Alan Bates
Biography
Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE (17 February 1934 – 27 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.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (40)
Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
as Archive
2025
Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
as Major James Prentis (archival footage)
2020
Nothing Like a Dame
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
2018
Discovering Hamlet
as Claudius (archive footage)
2011
Spartacus
as Antonius Agrippa
2004
Hollywood North
as Michael Baytes
2004
The Statement
as Armand Bertier
2003
Meanwhile
as Father Peter
2003
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003
Salem Witch Trials
as Sir William Phips
2002
Evelyn
as Thomas Connolly
2002
The Making of Gosford Park
as Self
2002
Bertie and Elizabeth
as King George V
2002
The Sum of All Fears
as Dressler
2002
The Mothman Prophecies
as Alexander Leek
2002
Gosford Park
as Jennings
2001
Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
as Self
2001
The Prince and the Pauper
as Re Enrico VIII
2000
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
as Calpornius
2000
The Cherry Orchard
as Gayev
1999
Nicholas’ Gift
as Reg Green
1998
The Grotesque
as Sir Hugo Coal
1995
Hard Times
as Josiah Bounderby
1994
Shuttlecock
as Major James Prentis VC
1993
Silent Tongue
as Eamon McCree
1993
Losing Track
as Henry Sitchell
1992
Unnatural Pursuits
as Hamish Partt
1992
Secret Friends
as John
1991
Hamlet
as Claudius
1990
102 Boulevard Haussmann
as Marcel Proust
1990
Dr. M
as Dr, Marsfeldt / Guru
1990
Mister Frost
as Felix Detweiler
1990
Uncontrollable Circumstances
as Malcolm Forrest
1989
The Dog It Was That Died
as Blair
1989
We Think the World of You
as Frank Meadows
1988
The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
as John Fabian
1988
A Prayer for the Dying
as Jack Meehan
1987
Pack of Lies
as Stewart
1987
Duet for One
as David Cornwallis
1986
One for the Road
as Nicholas
1985
TV Shows (10)
The Graham Norton Show
as Self
2007
Spartacus
as Antonius Agrippa
2004
Love in a Cold Climate
as Uncle Matthew
2001
In the Beginning
as Jethro
2000
Arabian Nights
as Storyteller
2000
Oliver's Travels
as Oliver
1995
Hard Times
as Josiah Bounderby
1994
Unnatural Pursuits
as Hamish Partt
1992
Pebble Mill
as Self
1991
The Ray Bradbury Theater
as John Fabian
1985