Alan Bates
Alan Bates was born on 17 February 1934 in Allestree, a United Kingdom citizen working in the English language whose professional life would come to span stage, film, and television across several decades. His early path led him toward formal training in the performing arts, and the breadth of his subsequent career reflected a sustained engagement with acting in all its major forms.
Bates received his training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which served as his preparation for a professional life in performance. He went on to work across all three principal acting disciplines — stage, film, and television — and his work on stage eventually brought him recognition at the highest levels of theatrical award-giving. He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, two honors that marked his achievements within the theatrical world.
Beyond his theatrical honors, Bates received formal recognition from the British state. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, acknowledging his standing within British cultural life. He was subsequently elevated to Knight Bachelor, a distinction conferred by the Crown. These honors, taken together, reflected a career that moved across the full range of acting contexts available to a British performer working in the English language.
Alan Bates died on 27 December 2003 in the City of Westminster, at the age of sixty-nine. His career as a stage, film, and television actor, recognized by honors from both the British state and the theatrical establishment, had its formal foundations in the training he received at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art decades earlier.
Quotes by Alan Bates
Alan Bates's insights on:
I do believe in living out your own time, unless it's absolutely impossible, which it is for some people.
But, you know, as you get older, my God, the parts get more varied. There's a lot of fun to be had doing a lot of different things.
You can time a part perfectly and play it badly. And some people have very individual offbeat timing, which is their own. It works simply because they are who they are.
I've never believed much in that holding hands kind of love. I've always thought that love is about two different personalities trying to confront life, trying to make sense of their responsibilities, to themselves, to each other, and to the wider society.
I think in every generation there's a certain amount of, not awe exactly, but that sort of awareness of other people's achievements.
