Michael Bates

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Michael Hammond Bates was an Indianborn English actor He was educated at Uppingham School in Rutland and St Catharines College Cambridge Bates served as a Major serving with the Brigade of Gurkhas in Burma before his discharge at the end of World War II In 1953 while an ensemble member with the Stratford Festival in Stratford Ontario he appeared in Richard III and Alls Well That Ends Well In 1956 he appeared in Hotel Paradiso which starred Alec Guinness at the Winter Garden Theatre in London He appeared in many UK television series including Last of the Summer Wine from 1973 to 1975 as Cyril Blamire and It Aint Half Hot Mum from 1974 to 1977 as Rangi Ram as well as many others His role as Rangi Ram caused some controversy as it required Bates to be madeup with fake tan to look like an Indian which he took to naturally as he was born in India and spoke the Hindi language fluently On radio he played a variety of characters in the BBCs longrunning comedy series The Navy Lark These were Able Seaman Ginger Lt Bates Rear Admiral Ironbridge the Padre and Captain Ignatius Aloysius Atchison Bates film roles include Battle of Britain 1969 as Warrant Officer Warwick Oh What a Lovely War 1969 as a Lancecorporal Patton 1970 as Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery to whom he bore a striking resemblance Frenzy 1972 by Alfred Hitchcock and the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange 1971 On stage he did Shakespeare at Stratford and the Old Vic and made a big impression as Inspector Truscott in the West End production of Loot by Joe Orton in 1966 He died of cancer in Cambridge aged 57 Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Bates actor licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia