Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from Whistle Down the Wind to the kitchen sink drama A Kind of Loving.
Bates is also known for his performance with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Fixer, for which he received 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 in The Rose with Bette Midler, as well as many television dramas, 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 appeared on the stage, notably in the plays of Simon Gray, such as Butley and Otherwise Engaged.
Bates was born at the Queen Mary Nursing Home, Darley Abbey, Derby, England, on 17 February 1934, the eldest of three boys born to Florence Mary (née Wheatcroft), a housewife and a pianist, and Harold Arthur Bates, an insurance broker and a cellist. They lived in Allestree, Derby, at the time of Bates's birth, but briefly moved to Mickleover before returning to Allestree.
Both his parents were amateur musicians who encouraged Bates to pursue music. By the age of 11, having decided to become an actor, he studied drama instead. He further developed his vocation by attending productions at Derby's Little Theatre.
Bates was educated at the Herbert Strutt Grammar School, Derby Road, Belper, Derbyshire (now "Strutts", a volunteer led business and community centre) and later gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he studied with Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole, before leaving to join the RAF for National Service at RAF Newton.
Bates's stage debut was in 1955, in You and Your Wife, in Coventry.
In 1956, Bates made his West End debut as Cliff in Look Back in Anger, a role he had originated at the Royal Court and which made him a star. He also played the role on television (for the ITV Play of the Week) and on Broadway. He also was a member of the 1967 acting company at the Stratford Festival in Canada, playing the title role in Richard III.
In the late 1950s, Bates appeared in several plays for television in Britain in shows such as ITV Play of the Week, Armchair Theatre and ITV Television Playhouse.
In 1960, Bates appeared as Giorgio in the final episode of The Four Just Men (TV series) entitled Treviso Dam.
Bates worked for the Padded Wagon Moving Company in the early 1960s while acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City.
Bates made his feature film debut in The Entertainer (1960) opposite Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Albert Finney, and the rest of the ensemble cast. Bates played the lead in his second feature, Whistle Down the Wind (1961), opposite Hayley Mills and directed by Bryan Forbes. He followed it with the lead in A Kind of Loving (1962), directed by John Schlesinger in his film debut. Both films were very popular in the UK, with the latter earning him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and establishing Bates as a film star. Some film critics cited the 1963 crime drama The Running Man as being one of Bates's finest performances. The film starred Laurence Harvey as a man who fakes his death and Lee Remick as his increasingly conflicted wife, with Bates in the supporting role of Stephen Maddox, an insurance company investigator.
Bates next co-starred in an adaptation of Harold Pinter's The Caretaker (1963) along with Donald Pleasence and Robert Shaw. It was directed by Clive Donner, who then made Nothing But the Best (1964) with Bates. He was the co-lead alongside Anthony Quinn in the Academy Award-winning hit Michael Cacoyannis film Zorba the Greek (1964); the lead in a short film, Once Upon a Tractor (1965); and starred in Philippe de Broca's King of Hearts (1966).
Bates also starred as the male lead opposite Lynn Redgrave as the titular Georgy Girl (1966), which also featured James Mason and Charlotte Rampling in supporting roles. He was reunited with Schlesinger in Far From the Madding Crowd (1967), starring Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, and Peter Finch. For these two films, Bates earned himself three Golden Globe nominations: Best Comedy/Musical Actor and Best Male Newcomer; and Best Drama Actor the following ceremony, respectively.
In 1968, Bates starred alongside Dirk Bogarde and Ian Holm in the John Frankenheimer film The Fixer (1968), adapted from the Bernard Malamud novel based on the true story of Menahem Mendel Beilis. It earned Bates an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, as well as another Golden Globe nomination. He followed that up with Women in Love (1969), directed by Ken Russell and co-starring Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson, in which Bates and Reed wrestled completely naked. The scene was groundbreaking for taboos of the time, as it was the first studio film to ever feature full frontal male nudity. Bates also earned another BAFTA nomination for Best Actor for his performance.
Following that success, he appeared as Col Vershinin in the National Theatre's film of Three Sisters, reuniting him with Olivier (who directed) and Plowright. He was handpicked by director Schlesinger to play the male lead in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). However, he was preoccupied filming The Go-Between (1971) for director Joseph Losey alongside Christie again, and had also become a father around that time, so refused the role (which ultimately went to Finch opposite co-lead Jackson).
Bates starred in the film adaptation of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) with Janet Suzman and produced and appeared in a short, Second Best (1972). He starred in Story of a Love Story (1973). He also starred in two adaptations of his successful theatrical roles: his Tony-winning role in Butley (1974), as well as In Celebration (1975). He was the villain in Royal Flash (1975). He appeared alongside Susannah York and John Hurt in The Shout (1978); and opposite Jill Clayburgh in An Unmarried Woman (1978). He also played Bette Midler's ruthless business manager in the film The Rose (1979).
Bates starred in the TV movie Piccadilly Circus (1977) and The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978). In the latter he played Michael Henchard, the ultimately-disgraced lead, which he described as his favourite role. Bates played two diametrically opposed roles in An Englishman Abroad (1983), as Guy Burgess, a gay member of the Cambridge spy ring exiled in Moscow, and in Pack of Lies (1987), as a British Secret Service agent tracking several Soviet spies.