Alan Bates
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
"Alan Bates has it in his nature to play tormented and self-divided characters with emotional truth and technical finesse." --Peter Roberts' 1970 review of Bates's Hamlet (PLAYS AND PLAYERS)
Bates received the Best Actor Award from the Variety Club of Great Britain for his stage portrayals in "Otherwise Engaged" (1975) and "A Patriot for Me" (1983-84).
Biography
Versatile, good-looking British actor Alan Bates came to prominence as one of the chief proponents of the angry young man school, along with fellow RADA alums Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay. Since his London stage debut in "The Mulberry Bush" (1956), he has been closely associated with playwrights John Osborne, Harold Pinter and Simon Gray, both on the boards and in film. Bates originated the role of Cliff in Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" (1956) and made his Broadway debut the following year in the play. He won tremendous acclaim for his portrayal of Edmund Tyrone in a production of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" (1958) before making his feature debut in the film version of Osborne's "The Entertainer" (1960), starring Laurence Olivier. He then created the role of Mick in Pinter's "The Caretaker" (1960), playing it on Broadway (1961) and in the Clive Donner movie version (also known as "The Guest" 1964).
Bates flourished on the big screen during the 60s, establishing a long-standing relationship with director John Schlesinger ("A Kind of Loving" 1962, "Far From the Madding Crowd" 1967) and providing able support for Anthony Quinn in "Zorba the Greek" (1964) and Lynn Redgrave in "Georgy Girl" (1966). He starred in the stylish "King of Hearts" (1967), which has become a cult favorite, received his lone Best Actor Oscar nomination for John Frankenheimer's "The Fixer" (1968) and romped sans clothing in Ken Russell's adaptation of D H Lawrence's "Women in Love" (1969). Never one to allow too much time to pass before returning to the English stage, Bates interpreted the Bard during the early 70s, taking his turns as a well-received "Hamlet" (1970) and as Petruccio in His London Evening Standard Award for his portrayal of Simon Gray's "Butley" (1971) preceded the Tony and Drama Desk Awards he would win when he brought the play to NYC in 1972.
Bates starred opposite Julie Christie in Joseph Losey's "The Go-Between" (1971), renewing his association with screenwriter Pinter, reprised his award-winning role for Pinter's film version of "Butley" (1973) and delivered an outstanding performance as Jill Clayburgh's bearded lover in Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman" (1978). Since "The Return of the Hero" and Lindsay Anderson's "Brittania Hospital" (both 1982), his best feature work has been as Gary Oldman's lover in "We Think the World of You" (1988) and as Claudius in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet" (1990), starring Mel Gibson. Bates reteamed with Schlesinger for the TV-movies "An Englishman Abroad" (BBC, 1983) and "Separate Tables" (1984), winning a BAFTA Award as British spy Guy Burgess for the former. His other TV projects have included A&E's 1994 movie "Unnatural Pursuits" (screenplay by Gray), and the PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" production of Charles Dickens' "Hard Times" (1995). The West End production of "Life Support" (1997), directed by Pinter, marked his 11th collaboration with playwright Gray.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (Short)
Misc. Crew (Short)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1951
Served in the Royal Air Force (dates approximate)
1955
Joined Frank Dunlop's Midland Theatre Company, Coventry, England, where he stage-managed and made stage acting debut in "You and Your Wife"
1956
First film appearance, a one-minute impersonation of King Lear in "It's Never Too Late"
1956
Joined English Stage Society at the Royal Court in London (date approximate)
1956
London stage debut, "The Mulberry Bush"
1956
Played Cliff in the original production of John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger"
1957
Broadway debut, "Look Back in Anger"
1959
US TV debut, "Duel For Love"
1960
Feature film debut in movie version of Osborne's "The Entertainer"
1960
Originated part of Mick in Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" on the English stage
