I just saw this on the text crawl on the bottom of the news. Alan Bates died. Age 69. Died of cancer.
Damn damn damn. He was great in “Georgy Girl” and “Gosford Park” and so many in between.
One of those “Oh, that guy!” faces from the movies. Now he’s joined Oliver Reed in that big, nude wrestling match in the sky.
I’ll remeber Mr.Bates for his role of Gabriel Oak, from the movie,
“Far from the Madding Crowd”
Ah yes, “Far From the Madding Crowd.” He was good in that.
I just saw him in “Georgy Girl” and not too long ago saw “Gosford Park.” I also remember that he was also in a remake of “Separate Tables” (playing the David Niven part from the original movie). He’s had a great career.
He was Sir Alan you know not mere Mr Bates. Pretty fair achievement.A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg and The Shout were my 2 favourite Alan Bates movies.
. . . I guess “Oh, shit, Sir Alan died” wouldn’t have had quite the same, ummm, “ring” to it.
Who?
Let me qualify that, because I know I can look him up if I want to.
I have come to realise that there are a considerable number of actors that are very well known amongst many people, and extremely popular too, and are even in a ton of recent movies, but who I know nothing about, because of the peculiar set of circumstances that led me to not ever having seen a single one of that particular actor’s movies.
Benecio Del Toro, for example, I have never seen and don’t know him from a hole in the ground. And the same with this Alan Bates guy.
I like that. It’s sad news, but we should definitely remember the happy times. And who wouldn’t be happy wrestling a nude Oliver Reed?
From Bates’ Telegraph obit:
Ken Russell recalled that in making Women in Love, both Bates and Oliver Reed were wary of the nude scene, but thanks to an understudy who took them “to a pub the night before”, and allowed them to realise - “in the outside loo” - that both were healthily endowed, each gave a sterling performance. " However, between takes, Oliver gave nature a helping hand, so that, for posterity on film it looks, mistakenly, as if he is the larger actor."
–WTF? I am baffled. Did Oliver Reed attach a huge fake dildo or something? Or did he act as his own fluffer?
Now I’m stuck with a mental image of a burly Mr. Reed furiously jerking himself between takes.
And let us not forget his wonderful performance in that archetypal art-house film, The King of Hearts. RIP, Sir Alan.
My two favorite Alan Bates films were King of Hearts and Women in Love. What a wonderful wonderful actor to watch. He will be missed.
This site is one of the better ones dedicated to an actor I have seen.
He was a great actor, and notable for more than being very comfortable in his own skin.