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.

Known For

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Graham Norton Show

Great Performances

Screen Two

The Wednesday Play

Screen One

The Ray Bradbury Theater

The Sum of All Fears

All Movies (83)

• Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders2025 · as Archive
• Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father2020 · as Major James Prentis (archival footage)
• Nothing Like a Dame2018 · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Discovering Hamlet2011 · as Claudius (archive footage)
• Spartacus2004 · as Antonius Agrippa
• Hollywood North2004 · as Michael Baytes
• The Statement2003 · as Armand Bertier
• Meanwhile2003 · as Father Peter
• Celebrity Naked Ambition2003 · as Self (archive footage)
• Salem Witch Trials2002 · as Sir William Phips
• Evelyn2002 · as Thomas Connolly
• The Making of Gosford Park2002 · as Self
• Bertie and Elizabeth2002 · as King George V
• The Sum of All Fears2002 · as Dressler
• The Mothman Prophecies2002 · as Alexander Leek
• Gosford Park2001 · as Jennings
• Anthony Quinn: The Final Words2001 · as Self
• The Prince and the Pauper2000 · as Re Enrico VIII
• St. Patrick: The Irish Legend2000 · as Calpornius
• The Cherry Orchard1999 · as Gayev
• Nicholas’ Gift1998 · as Reg Green
• The Grotesque1995 · as Sir Hugo Coal
• Hard Times1994 · as Josiah Bounderby
• Silent Tongue1994 · as Eamon McCree
• Shuttlecock1993 · as Major James Prentis VC
• Losing Track1992 · as Henry Sitchell
• Unnatural Pursuits1992 · as Hamish Partt
• Secret Friends1991 · as John
• Hamlet1990 · as Claudius
• 102 Boulevard Haussmann1990 · as Marcel Proust
• Dr. M1990 · as Dr, Marsfeldt / Guru
• Mister Frost1990 · as Felix Detweiler
• Uncontrollable Circumstances1989 · as Malcolm Forrest
• The Dog It Was That Died1989 · as Blair
• We Think the World of You1988 · as Frank Meadows
• The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska1988 · as John Fabian
• A Prayer for the Dying1987 · as Jack Meehan
• Pack of Lies1987 · as Stewart
• Duet for One1986 · as David Cornwallis
• One for the Road1985 · as Nicholas
• Hands Up!1985 · as Self (1981 footage)
• Dr. Fischer of Geneva1984 · as Dr. Alfred Jones
• A Voyage Round My Father1984 · as John Mortimer
• An Englishman Abroad1983 · as Guy Burgess
• The Wicked Lady1983 · as Captain Jerry Jackson
• The Return of the Soldier1983 · as Captain Chris Baldry
• Separate Tables1983 · as John Malcolm / Maj. Pollock
• Britannia Hospital1982 · as Macready
• Quartet1981 · as H.J. Heidler
• The Trespasser1981 · as Siegmund
• Very Like a Whale1981 · as Sir Jock Mellor
• Nijinsky1980 · as Sergei Diaghilev
• The Rose1979 · as Rudge Campbell
• The Shout1978 · as Charles Crossley
• An Unmarried Woman1978 · as Saul Kaplan
• The Collection1976 · as James
• Two Sundays1975 · as Charles
• Plaintiffs and Defendants1975 · as Peter
• Royal Flash1975 · as Rudi Von Sternberg
• In Celebration1975 · as Andrew Shaw
• The Story of Jacob and Joseph1974 · as Narrator (voice)
• Butley1974 · as Ben Butley
• Impossible Object1973 · as Harry
• A Day in the Death of Joe Egg1972 · as Bri
• Second Best1972 · as Tom
• The Go-Between1971 · as Ted Burgess
• Three Sisters1970 · as Col. Vershinin
• Women in Love1969 · as Rupert Birkin
• Look at Life: All in a Day's Work1969 · as Self
• The Fixer1968 · as Yakov Bok
• Location: Far from the Madding Crowd1967 · as Himself
• Far from the Madding Crowd1967 · as Gabriel Oak
• Lionpower from MGM1967 · as Self - Gabriel Oak (archive footage) (uncredited)
• King of Hearts1966 · as Charles Plumpick
• Georgy Girl1966 · as Jos Jones
• Once Upon a Tractor1965 · as Joe Turrel
• Zorba the Greek1964 · as Basil
• Nothing But the Best1964 · as Jimmy Brewster
• The Caretaker1964 · as Mick
• The Running Man1963 · as Stephen
• A Kind of Loving1962 · as Victor Arthur 'Vic' Brown
• Whistle Down the Wind1961 · as The Man, Arthur Alan Blakey
• The Entertainer1960 · as Frank Rice

All TV Shows (21)

• The Graham Norton Show2007 · as Self
• Spartacus2004 · as Antonius Agrippa
• Salem Witch Trials2003 · as Sir William Phips
• Love in a Cold Climate2001 · as Uncle Matthew
• In the Beginning2000 · as Jethro
• Arabian Nights2000 · as Storyteller
• Oliver's Travels1995 · as Oliver
• Hard Times1994 · as Josiah Bounderby
• Unnatural Pursuits1992 · as Hamish Partt
• Pebble Mill1991 · as Self
• Screen One1989 · as Henry Sitchell
• The Ray Bradbury Theater1985 · as John Fabian
• Screen Two1985 · as Marcel Proust
• The Mayor of Casterbridge1978 · as Michael Henchard
• Laurence Olivier Presents1976
• Great Performances1971 · as James
• The Wednesday Play1964 · as Grigor Pecharin
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson1962 · as Self
• Armchair Theatre1956 · as Lewis Black
• Armchair Theatre1956 · as Mario
• Hallmark Hall of Fame1951 · as Stewart