1961
Reprised "Caretaker" role on Broadway
1962
First collaboration with director John Schlesinger, "A Kind of Loving"
1964
Again reprised stage role in feature film "The Caretaker/The Guest", directed by Clive Donner
1964
Portrayed Anthony Quinn's intellectual British cohort in "Zorba the Greek"
1966
Played the lover who left Lynn Redgrave in the lurch in "Georgy Girl"
1967
Reteamed with Schlessinger for "Far From the Madding Crowd"; first screen teaming with Julie Christie
1968
Received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for John Frankenheimer's "The Fixer", adapted by Dalton Trumbo from the Bernard Malamud novel
1969
Engaged in now famous nude wrestling scene with Oliver Reed in Ken Russell's film adaptation of the D H Larwence novel "Women in Love"
1970
Interpreted title role of "Hamlet" on British stage
1971
Starred as farmer opposite aristocratic Julie Christie in Joseph Losey's "The Go-Between"; screenplay written by Harold Pinter
1972
Portrayed Petruccio in "The Taming of the Shrew" for the Royal Shakespeare Company
1973
Reprised Tony-winning role from Simon Gray's stage play "Butley" in film version directed by Pinter
1973
Reunited with Frankenheimer for "Impossible Object"
1975
First film with Lindsay Anderson, "In Celebration"
1978
Was outstanding as Jill Clayburgh's ultimate lover (after abandonment by weak-willed husband Michael Murphy) in Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman"
1982
Reteamed with director Anderson for "Brittania Hospital"
1982
Came home shell-shocked to wife Julie Christie after World War I in "The Return of the Soldier"
1983
Earned a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of exiled traitor Guy Burgess in "An Englishman Abroad", a TV-movie (BBC) directed by John Schlesinger
1984
Second TV film with Schlesinger, "Separate Tables" (HBO)
1990
Turned in a solid portrayal as King Claudius in Franco Zeffirelli's "Hamlet", starring Mel Gibson as the Melancholy Dane
1991
Portrayed Marcel Proust in A&E movie "102 Boulevard Haussman"
1994
Starred as obsessive English writer Hamish Partt in A&E movie "Unnatural Pursuits" (screenplay by Simon Gray)
1995
Played Josiah Bounderby in PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" production of Charles Dickens' "Hard Times"
1996
Appeared as Oliver in four-part "Oliver's Travels" for "Mystery!" (PBS)
1997
Embarked on West End Show "Life Support", his 11th collaboration with playwright Gray, directed by Pinter
1998
Starred opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in CBS movie "Reginald's Gift", the true story of Maggie and Reginald Green who donated the organs of their brain-dead son, enhancing or saving the lives of seven people
2000
Returned to the NYC stage in the Off-Broadway production of "The Unexpected Man"
2001
Gave a sterling performance as the head butler at "Gosford Park" in Robert Altman's ensemble murder mystery
2002
Returned to Broadway opposite Frank Langella in "Fortune's Fool"
2002
Appeared in the Tom Clancy thriller "The Sum of All Fears"
2002
Appeared in the Richard Gere thriller "Mothman Prophecies"
2003
featured in "The Statement" with Michael Caine
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Notes
"Alan Bates has it in his nature to play tormented and self-divided characters with emotional truth and technical finesse." --Peter Roberts' 1970 review of Bates's Hamlet (PLAYS AND PLAYERS)
Bates received the Best Actor Award from the Variety Club of Great Britain for his stage portrayals in "Otherwise Engaged" (1975) and "A Patriot for Me" (1983-84).
Both his wife Victoria and son Tristan died under tragic circumstances: "When people are alive they can be horrible to each other and let each other down, but that doesn't mean they don't love each other. You remember all the good things when they're gone, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that . . . as long as you keep your feet on the ground . . . I had pure ambition, but when terible things happen in your life, your priorities are changed--not sharply, but subtly and slowly. You think about somebody like Tristan and think he would probably have been an extremely good actor. I've already had 40 years and he wasn't allowed that, why should I have any more? And then you think, hey, wait a minute: he was one of the main inspirations of my life. I'm going to do it for him." --Alan Bates quoted in the London Times, August 3, 1997
