Alan Bates

Alan Bates married actress Victoria Ward in 1970. The couple had twin sons, Benedick and Tristan. Their marriage was a troubled one from the beginning though the couple did not divorce.

Bates had numerous relationships with men, including those with actors Nickolas Grace and Peter Wyngarde. However, he always denied that he was gay and went to great lengths to keep his personal life private.

He also had a relationship with Welsh actress Angharad Rees and was close friends with actress Joanna Pettet.

Alan Arthur Bates was born on 17 February 1934 in Allestree, Derbyshire, United Kingdom, as one of the three sons of Florence Mary and Harold Arthur Bates. His father, an insurance broker was also an amateur cellist while his homemaker mother loved to play the piano.

He was encouraged by his parents to pursue music as a young boy. However, the young Bates had decided by the time he was 11 that he wanted to be an actor.

He attended the Herbert Strutt Grammar School and earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London where he was trained under Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole.

He began his acting career with the Midland Theatre Company and made his stage debut in 1955. His role as Cliff in ‘Look Back in Anger’ in 1956 got him noticed for his acting skills. The role, which he played on several occasions over the next two years, paved the way for a career in television.

He reprised the role of Cliff for a television play and also appeared on several other plays for television in the late 1950s. His successful television career motivated him to try his fortune in Hollywood.

In 1960, he appeared in his first film role in ‘The Entertainer’ opposite Laurence Olivier. Over the next few years he emerged as a popular actor with roles in several major films like ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ (1961), ‘A Kind of Loving’ (1962), ‘Zorba the Greek’ (1964), ‘King of Hearts’ (1966), and ‘Georgy Girl’ (1966).

Open to taking up unconventional roles, he played the character of Rupert Birkin, a man with homosexual tendencies, in ‘Women in Love’ (1969). The film which explored the relationships between two sisters and two men in a mining town in post First World War England was a huge critical hit.

In the 1970s he gained much international acclaim for his roles in movies like ‘An Unmarried Woman’ (1978) and ‘The Rose’ (1979). He was also active on television during the 1970s and played the role of the ultimately-disgraced lead, Michael Henchard, in the miniseries ‘The Mayor of Casterbridge’ (1978).

His role as Yakov Bok, a Jew living in the Russian Empire, in the film ‘The Fixer’ was a much appreciated one. His poignant portrayal of a man who is unjustly imprisoned based on prejudice earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

In ‘Zorba the Greek’, he portrayed Basil, a half-English, half-Greek writer raised in Britain, in another one of his memorable roles. The film, which also had Anthony Quinn in a major role, was a smash hit.