobert Altman's critically acclaimed period dramaGosford Park, in which he played thebutler Jennings. He later played Antonius Agrippa in the 2004 TV filmSpartacus, but died before it premiered. The film was dedicated to his memory and that of writerHoward Fast, who wrote theoriginal novel that inspired the filmSpartacus byStanley Kubrick.
On stage, Bates had a particular association with the plays ofSimon Gray, appearing inButley,Otherwise Engaged,Stage Struck,Melon,Life Support, andSimply Disconnected, as well as the film ofButley and Gray's TV seriesUnnatural Pursuits. InOtherwise Engaged, his co-star wasIan Charleson, who became a friend, and Bates later contributed a chapter to a 1990 book on his colleague after Charleson's early death.[10]
Bates was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1995 Birthday Honours,[11] and wasknighted in the2003 New Year Honours, in both cases for services to drama.[12][13]He was an Associate Member of RADA,[citation needed] and was a patron of The Actors Centre,Covent Garden, London, from 1994 until his death in 2003.[14][15]
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Bates had numerous gay relationships, including long-term affairs with actorNickolas Grace and Olympic skaterJohn Curry, as detailed inDonald Spoto'sauthorised biographyOtherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates.[16]
Bates privately admitted to being bisexual or homosexual at different points in his life; Spoto characterised Bates's sexuality as ambiguous, stating, "He liked to appear publicly with women and cuddle with them privately. However, his serious romances and most passionate sexual life occurred with men. [...] In his private life, he wanted most of all to have one true and enduring relationship, to love and be loved by one faithful man."[17] Even after homosexuality was partially decriminalised in England in 1967, Bates rigorously avoided interviews and questions about his personal life, and even denied to his male lovers that there was a homosexual component in his nature.[18][16]
Bates was married to actress Valerie 'Victoria' Ward from 1970 until her death from a heart attack associated withwasting disease in 1992, though the two had separated early in their marriage around 1973.[19] They had twin sons, born in November 1970: the actorsBenedick Bates and Tristan Bates.[20] Tristan died following an ingestion of alcohol and either opium or heroin in Tokyo in 1990, devastating Bates.[21] In the later years of his life, Bates had a brief relationship with the Welsh actressAngharad Rees, though this faced the complexities of Bates' need for independence and predilection for male companionship.[22][21]
Throughout his life, Bates sought to be regarded as charming and charismatic, or at least as a man who, as an actor, could appear attractive to and attracted by women. He also chose some roles with an aspect of homosexuality or bisexuality, including the role of Rupert in the 1969 filmWomen in Love and the role of Frank in the 1988 filmWe Think the World of You.[16]
Following a battle withdiabetes and astroke, Bates died ofpancreatic cancer on 27 December 2003, after slipping into a coma.[23] He was buried atAll Saints' Church, Bradbourne in Derbyshire.[24] Bates bequeathed companion and actressJoanna Pettet £95,000 (equivalent to £189,712 in 2023) upon his death. The two had been friends since 1964, and Pettet provided support and companionship during his final months after he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2003. Pettet was quoted as saying: "It was a very touching gesture because he had done everything while he was in hospital to make sure I would be looked after following his death."[25]
Donald Spoto's 2007 book,Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates,[21] is a posthumous authorised biography of Alan Bates. It was written with the cooperation of his sonBenedick and brother Martin, and features more than one hundred interviews, including with Michael Linnit and Rosalind Chatto.
Bates and his family created the Tristan Bates Theatre at the Actors' Centre inCovent Garden, in memory of his son Tristan who died at the age of 19.[26] Tristan's twin brother,Benedick, is a vice-director.[27]
FILM:
STAGE:
TELEVISION:
‡Thismini-film was shown as part of a presentation on theanthology series,Screen Two.
Lord John Trevelyan: 'We had to consider this carefully, but decided to pass it; in a scene this was a milestone in censorship since male frontal nudity was still a rarity. We had little criticism, possibly because of the film's undoubted brilliance.'
