Alan Bates
Acting • Born 1934-02-17 – Died 2003-12-27
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.
Filmography
98 credits
Hamlet
Movie • 1990
Claudius
Zorba the Greek
Movie • 1964
Basil
Far from the Madding Crowd
Movie • 1967
Gabriel Oak
The Mothman Prophecies
Movie • 2002
Alexander Leek
Gosford Park
Movie • 2001
Jennings
Nothing Like a Dame
Movie • 2018
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
Movie • 2020
Major James Prentis (archival footage)
Spartacus
Movie • 2004
Antonius Agrippa
Britannia Hospital
Movie • 1982
Macready
A Kind of Loving
Movie • 1962
Victor Arthur 'Vic' Brown
Whistle Down the Wind
Movie • 1961
The Man, Arthur Alan Blakey
A Prayer for the Dying
Movie • 1987
Jack Meehan
Mister Frost
Movie • 1990
Felix Detweiler
The Statement
Movie • 2003
Armand Bertier
Dr. M
Movie • 1990
Dr, Marsfeldt / Guru
The Go-Between
Movie • 1971
Ted Burgess
Georgy Girl
Movie • 1966
Jos Jones
The Prince and the Pauper
Movie • 2000
Re Enrico VIII
Losing Track
Movie • 1992
Henry Sitchell
The Rose
Movie • 1979
Rudge Campbell
An Unmarried Woman
Movie • 1978
Saul Kaplan
Bertie and Elizabeth
Movie • 2002
King George V
Women in Love
Movie • 1969
Rupert Birkin
A Voyage Round My Father
Movie • 1984
John Mortimer
Quartet
Movie • 1981
H.J. Heidler
King of Hearts
Movie • 1966
Charles Plumpick
The Grotesque
Movie • 1995
Sir Hugo Coal
The Entertainer
Movie • 1960
Frank Rice
Duet for One
Movie • 1986
David Cornwallis
Royal Flash
Movie • 1975
Rudi Von Sternberg
Hollywood North
Movie • 2004
Michael Baytes
The Fixer
Movie • 1968
Yakov Bok
The Caretaker
Movie • 1964
Mick
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Movie • 1972
Bri
Secret Friends
Movie • 1991
John
We Think the World of You
Movie • 1988
Frank Meadows
An Englishman Abroad
Movie • 1983
Guy Burgess
The Wicked Lady
Movie • 1983
Captain Jerry Jackson
Nothing But the Best
Movie • 1964
Jimmy Brewster
Separate Tables
Movie • 1983
John Malcolm / Maj. Pollock
The Running Man
Movie • 1963
Stephen
Silent Tongue
Movie • 1993
Eamon McCree
Butley
Movie • 1974
Ben Butley
In Celebration
Movie • 1975
Andrew Shaw
Nijinsky
Movie • 1980
Sergei Diaghilev
The Collection
Movie • 1976
James
Uncontrollable Circumstances
Movie • 1989
Malcolm Forrest
One for the Road
Movie • 1985
Nicholas
Impossible Object
Movie • 1973
Harry
102 Boulevard Haussmann
Movie • 1990
Marcel Proust
The Return of the Soldier
Movie • 1983
Captain Chris Baldry
Discovering Hamlet
Movie • 2011
Claudius (archive footage)
Nicholas’ Gift
Movie • 1998
Reg Green
Unnatural Pursuits
Movie • 1992
Hamish Partt
Hands Up!
Movie • 1985
Self (1981 footage)
Pack of Lies
Movie • 1987
Stewart
Very Like a Whale
Movie • 1981
Sir Jock Mellor
Three Sisters
Movie • 1970
Col. Vershinin
Hard Times
Movie • 1994
Josiah Bounderby
The Trespasser
Movie • 1981
Siegmund
Evelyn
Movie • 2002
Thomas Connolly
Salem Witch Trials
Movie • 2002
Sir William Phips
The Dog It Was That Died
Movie • 1989
Blair
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
Movie • 2000
Calpornius
Two Sundays
Movie • 1975
Charles
Plaintiffs and Defendants
Movie • 1975
Peter
The Sum of All Fears
Movie • 2002
Dressler
The Story of Jacob and Joseph
Movie • 1974
Narrator (voice)
Once Upon a Tractor
Movie • 1965
Joe Turrel
Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
Movie • 2001
Self
Second Best
Movie • 1972
Tom
Meanwhile
Movie • 2003
Father Peter
The Cherry Orchard
Movie • 1999
Gayev
Shuttlecock
Movie • 1993
Major James Prentis VC
The Shout
Movie • 1978
Charles Crossley
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Movie • 1984
Dr. Alfred Jones
The Making of Gosford Park
Movie • 2002
Self
Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
Movie • 1967
Himself
Look at Life: All in a Day's Work
Movie • 1969
Self
The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
Movie • 1988
John Fabian
Lionpower from MGM
Movie • 1967
Self - Gabriel Oak (archive footage) (uncredited)
Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
Movie • 2025
Archive
Celebrity Naked Ambition
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Laurence Olivier Presents
TV • 1976
The Ray Bradbury Theater
TV • 1985
John Fabian
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Stewart
Oliver's Travels
TV • 1995
Oliver
Pebble Mill
TV • 1991
Self
Arabian Nights
TV • 2000
Storyteller
The Mayor of Casterbridge
TV • 1978
Michael Henchard
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
Spartacus
TV • 2004
Antonius Agrippa
In the Beginning
TV • 2000
Jethro
Love in a Cold Climate
TV • 2001
Uncle Matthew
Great Performances
TV • 1971
James
Hard Times
TV • 1994
Josiah Bounderby
Unnatural Pursuits
TV • 1992
Hamish Partt
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self