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Alan Bates

Acting Born Feb 17, 1934 Allestree, Derbyshire, England 24 credits

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.

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Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

as Self

The Graham Norton Show

as Self

Great Performances

as James
Film

The Sum of All Fears

as Dressler
Film

Gosford Park

as Jennings
Film

The Mothman Prophecies

as Alexander Leek
Film

Spartacus

as Antonius Agrippa

Full filmography

  • The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) as Self
  • The Graham Norton Show (2007) as Self
  • Great Performances (1971) as James
  • Screen Two (1985) as Marcel Proust
  • The Wednesday Play (1964) as Grigor Pecharin
  • Pebble Mill (1991) as Self
  • The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985) as John Fabian
  • The Sum of All Fears (2002) as Dressler
  • Screen One (1989) as Henry Sitchell
  • Arabian Nights (2000) as Storyteller
  • The Story of Jacob and Joseph (1974) as Narrator (voice)
  • Spartacus (2004) as Antonius Agrippa
  • Gosford Park (2001) as Jennings
  • Zorba the Greek (1964) as Basil
  • Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) as Stewart
  • The Mothman Prophecies (2002) as Alexander Leek
  • Laurence Olivier Presents (1976)
  • In the Beginning (2000) as Jethro
  • Spartacus (2004) as Antonius Agrippa
  • Love in a Cold Climate (2001) as Uncle Matthew
  • Women in Love (1969) as Rupert Birkin
  • The Shout (1978) as Charles Crossley
  • Celebrity Naked Ambition (2003) as Self (archive footage)
  • Oliver's Travels (1995) as Oliver