Alan Bates
Birthday: 1934-02-17
Place of Birth: Allestree, Derbyshire, England
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.
Movies
Hamlet
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne,...
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Zorba the Greek
An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever ...
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Far from the Madding Crowd
Bathsheba Everdine, a willful, flirtatious, young woman, unexpectedly inherits a large farm and beco...
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The Mothman Prophecies
Reporter John Klein is plunged into a world of impossible terror and unthinkable chaos when fate dra...
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Gosford Park
In 1930s England, a group of pretentious rich and famous gather together for a weekend of relaxation...
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Nothing Like a Dame
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atki...
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Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
At the memorial for his father, WWII hero Major James Prentis (Alan Bates), John (Lambert Wilson) co...
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Spartacus
Sentenced to spend out the rest of his adult life laboring in the harsh deserts of Egypt, the Thraci...
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Britannia Hospital
Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by...
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A Kind of Loving
As Vic Brown vacillates between infatuation and disinterest for his co-worker Ingrid Rothwell, she ...
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Whistle Down the Wind
When an injured wife-murderer takes refuge on a remote Lancashire farm, the farmer’s three children ...
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A Prayer for the Dying
Martin, an I.R.A. hitman, is seen by a Catholic priest while carrying out a hit. He grows a bond wit...
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Mister Frost
Frost is arrested and committed for murder after he is apprehended burying his victims in the garden...
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The Statement
The film is set in France in the 1990s, the French were defeated by the Germans early in World War I...
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Dr. M
In the not-too-distant future Berlin is shocked by a series of spectacular suicides; a policeman's i...
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The Go-Between
British teenager Leo Colston spends a summer in the countryside, where he develops a crush on the be...
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Georgy Girl
A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father's middle-aged employe...
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The Prince and the Pauper
An adaptation of the classic, "The Prince and the Pauper" is the retelling of Edward Tudor and young...
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Losing Track
In 1950, a man returns home to the UK from India after the death of his wife to build bridges with h...
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The Rose
Rock-and-roll singer Mary Rose Foster's romantic relationships and mental health are continuously im...
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An Unmarried Woman
A wealthy woman from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sex...
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Bertie and Elizabeth
The life of England’s George VI, who was forced to become King following the abdication of his broth...
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Women in Love
Growing up in the sheltered confines of a 1920s English coal-mining community, free-spirited sisters...
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A Voyage Round My Father
A successful lawyer struck with blindness in middle age continues his battles in the courtroom with ...
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Quartet
When her husband's arrest leaves her penniless, a woman accepts an invitation to move in with a stra...
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King of Hearts
An ornithologist mistaken for an explosives expert is sent alone into a small French town during WWI...
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The Grotesque
Sir Hugo is more interested in reconstructing dinosaur bones than in paying attention to his wife, L...
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The Entertainer
Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in ...
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Duet for One
When Stephanie, a famous violinist, contracts multiple sclerosis her life begins to fall apart. Her ...
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Royal Flash
Cowardly rogue Harry Flashman's (Malcolm McDowell) schemes to gain entry to the royal circles of 19t...
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Hollywood North
The making of a serious, Canadian arthouse film descends into Hollywood farce when its producer is f...
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The Fixer
Set in tsarist Russia around the turn of the century and based on a true story of a Russian Jewish p...
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The Caretaker
Aston, a quiet, reserved man, lives alone in a top-floor cluttered room of a small abandoned house i...
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A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly completely b...
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Secret Friends
During a train ride, an anxiety attack leads middle-aged illustrator John into an identity crisis. A...
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We Think the World of You
An aimless young man, Johnny, is sent prison. He entrusts his beloved dog, Evie, to the care of his ...
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An Englishman Abroad
Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notori...
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The Wicked Lady
Caroline is to be wed to Sir Ralph and invites her sister Barbara to be her bridesmaid. Barbara sedu...
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Nothing But the Best
Success has James Brewster's name written all over it, and he also has his heart set on his boss's d...
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Separate Tables
Two one-act plays explore love and loneliness. In "Table by the Window" an aging fashion model contr...
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The Running Man
An Englishman with a grudge against an insurance company for a disallowed claim fakes his own death ...
