Alan Bates
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 · 97
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · Self
Great Performances
1971 · James
Screen Two
1985 · Marcel Proust
The Wednesday Play
1964 · Grigor Pecharin
The Ray Bradbury Theater
1985 · John Fabian
The Sum of All Fears
2002 · Dressler
Screen One
1989 · Henry Sitchell
Arabian Nights
2000 · Storyteller
The Mothman Prophecies
2002 · Alexander Leek
Gosford Park
2001 · Jennings
Zorba the Greek
1964 · Basil
Spartacus
2004 · Antonius Agrippa
Laurence Olivier Presents
1976
Spartacus
2004 · Antonius Agrippa
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · Stewart
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003 · Self (archive footage)
In the Beginning
2000 · Jethro
Salem Witch Trials
2003 · Sir William Phips
Women in Love
1969 · Rupert Birkin
Far from the Madding Crowd
1967 · Gabriel Oak
Dr. M
1990 · Dr, Marsfeldt / Guru
Love in a Cold Climate
2001 · Uncle Matthew
Oliver's Travels
1995 · Oliver
Armchair Theatre
1956 · Lewis Black
Evelyn
2002 · Thomas Connolly
Hamlet
1990 · Claudius
The Rose
1979 · Rudge Campbell
A Prayer for the Dying
1987 · Jack Meehan
The Mayor of Casterbridge
1978 · Michael Henchard
Hard Times
1994 · Josiah Bounderby
An Unmarried Woman
1978 · Saul Kaplan
Britannia Hospital
1982 · Macready
The Go-Between
1971 · Ted Burgess
The Wicked Lady
1983 · Captain Jerry Jackson
The Shout
1978 · Charles Crossley
The Return of the Soldier
1983 · Captain Chris Baldry
The Making of Gosford Park
2002 · Self
The Running Man
1963 · Stephen
Unnatural Pursuits
1992 · Hamish Partt
Very Like a Whale
1981 · Sir Jock Mellor
Royal Flash
1975 · Rudi Von Sternberg
Nothing Like a Dame
2018 · Self (archive footage)...
Georgy Girl
1966 · Jos Jones
Whistle Down the Wind
1961 · The Man, Arthur Alan B...
The Collection
1976 · James
Second Best
1972 · Tom
The Dog It Was That Died
1989 · Blair
King of Hearts
1966 · Charles Plumpick
We Think the World of You
1988 · Frank Meadows
Duet for One
1986 · David Cornwallis
102 Boulevard Haussmann
1990 · Marcel Proust
The Statement
2003 · Armand Bertier
Quartet
1981 · H.J. Heidler
Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
2020 · Major James Prentis (a...
Bertie and Elizabeth
2002 · King George V
Silent Tongue
1994 · Eamon McCree
The Story of Jacob and Joseph
1974 · Narrator (voice)
The Caretaker
1964 · Mick
Mister Frost
1990 · Felix Detweiler
Lionpower from MGM
1967 · Self - Gabriel Oak (ar...
Separate Tables
1983 · John Malcolm / Maj. Po...
The Cherry Orchard
1999 · Gayev
The Fixer
1968 · Yakov Bok
The Entertainer
1960 · Frank Rice
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
2000 · Calpornius
Three Sisters
1970 · Col. Vershinin
The Prince and the Pauper
2000 · Re Enrico VIII
Nothing But the Best
1964 · Jimmy Brewster
Impossible Object
1973 · Harry
Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
2001 · Self
Uncontrollable Circumstances
1989 · Malcolm Forrest
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
1972 · Bri
Once Upon a Tractor
1965 · Joe Turrel
Discovering Hamlet
2011 · Claudius (archive foot...
Meanwhile
2003 · Father Peter
A Voyage Round My Father
1984 · John Mortimer
Nijinsky
1980 · Sergei Diaghilev
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
1984 · Dr. Alfred Jones
Butley
1974 · Ben Butley
A Kind of Loving
1962 · Victor 'Vic' Brown
An Englishman Abroad
1983 · Guy Burgess
Unnatural Pursuits
1992 · Hamish Partt
Hard Times
1994 · Josiah Bounderby
In Celebration
1975 · Andrew Shaw
Shuttlecock
1993 · Major James Prentis VC
Nicholas’ Gift
1998 · Reg Green
The Grotesque
1995 · Sir Hugo Coal
Hollywood North
2004 · Michael Baytes
Pack of Lies
1987 · Stewart
Look at Life: All in a Day's Work
1969 · Self
Secret Friends
1991 · John
The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
1988 · John Fabian
Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
2025 · Archive
The Trespasser
1981 · Siegmund
Hands Up!
1985 · Self (1981 footage)
Losing Track
1992 · Henry Sitchell
One for the Road
1985 · Nicholas