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Dateline: 28th December, 2003 Sir Alan Bates : 1934-2003 Actor Alan Bates died yesterday, 27th December, at the age of 69. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year ago, just after learning that he was to be knighted in the New Year Honours list. Born in Allestree, Derbyshire, he decided at the age of eleven that he would become an actor and won a scholarship to RADA after grammar school. While at RADA he played Richard II. After National Service in the RAF, he made his first professional stage appearance in 1955 with the Midland Thratre Company, then went on to join the English Stage Company at the Royal Court, where, in 1956, he played Cliff in Look Back in Anger both in London and on Broadway. His first major film appearance was in the Man in Whistle Down the Wind, and he then went on to play Frank Rice alongside Olivier in The Entertainer, Vic in A Kind of Loving and Mick in Pinter's The Caretaker. Many theatre, TV and film roles followed. His most recent stage success was in Tugenev's Fortune's Fool on Broadway, for which he received Best Actor in the 2002 Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle Awards. The first was for Simon Gray's Butley in 1974, for which he also received the Evening Standard Best Actor Award. His career took him to the RSC, the West End (on many occasions), Broadway (also on many occasions), Chichester Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, and the National Theatre. He married in 1970 and had twin sons, Tristan and Benedick, a year later. Both became actors but Tristan died of an asthma attack in 1990. His wife, Victoria, also died a year later. He endowed the Tristan Bates Theatre at the Actors' Centre in Covent Garden in memory of his son. You can read a full obituary at the Alan Bates Archive. Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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