
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.

The Sum of All Fears
2002 · as Dressler

The Mothman Prophecies
2002 · as Alexander Leek

Gosford Park
2001 · as Jennings

Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003 · as Self (archive footage)

Zorba the Greek
1964 · as Basil

Spartacus
2004 · as Antonius Agrippa

Women in Love
1969 · as Rupert Birkin

Hamlet
1990 · as Claudius

The Go-Between
1971 · as Ted Burgess

Far from the Madding Crowd
1967 · as Gabriel Oak

The Rose
1979 · as Rudge Campbell

The Shout
1978 · as Charles Crossley

The Statement
2003 · as Armand Bertier

An Unmarried Woman
1978 · as Saul Kaplan

Salem Witch Trials
2002 · as Sir William Phips

Dr. M
1990 · as Dr, Marsfeldt / Guru

The Grotesque
1995 · as Sir Hugo Coal

The Entertainer
1960 · as Frank Rice