Anthony Bate (31 August 1927 – 19 June 2012) was an English actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Oliver Lacon in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

adaptations of the

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophist ...

novels '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and '' Smiley's People'' and his role as Bret Renssalaer in Len Deighton's trilogy '' Game, Set and Match''. Bate's other credits include: ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'', '' The Saint'', '' The Avengers'', ''

Prime Suspect ''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. Broadcast on ITV between 1991 and 2006, it stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater Lo ...

'', ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'', '' A Touch of Frost'' and ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

''.

Early life

Bate was born the third son of

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

hoteliers Hubert George Cookson Bate (son of George Harry Bate, a hairdresser and trichologist, of

Stourbridge Stourbridge () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Situated on the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour, the town lies around west of Birmingham, at the southwester ...

; died 1986) and Cecile Marjorie Canadine (died 1973). Bate was educated at King Edward VI School, Stourbridge, and trained at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, commonly shortened to Central, is a drama school founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for ...

(gold medal). During his National Service he served with the

Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

from 1945 to 1947.

Theatre

From his professional theatre debut in 1953, Bate's theatre roles included: his first West End appearance in '' Inherit the Wind'' (St Martin's) 1960, ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure a ...

'' (Mermaid) 1960, ''Happy Family'' (Hampstead) 1966, ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a Shakespearean comedy, comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. ...

'' and ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' (RSC Aldwych) 1969. ''Find Your Way Home'' (Open Space Theatre) 1970, '' Eden End'' (tour) 1972, ''Economic Necessity'' (Haymarket Leicester) 1973, ''Getting Away with Murder'' (Comedy) 1976, ''Shadow Box'' (Cambridge) 1979, ''The Old Jest'' (tour) 1980, and ''A Flea in her Ear'' (Plymouth Theatre Co) 1980. ''Little Lies'' (Wyndhams) 1983, ''

Master Class ''Master Class'' is a 1995 play by American playwright Terrence McNally, presented as a fictional master class by opera singer Maria Callas near the end of her life, in the 1970s. The play features incidental vocal music by Giuseppe Verdi, Giac ...

'' (tour) 1984, '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (Theatre Royal Haymarket) 1988, '' Relative Values'' (Chichester Festival Theatre and Savoy) 1993–94.

Television

Bate's first television appearance was in 1955 and from then on he appeared as: James in Pinter's ''The Collection'', Rogojin in ''The Idiot'', MacDuff in ''Macbeth'',

Javert Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and a main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a police i ...

in ''Les Misérables'', the title role in '' Grady'' (a trilogy), T H Huxley in ''Darwin’s Bulldog'', Nikolai in ''Fathers and Sons'', Creon in ''King Oedipus'', Victor Hugo in ''Ego Hugo'', Harry Paynter in ''Intimate Strangers'', ''The Dutch Train Hijack'' 1976, Dr Dorn in ''The Seagull'' 1977, Kim Philby in ''Philby, Burgess and Maclean'' 1977 (nominated Best Actor Monte Carlo Festival 1978), '' An Englishman's Castle'' (1978), the title role in ''The Trial of Uri Urlov'' 1978, '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' 1978, ''Crime and Punishment'' 1979, '' Tis Pity She's A Whore'' 1980, ''The Human Crocodile'' 1980, “Fanny by Gaslight” 1981, '' Smiley's People'' 1982, ''

A Woman Called Golda ''A Woman Called Golda'' is a 1982 American made-for-television film biopic of Israeli Prime Minister of Israel, Prime Minister Golda Meir directed by Alan Gibson (director), Alan Gibson and starring Ingrid Bergman in what would become the fina ...

'' (with

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...

) 1982, J A D Ingres in ''Artists and Models'' 1983, '' Shackleton'', '' Game, Set and Match'' (TV mini series 1988), '' War and Remembrance'' 1988, ''

'' (Dr Crowther in Last Bus to Woodstock) 1988, '' Countdown to War'' 1989, Agatha Christie's Poirot 1990, ''Medics'' 1991 and 1992, ''Prime Suspect'' 1994, ''Rebecca'' 1996, ''A Touch of Frost'' 1996, ''Bodyguards'' 1996, ''Silent Witness'' 1997, ''Midsomer Murders'' 2000. He also appeared in ''

Spindoe ''Spindoe'' is a British television series shown on ITV in the spring of 1968. It was named after the lead character, Alec Spindoe, a South London gangster; the plot of the series showed how Spindoe re-established his gangland empire after he ...

'' and '' Beasts''.

Films

Bate's film credits include '' Dentist in the Chair'' (1960), '' Dentist on the Job'' (1961), ''

Payroll A payroll is a list of employment, employees of a company who are entitled to receive compensation as well as other work benefits, as well as the amounts that each should obtain. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time ...

'' (1961), '' A Prize of Arms'' (1962), '' Act of Murder'' (1964), ''

Ghost Story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

'' (1974), ''

Give My Regards to Broad Street ''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' is the fifth solo studio album by Paul McCartney and the soundtrack to the Give My Regards to Broad Street (film), film of the same name. It features covers of Beatles' songs, Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings ...

'' (1984), ''

Eminent Domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

'' (1990) and '' Nowhere in Africa'' (2001) (winner Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language). He was a member of

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

from 1985.

Personal life

On 22 May 1954, he married Diana Fay, the daughter of Kenneth Alfred Charles Caws Watson (d. 29 October 1940), of Seaview, Isle of Wight. His two sons are Gavin Watson (born 1961) and Mark Hewitt (born 1963).

Death

Bate died at St. Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight, on 19 June 2012 at the age of 84, after a brief illness. He had been rushed into the hospital on 17 June because of his condition. He was survived by his wife Diana and his two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bate, Anthony 1927 births 2012 deaths Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama English male stage actors English male television actors People educated at King Edward VI College, Stourbridge Actors from Stourbridge Royal Navy personnel of World War II Male actors from Worcestershire