Anthony Bate(1927-2012)
- Actor
An immaculate gent of sober appearance and cultivated presence, Bate
was seemingly destined to play spymasters and senior civil servants.
Lean, pale-eyed and of deceptively mild intonation, he was capable of
unnervingly icy composure, never more effectively displayed than as the
chameleon-like Soviet mole Kim Philby in
ITV's telemovie
Philby, Burgess and Maclean (1977).
In similar vein, Bate played the enigmatic, debonair American-born
spook, Bret Renssalaer, in Len Deighton's
Game, Set, and Match (1988).
Most famously, he added an authentic touch to the affable, officious
Home Office security undersecretary, Sir Oliver Lacon -- "Whitehall's
Head Prefect" - in John le Carré's
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979),
and its sequel,
Smiley's People (1982).
Anthony Bate began working life behind the bar of a hotel owned by his
family on the Isle of Wight. After completing his national service with
the Royal Navy Volunteers in 1947, he started dabbling in amateur
dramatics and then took the next step to formal training at London's
Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating a gold medal winner.
After the obligatory sojourn in repertory theatre, he made his West End
debut in a 1960 dramatisation of the famous 1925 Scopes Trial, "Inherit
the Wind", at St. Martin's Theatre. Over the next three decades, he
drew many excellent notices for such classical roles as Don Pedro in
"Much Ado About Nothing", for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In occasional films from 1957, Bate popped up as straight man in minor
comedies, like
Dentist in the Chair (1960).
However, in due course, he found his niche to be on the small screen,
where he was increasingly sought-after by producers for a wide variety
of characters of, either, furtive, stern, starchy, supercilious or
sinister disposition. Besides crime and espionage, Bate was a
ubiquitous protagonist in screen adaptations from the classics: the
obsessive Inspector Javert on the trail of
Frank Finlay's Jean Valjeon, in a
1967 version of Victor Hugo's
oft-filmed masterpiece; as the intrepid Dr. Livesey of
Treasure Island (1977); and
as the Knight's Templar, Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert, chief nemesis of
Ivanhoe (1970). Another of his
outright villains was treacherous London gangster Eddie Edwards, taking
advantage of his boss's (Ray McAnally)
incarceration to usurp his criminal empire. In
Intimate Strangers (1974),
Bate was given a rare starring role, as a middle-aged family man,
re-evaluating his life after a heart attack. This introspective and
nuanced performance was, arguably, one of his best. The cool,
unflappable Mr. Bate also portrayed such historical personae as
Joseph Stalin, Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt and
Eduard Shevardnadze -- all with
equal vigour and conviction. One of the unsung heroes of British
television, Anthony Bate passed away in June 2012 at the age of 84.
was seemingly destined to play spymasters and senior civil servants.
Lean, pale-eyed and of deceptively mild intonation, he was capable of
unnervingly icy composure, never more effectively displayed than as the
chameleon-like Soviet mole Kim Philby in
ITV's telemovie
Philby, Burgess and Maclean (1977).
In similar vein, Bate played the enigmatic, debonair American-born
spook, Bret Renssalaer, in Len Deighton's
Game, Set, and Match (1988).
Most famously, he added an authentic touch to the affable, officious
Home Office security undersecretary, Sir Oliver Lacon -- "Whitehall's
Head Prefect" - in John le Carré's
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979),
and its sequel,
Smiley's People (1982).
Anthony Bate began working life behind the bar of a hotel owned by his
family on the Isle of Wight. After completing his national service with
the Royal Navy Volunteers in 1947, he started dabbling in amateur
dramatics and then took the next step to formal training at London's
Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating a gold medal winner.
After the obligatory sojourn in repertory theatre, he made his West End
debut in a 1960 dramatisation of the famous 1925 Scopes Trial, "Inherit
the Wind", at St. Martin's Theatre. Over the next three decades, he
drew many excellent notices for such classical roles as Don Pedro in
"Much Ado About Nothing", for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
In occasional films from 1957, Bate popped up as straight man in minor
comedies, like
Dentist in the Chair (1960).
However, in due course, he found his niche to be on the small screen,
where he was increasingly sought-after by producers for a wide variety
of characters of, either, furtive, stern, starchy, supercilious or
sinister disposition. Besides crime and espionage, Bate was a
ubiquitous protagonist in screen adaptations from the classics: the
obsessive Inspector Javert on the trail of
Frank Finlay's Jean Valjeon, in a
1967 version of Victor Hugo's
oft-filmed masterpiece; as the intrepid Dr. Livesey of
Treasure Island (1977); and
as the Knight's Templar, Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert, chief nemesis of
Ivanhoe (1970). Another of his
outright villains was treacherous London gangster Eddie Edwards, taking
advantage of his boss's (Ray McAnally)
incarceration to usurp his criminal empire. In
Intimate Strangers (1974),
Bate was given a rare starring role, as a middle-aged family man,
re-evaluating his life after a heart attack. This introspective and
nuanced performance was, arguably, one of his best. The cool,
unflappable Mr. Bate also portrayed such historical personae as
Joseph Stalin, Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt and
Eduard Shevardnadze -- all with
equal vigour and conviction. One of the unsung heroes of British
television, Anthony Bate passed away in June 2012 at the age of 84.