Alan Bates
Acting
Born February 17, 1934 · Allestree, Derbyshire, England
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.
Films (83)
Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
2025
Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
2020
Nothing Like a Dame
2018
Discovering Hamlet
2011
Spartacus
2004
Hollywood North
2004
The Statement
2003
Meanwhile
2003
Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003
Salem Witch Trials
2002
Evelyn
2002
The Making of Gosford Park
2002
Bertie and Elizabeth
2002
The Sum of All Fears
2002
The Mothman Prophecies
2002
Gosford Park
2001
Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
2001
The Prince and the Pauper
2000
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
2000
The Cherry Orchard
1999
Nicholas’ Gift
1998
The Grotesque
1995
Hard Times
1994
Shuttlecock
1993
Silent Tongue
1993
Losing Track
1992
Unnatural Pursuits
1992
Secret Friends
1991
Hamlet
1990
102 Boulevard Haussmann
1990
Dr. M
1990
Mister Frost
1990
Uncontrollable Circumstances
1989
The Dog It Was That Died
1989
We Think the World of You
1988
The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
1988
A Prayer for the Dying
1987
Pack of Lies
1987
Duet for One
1986
One for the Road
1985
Hands Up!
1985
Dr. Fischer of Geneva
1984
A Voyage Round My Father
1984
An Englishman Abroad
1983
The Wicked Lady
1983
The Return of the Soldier
1983
Separate Tables
1983
Britannia Hospital
1982
Quartet
1981
The Trespasser
1981
Very Like a Whale
1981
Nijinsky
1980
The Rose
1979
The Shout
1978
An Unmarried Woman
1978
The Collection
1976
Two Sundays
1975
Plaintiffs and Defendants
1975
Royal Flash
1975
In Celebration
1975
The Story of Jacob and Joseph
1974
Butley
1974
Impossible Object
1973
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
1972
Second Best
1972
The Go-Between
1971
Three Sisters
1970
Women in Love
1969
Look at Life: All in a Day's Work
1969
The Fixer
1968
Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
1967
Far from the Madding Crowd
1967
Lionpower from MGM
1967
King of Hearts
1966
Georgy Girl
1966
Once Upon a Tractor
1965
Zorba the Greek
1964
Nothing But the Best
1964
The Caretaker
1964
The Running Man
1963
A Kind of Loving
1962
Whistle Down the Wind
1961
The Entertainer
1960