A private celebration of Alan's life, attended by family and colleagues, was held at the intimate Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London, on 26 September. Twenty speakers shared memories or read poems, punctuated by film clips. Here is a report from the Derby Evening Telegraph, followed by a list of the participants and clips. The photos of the Bates family and Ben with Alan are from the programme (above)

The Stars Are Out for Sir Alan
Derby Evening Telegraph, 28 September 2004

When Sir Alan Bates died in December last year, the theatrical world lost one of its best-loved sons. On Sunday, [26 September] a celebration of the Allestree-born actor's life and work was held at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London. It was attended by a galaxy of stars from stage and screen, as well as his friends and family. Feature writer Robin Johnson was there to capture Sir Alan's final encore.

In his career, actor Sir Alan Bates played thousands of scenes - but there was one scene that he kept coming back to.
And that was the view from his house in Bradbourne, near Ashbourne, in his home county of Derbyshire. Despite worldwide fame for his work in film and on stage and the showbiz trappings that accompanied it, Sir Alan never forgot his roots and always found himself returning to Derbyshire.
The eldest of three brothers, Sir Alan was born and raised in Derwent Avenue, Allestree, the son of an insurance broker and a housewife who were both amateur musicians.
They both encouraged him to think about a career as a concert pianist. But, aged 11, while he was a pupil at Herbert Strutt Grammar School in Belper, he discovered his love of acting.
He proved to be a natural. Before he succumbed to cancer in December last year aged 69, Sir Alan had appeared in more than 50 films and numerous stage productions.
As well as being regarded as one of the country's finest actors, who always made a big impression on his audience, Sir Alan also had the same effect on the people he met in "real life".
On Sunday, his friends and family gathered at the venue where his acting career first took off in the mid-1950s - London's Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square, where he was a member of the English Stage Company.
To have called it a memorial service would have been wrong - instead, it was billed as a celebration of his life and work.
The gathering, which was a Who's Who of British stage and screen, packed into the intimate little theatre to pay tribute to their friend.
The tributes were warm, funny, moving, sometimes gushing, but undisputedly heartfelt.
The celebration saw distinguished colleagues take to the stage, sharing their own personal memories, interspersed with some of his greatest moments on film projected behind them.
It began with the lights dimming and a fascinating five-minute montage of some of his work, which brought laughter and coos of admiration.
The lights went up slightly for playwright Harold Pinter, who cast Sir Alan as Mick, opposite Donald Pleasance, in the stage version of The Caretaker in 1960 and the film version in 1964.
"I'm still finding it very difficult to accept the fact that Alan has died," he said. "He had the flame of life in him. He inspired love and admiration in so many people - the remarkable gallery here testifies that to great effect.
"He had a sense of humour that was mischievous and wicked in a droll way. As an actor, he was a man of quite extraordinary range."
Perhaps one of Sir Alan's most poignant performances came in 1961's Whistle Down the Wind, an allegorical tale of a man on the run, played by Sir Alan, who is mistaken by a group of children for Jesus. One of them was child star Hayley Mills.
Hayley, and the film's director, Bryan Forbes, took to the stage.
"On the way here, I thought, wouldn't it be nice if we had this kind of celebration when the person was alive," said Bryan.
"I would have wanted to say these things to Alan's face - such as how lucky I was to have him as a leading man in the first film I ever directed.
"Someone once said that acting is like carving a sculpture in snow - Alan's performance has not melted.
"He was a beautiful man and actor. I don't think I ever heard anyone speak ill of him.
"Today, the will of celebrity has debased the word 'star'. But Alan had star quality in spades."
"I was enormously privileged to work with him," said Hayley. "I remember sharing a car with him as we drove to the set and he was so sweet, gentle and unassuming. He was really quite shy.
"I loved working with him. I always wished I'd told him how much he meant to me."
Following a clip of Whistle Down the Wind, Sir Alan's sense of fun was celebrated by a former fellow student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and flatmate, Keith Baxter.
