Michael Bates

The years 1971 and 1972 provided Michael Bates with the unique honor of working with Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock on two consecutive projects. The memorable energy of his performances may indicate what attracted the two master directors to him. Anyone who has seen 1971's "A Clockwork Orange" will recall Bates' cartoonish authoritarian Chief Guard barking orders at the imprisoned Malcolm McDowell, always referring to him by his prisoner number--"Six double-five three two one!" He had used this militaristic quality of his comportment to a brilliant effect one year previous in Franklin J. Schaffner's Best-Picture winning "Patton." He played Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery opposite George C. Scott's General George S. Patton. It almost seems to be the role Bates was meant to play, not least because he bears a truly astonishing resemblance to the Field Marshal. Bates himself had served as a Major in World War II, where he was stationed in Burma. Following his discharge, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1948 until 1953, the year that marks his first screen role in the television series "The Teckman Biography." He alternated between film and television productions throughout the remainder of his career, seeing the bulk of his work in the 1960s and '70s. He appeared in Hitchcock's thrilling penultimate film "Frenzy" in 1972.