Ralph Bates (12 February 1940 – 27 March 1991) was an English film and television actor, best known for his role in the British sitcom, Dear John (1986).
Bates was born in Bristol, England, of French ancestry (he was a distant relative of Louis Pasteur) and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He read French there, before winning a scholarship to Yale Drama School. The course completed, Bates returned to Ireland to make his stage debut in Shaw's '...
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Ralph Bates (12 February 1940 – 27 March 1991) was an English film and television actor, best known for his role in the British sitcom, Dear John (1986).
Bates was born in Bristol, England, of French ancestry (he was a distant relative of Louis Pasteur) and educated at Trinity College Dublin. He read French there, before winning a scholarship to Yale Drama School. The course completed, Bates returned to Ireland to make his stage debut in Shaw's 'You Never Can Tell', at The Gate Theatre, Dublin, in 1963. A career in repertory theatre soon followed and the young actor gained experience in productions ranging from Hedda Gabler, to raucous comedies.
Later, Bates carved a niche in the world of horror films and played important roles or the lead in several Hammer horror productions, such as Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Lust for a Vampire, and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, in which he played a deranged doctor who mistakenly transforms himself into a beautiful...
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