Alan Bates
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE (
February 17,
1934 â€"
December 27,
2003) was a
British actor.
Born in
Derbyshire, Bates earned a scholarship to the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in
London, where he studied before leaving to join the
Royal Air Force. In 1956, he debuted on stage in the
West End, starring in
Look Back in Anger, a role which made him a star. Four years later, he appeared in
The Entertainer, his first film role. He soon starred in
Whistle Down the Wind, and in the
Bernard Malamud film
The Fixer, which gave him an
Academy Award nomination for
Best Actor.
He was married to the actress
Victoria Ward from 1970 until her death of a suspected heart attack (following a wasting disease) in 1992; they had twin sons born in 1971: the actor Benedick Bates, and Tristan Bates (also an actor), who died of an asthma attack in Tokyo in 1990 at the age of 19.
He is the winner of two Tony Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. He won his first in 1973 for his role in
Butley. 29 years later, he won his second statuette for
Fortune's Fool, just one year before his death.
Bates starred in such international hit films as
Georgy Girl,
Far From the Madding Crowd,
Zorba the Greek,
The Go-Between,
An Unmarried Woman and
Women in Love, but he consciously decided to concentrate on a few well-defined roles, rather than to take everything that came his way. On television, his parts ranged from classic roles such as
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978) to
Guy Burgess in
An Englishman Abroad (1983) to the storyteller in the 2000 version of the
Arabian Nights.
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.
Bates was made a
Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1996, and was
knighted in 2003.
His companion at the end of his life was actress
Joanna Pettet; he died of pancreatic cancer in 2003 at the age of 69.
Bates played Antonius Agrippa in the 2004
History Channel miniseries, "Spartacus", but died before it debuted. It was dedicated to his memory and that of writer
Howard Fast, who wrote the
original novel that inspired the film
Spartacus by
Stanley Kubrick.
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The Alan Bates Archive
