
Alan Bates
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.
102 acting credits
Acting · 102

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962

The Graham Norton Show
2007

Great Performances
1971

Screen Two
1985
Pebble Mill
1991

The Ray Bradbury Theater
1985

The Sum of All Fears
2002

Screen One
1989

Arabian Nights
2000

Gosford Park
2001

Spartacus
2004

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951

Laurence Olivier Presents
1976

The Mothman Prophecies
2002

In the Beginning
2000

Love in a Cold Climate
2001

Zorba the Greek
1964

Spartacus
2004

Armchair Theatre
1956

Hamlet
1990

Oliver's Travels
1995

Women in Love
1969

The Shout
1978

The Making of Gosford Park
2002

Hard Times
1994

Salem Witch Trials
2003

A Prayer for the Dying
1987

The Mayor of Casterbridge
1978

Celebrity Naked Ambition
2003

Salem Witch Trials
2002

An Unmarried Woman
1978

The Rose
1979

The Go-Between
1971

Evelyn
2002

The Wicked Lady
1983

Britannia Hospital
1982

Far from the Madding Crowd
1967

Royal Flash
1975

The Return of the Soldier
1983

The Statement
2003

Hard Times
1994

Georgy Girl
1966

Mister Frost
1990

The Prince and the Pauper
2000

Discovering Hamlet
2011

The Fixer
1968

The Cherry Orchard
1999

Nijinsky
1980

Silent Tongue
1994

The Running Man
1963

Shuttlecock: Sins of a Father
2020

The Caretaker
1964

Quartet
1981

Unnatural Pursuits
1992

Whistle Down the Wind
1961

A Voyage Round My Father
1984

The Story of Jacob and Joseph
1974

Dr. Fischer of Geneva
1984

Nothing Like a Dame
2018

Lionpower from MGM
1967

Secret Friends
1991

Duet for One
1986

We Think the World of You
1988

The Entertainer
1960

Pack of Lies
1987

The Grotesque
1995

The Dog It Was That Died
1989

St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
2000

Shuttlecock
1993

Nicholas’ Gift
1998

An Englishman Abroad
1983

King of Hearts
1966

Three Sisters
1970

Dr. M
1990

Hollywood North
2004

Impossible Object
1973

Butley
1974
Location: Far from the Madding Crowd
1967

Uncontrollable Circumstances
1989

In Celebration
1975

A Kind of Loving
1962

Hands Up!
1985

Bertie and Elizabeth
2002

Nothing But the Best
1964

Separate Tables
1983

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
1972

The Collection
1976

Unnatural Pursuits
1992
Plaintiffs and Defendants
1975

Second Best
1972

Look at Life: All in a Day's Work
1969

The Trespasser
1981

Anthony Quinn: The Final Words
2001

Once Upon a Tractor
1965

102 Boulevard Haussmann
1990
Two Sundays
1975

Meanwhile
2003

Losing Track
1992

The Ray Bradbury Theater: And So Died Riabouchinska
1988

Very Like a Whale
1981

One for the Road
1985

Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak's Cinema of Pretenders
2025