"The first thing I ever said to Alan was 'you've eaten my sticky bun'," laughed Keith. "I was at the academy and someone knocked my hand. It flew across the room and landed in Alan's lap, who then proceeded to eat it. I went over and he put out his hand. I knew then he was going to be the most instantly likeable person I'd ever meet."
Keith shared stories of parties at Primrose Mansions, the house they shared as drama students.
A recorded message was played from Michael Cacoyannis, who worked with Sir Alan on one of his greatest films, Zorba the Greek, in 1964, and who thanked him for his friendship.
Perhaps a memory of Sir Alan that will live on in the minds of cinema-goers is that famous scene from Zorba, where Anthony Quinn's character teaches him to dance.
But up there, too, is that scene in Women in Love (1969), when Sir Alan wrestles naked with Oliver Reed in front of the fire.
"Everyone goes on about that scene," said co-star Glenda Jackson. "No-one seems to remember that I never wore any clothes in the film. I have many memories of being in freezing Derbyshire lakes." (Some of the filming took place at Chatsworth House). "One of the things I admired about Alan was that, over the years, he became better and better as an actor, he shared himself with the most amazing generosity. It was a great privilege to watch him act."
Nickolas Grace, who worked with Sir Alan on a production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in 1973, said: "Working with Alan, I've never laughed so much."
Malcolm McDowell, his co-star in a film called Royal Flash in 1975, told the audience the secret of how to be Sir Alan's friend. "Alan was given a white costume and he thought that it made him look fat," he said. "I found that, if you said to Alan 'wow! You've lost weight', he would be your friend. We had a fun relationship, teasing each other all the time. In fact, I can't remember us ever having a serious conversation."
Sir Alan's good looks bagged him many parts with talented leading ladies. Sheila Ballantyne, Celia Imrie, Joanna David, Felicity Kendal, Charlotte Rampling, Frances de la Tour, Gemma Jones and Eileen Atkins all took to the stage to give their tributes and read poems.
Celia Imrie, who had starred with him in the film Love in a Cold Climate, in 2001, said: "He was my hero. He was the most modest, naughtiest and nicest man I'd ever met."
It was a moving evening, but you knew that the next moment of mirth was never far away.
Perhaps the biggest laugh of the night was reserved for playwright Alan Bennett, for whom Sir Alan had starred in the 1983 film An Englishman Abroad. "He'd invited me up to his home in Derbyshire and we went to his local butcher's shop in Ashbourne," he recalled. "When we got in there, the butcher said: 'Aye up, Alan, still living well and doing nowt?'. That was it - to Alan, acting was a pushover."
After the celebration, Sir Alan's colleagues and family retired to the theatre bar to share their memories.
Every which way you turned there was a star name: Alan Rickman, Edward Fox, Tim Piggott-Smith, Nanette Newman, Sandra Dickinson and Zoe Wanamaker to name but a few.
Edward Fox starred alongside Sir Alan in The Go-Between in 1970 and had been a friend ever since. "To have a life so genuinely lived makes him a very remarkable human being," he told the Evening Telegraph. "The celebration was marvellous. Theatre people always do the right thing by their own and I think that was shown tonight."
"Acting came so easily to him. I hated him a lot for that!" joked Alan Rickman.
Mingling among the stars were some of Sir Alan's family, including brother Martin and Alan's niece, Lauren (17). "It was a memorable and fitting night," said Martin.
There was also a sizeable Derby contingent among the crowd, including former Derby Playhouse artistic director Mark Clements and Andrew McIntyre, from the Metro Cinema, in Green Lane. "Alan was always very keen to come back to his roots," said Andrew. "I had the privilege of meeting him on a couple of occasions. My earliest recollection of him as an actor is in Whistle Down the Wind. It's a wonderful film."
Also there was Allestree film-maker Jason Millward, now of London, who was with mum Dorothy, a good friend of the Bates family when they lived in Derby. Sir Alan provided a eulogy for a funeral scene in Jason's film Meanwhile, one of the last projects he took on before his death. "I grew up in Allestree, just one street away from him," Jason said. "My mum used to get the bus in with his dad."
Away from his successes on screen, Sir Alan's personal life suffered two great tragedies.
He was the father of twin sons, Ben and Tristan, and was devastated when Tristan died at the age of 19 in 1990 following an asthma attack. Two years later, his wife, Victoria Ward, died.
So, it seemed fitting that the final word was left to Ben, who is also an actor. "It was a very special night for me and my dad," he said. "He had the ability to make you feel like you were his best friend. He was our best friend."
He was also Derbyshire's best friend. |||