By Jonathan Miller

IT'S IRONIC that a reclusive and quintessentially British actor, with the moody mystery of a D H Lawrence protagonist and the sinister sensuality of a Thomas Hardy hero, has become the latest pop symbol of male sexuality.
When women talk about Alan Bates these days, they use words like "secretive," "gentle," "cuddly," "passionate." Bette Midler, Bates's co-star in "The Rose," which will be released this spring, calls him "a twinkler" and adds, "He's like a big hairy bear." The publicity team that handled "The Rose" [Bates plays Midler's manager in something akin to the Janis Joplin story] found that half the requests for interviews with Bates came not from journalists, but from women who just wanted to meet him.
After a 23-year acting career as a highly respected professional, Bates was catapulted to heartthrob status with his first American film, "An Unmarried Woman," in which he played the virile but non domineering artist who helps Jill Clayburgh find balance. "The part fit attitudes I hold myself," Bates comments. "Playing those traditional types of ultra-masculine and ultra-feminine roles has led people into a terrible mess."

One of his favorites

But Bates is too much the professional to let personal belief stand in the way of a juicy part. This fall he will take to the airwaves in the unsympathetic title role of the BBC seven-part adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge," on public television. Bates calls the part of Michael Henchard, who is partly a scoundrel, one of his favorites.
If his portrayal puts off female admirers, the 44-year-old actor is sanguine, for sex symbol is not a role he cast himself in. Nor does he do anything to promote that image, keeping his private life obsessively private. He shuns Hollywood-type materialism, tools about London in an old Peugeot and tries to shed, rather than accumulate, possessions. To noises about his charisma, he simply says, "I'm glad that a lot of what I've done has worked."
Still, there is a hint of vanity. At a Los Angeles press conference, a panicky Bates kept reporters waiting while a studio official scoured the lot for a makeup man to cover the gray in Bates's beard. When none could be found, Bates reluctantly settled for a once-over with his wife's mascara. "I hope I don't start sweating and wind up with this dripping down my chest," he quipped.

Too mysterious to describe exactly

When Bates talks about acting, he turns deadly serious, if enigmatic. "Acting is too mysterious to describe exactly," he says. "If it's anything, it's an identification with something instinctive." Perhaps a similar identification keeps Bates rooted in Derbyshire, where he grew up. Although business demands he live in London -- he has a Victorian house in the chic Hampstead neighborhood -- he often escapes to his cottage in the familiar setting of that Midlands county.
Bates decided at age 11 that he wanted to be an actor. He worked exclusively in theater until 1960, when he made "The Entertainer." Since then, he's done 20 films.
"Alan is a monument of good taste and gentle sexuality," says Aaron Russo, producer of "The Rose." "His power is subtle, maybe more British than American. It doesn't knock you over the head as much as it holds you a willing captive." |||

Thanks to Claudette Harris for sharing this vintage article.

All rights reserved by US. Published 3 October 1978