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Silent Tongue
Mad with grief after the death of his Kiowa wife, Roe awaits death under a tree with her body beside...
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Butley
Butley is set in Queen Mary’s College, London and focuses on two English instructors, Ben Butley, a ...
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In Celebration
In a Yorkshire mining town, three educated brothers return to their blue-collar home to celebrate th...
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Nijinsky
A ballet dancer struggles with his homosexuality and the increasing allure of a young ballerina who ...
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The Collection
Set in the rarefied world of West End boutique owners and fashion designers, The Collection takes as...
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One for the Road
Powerful statement about the abuse of human rights by totalitarian governments, finds an unctuous an...
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Uncontrollable Circumstances
Philippe and Daniel decide to go on vacation Southeast Asia, where they meet Hans, a European who li...
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Impossible Object
Harry is a married writer who has an affair with a woman whose husband knows that she is unfaithful....
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102 Boulevard Haussmann
In 1916 author Marcel Proust is leading a reclusive life in Paris. He hires a quartet of musicians a...
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The Return of the Soldier
The horrors of World War I have robbed returning veteran Chris Baldry of his memory. The traumatized...
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Discovering Hamlet
Journey into "Hamlet"-the play and the man-through the experiences of some of the major actors and d...
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Nicholas’ Gift
Fact based drama about an American couple on vacation in Italy in 1994 with their two children who a...
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Unnatural Pursuits
An English playwright sacrifices his health waiting for his play's make-or-break opening on Broadway...
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Hands Up!
The reunion of a group of former medical students results in a flood of bitter memories....
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Pack of Lies
A British couple are shocked out of their suburban malaise when British intelligence agent Stewart s...
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Three Sisters
Nearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exil...
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Hard Times
Charles Dickens' bleak, passionate novel about the challenges of life in 19th-century London comes t...
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The Trespasser
Adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel this tells the romantic story of Siegmund and Helena. Siegmund...
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Evelyn
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unem...
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Salem Witch Trials
Salem, Massachusetts. A small town—with no clear governing body—became embroiled in a scandal that f...
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The Dog It Was That Died
Rupert Purvis jumps off a bridge onto a dog, causing problems for Blair, his superior at MI5. Blair ...
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St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
A young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken capti...
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Two Sundays
Two men, with families in tow, meet for lunch. As they talk, repressed school memories come to the s...
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Plaintiffs and Defendants
A barrister's complex life unravels as he juggles a court case and highly-strung mistress....
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The Story of Jacob and Joseph
This film recounts the tales of the Biblical figures, Jacob and Joseph. The first part tells the sto...
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The Sum of All Fears
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him....
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Once Upon a Tractor
Alan Bates and Diane Cilento play an odd couple fleeing across fictitious European countries with NY...
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Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
In a historical interview only a few months before his death, the harger-than-life star of Zorba the...
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Second Best
A short film based on a story by D.H. Lawrence in which two sisters meet after being apart for a lon...
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Meanwhile
Two childhood friends - Darren and Gary - re-unite for the funeral of an old acquaintance. Gary boas...
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The Cherry Orchard
Madame Ranevskaya is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the...
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Shuttlecock
Major James Prentis VC is a British spy of World War II and war hero who goes under the code name of...
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The Shout
A traveller by the name of Crossley forces himself upon a musician and his wife in a lonely part of ...
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Dr. Fischer of Geneva
Dr. Fischer has an unusual hobby — to expose human greed. How much humiliation will his fellow man e...
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The Making of Gosford Park
A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Robert Altman's 2001 film 'Gosford Park'. Cast and crew re...
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Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
This promotional short film for the feature Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) takes us to the many l...
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Look at Life: All in a Day's Work
A look at people who travel the world by air as part of their everyday jobs, including businessmen a...
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The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
S02E12 of “The Ray Bradbury Theater.” A ventriloquist is implicated in the murder of a man at a thea...
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Lionpower from MGM
"Lionpower from MGM" (1967) is an exciting 60's promotional short subject, which showcases MGM's rel...
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Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
Peter Medak's films toy with notions of cosplay, masquerade, gamesmanship, and how power and permiss...
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