Michael Bates
Acting
Born 1920-12-04
Died 1978-01-11
Jhansi, British India (now Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India)
59 credits
Read biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Hammond Bates was an Indian-born English actor. He was educated at Uppingham School in Rutland and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II. In 1953, while an ensemble member with the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, he appeared in Richard III and All's Well That End's Well. In 1956 he appeared in Hotel Paradiso which starred Alec Guinness, at the Winter Garden Theatre in London.
He appeared in many UK television series including Last of the Summer Wine from 1973 to 1975 as Cyril Blamire and It Ain't Half Hot Mum from 1974 to 1977 as Rangi Ram, as well as many others. His role as Rangi Ram caused some controversy as it required Bates to be made-up with fake tan to look like an Indian, which he took to naturally as he was born in India and spoke the Hindi language fluently. On radio he played a variety of characters in the BBC's long-running comedy series The Navy Lark. These were: Able Seaman Ginger, Lt. Bates, Rear Admiral Ironbridge, the Padre and Captain Ignatius Aloysius Atchison.
Bates' film roles include Battle of Britain (1969) as Warrant Officer Warwick, Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) as a Lance-corporal, Patton (1970) as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery (to whom he bore a striking resemblance), Frenzy (1972) by Alfred Hitchcock, and the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange (1971). On stage, he did Shakespeare at Stratford and the Old Vic and made a big impression as Inspector Truscott in the West End production of Loot by Joe Orton in 1966. He died of cancer in Cambridge, aged 57.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Bates (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Not enough member ratings yet.
Sign in to rate.
Filmography
Acting
55 credits
Thursday Theatre
The Saint
The Wednesday Play
BBC Play of the Month
Last of the Summer Wine
Theatre 625
ITV Playhouse
A Clockwork Orange
Sunday Night Theatre
Thirty-Minute Theatre
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Public Eye
Man in a Suitcase
Ivanhoe
Budgie
Patton
Fall of Eagles
Frenzy
Cilla
Battle of Britain
It Ain't Half Hot Mum
Ooh La La!
The Four Just Men
The Misfit
Six Dates with Barker
Dunkirk
Cluff
Bedazzled
I'm All Right Jack
Oh! What a Lovely War
Male of the Species
Salt & Pepper
The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer
No Sex Please - We're British
The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
Gulliver's Travels
The Spanish Gardener
Carrington V.C.
Every Home Should Have One
The Brahmin Widow
Hammerhead
Male of the Species
Macready's Gala
A Passage to India
The Stone Tape
Arthur? Arthur!
The Fox Trot
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Sling Your Hook
The Stratford Adventure
Quay South
Hokusai: An Animated Sketchbook
Other credits
4 credits
Track what you watch
DuckTrack members see which of these they have already watched,
right here on this page.
Create a free account
Comments
0 commentsNo comments yet. Sign in to be the first.