Florence Bates

Acting

Florence Bates

Born 1888-04-13 · San Antonio, Texas, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Florence Bates (born Florence Rabe, April 15, 1888 – January 31, 1954) was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles. Her path to becoming an actress had many turns. She had a degree in Mathematics, taught school until married, then became the first Texas female lawyer. Then she became a bilingual radio commentator. After her husband lost her fortune, she and her husband opened a bakery in Los Angeles. In the mid-1930s, Bates auditioned for and won the role of Miss Bates in a Pasadena Playhouse adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. When she decided to continue working with the theatre group, she changed her professional name to that of the first character she played on stage. In 1939, she was introduced to Alfred Hitchcock, who cast her in her first major screen role, the vain dowager Mrs. Van Hopper, in Rebecca (1940). Bates appeared in more than sixty films over the course of the next thirteen years. Among her cinema credits are Kitty Foyle, Love Crazy, The Moon and Sixpence, Mr. Lucky, Heaven Can Wait, Lullaby of Broadway, Mister Big, Since You Went Away, Kismet, Saratoga Trunk, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Winter Meeting, I Remember Mama, Portrait of Jennie, A Letter to Three Wives, On the Town, and Les Misérables. In television, Bates had a regular role on The Hank McCune Show and made guest appearances on I Love Lucy, My Little Margie, I Married Joan and Our Miss Brooks.

Acting credits

Rebecca poster
7.9

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, cold husband, Max De Winter. She must also deal with the jealous, obsessed Mrs. Danvers, the housekeeper, who will not accept her as the mistress of the house.

Rebecca

1940

On the Town poster
7.0

Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.

On the Town

1949

I Remember Mama poster
7.2

Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.

I Remember Mama

1948

Kitty Foyle poster
6.6

A hard-working, white-collar girl falls in love with a young socialite, but meets with his family's disapproval.

Kitty Foyle

1940

Kismet poster
5.5

Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself.

Kismet

1944

A Letter to Three Wives poster
7.2

A letter is addressed to three wives from their 'best friend', announcing that she's running away with one of their husbands – but she doesn't specify which one.

A Letter to Three Wives

1949

Strange Alibi poster
7.2

An undercover cop finds himself on the wrong side of the law when the mob discovers his true identity.

Strange Alibi

1941

Portrait of Jennie poster
7.2

A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist.

Portrait of Jennie

1948

Heaven Can Wait poster
6.9

Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy. The devil, however, isn't so sure Henry meets Hell's standards. Convinced he is where he belongs, Henry recounts his life's deeds, both good and bad, including an act of indiscretion during his 25-year marriage to his wife, Martha, with the hope that "His Excellency" will arrive at the proper judgment.

Heaven Can Wait

1943

My Dear Secretary poster
6.1

A budding young writer thinks it's her lucky day when she is chosen to be the new secretary for Owen Waterbury, famous novelist. She is soon disppointed, however, when he turns out to be an erratic, immature playboy. Opposites attract, of course, but not without sub-plots that touch on competitiveness within marriage and responsibility.

My Dear Secretary

1948

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty poster
6.8

Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1947

Paris Model poster
3.6

A new dress plays a key role in the lives of four women who are not acquainted with each other.

Paris Model

1953

Cluny Brown poster
7.2

Amateur plumber Cluny Brown gets sent off by her uncle to work as a servant at an English country estate.

Cluny Brown

1946

Whistle Stop poster
4.4

When beautiful Mary returns to her "whistle stop" hometown, long-standing feelings of animosity between two of her old boyfriends leads to robbery and murder.

Whistle Stop

1946

The Tall Target poster
6.9

A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861.

The Tall Target

1951

The Mask of Dimitrios poster
7.1

A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.

The Mask of Dimitrios

1944

Love Crazy poster
6.8

Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity.

Love Crazy

1941

The Man I Love poster
6.1

Tough torch singer Petey Brown, visiting her family, finds a nest of troubles: her sister, brother, and the neighbor's wife are involved in various ways with shady nightclub owner Nicky Toresca. Petey has what it takes to handle Nicky, but then she meets San Thomas, a formerly great jazz pianist now on the skids, and falls hard for him.

The Man I Love

1946

Mr. Lucky poster
7.2

A conman poses as a war relief fundraiser, but when he falls for a charity worker, his conscience begins to trouble him.

Mr. Lucky

1943

The Diary of a Chambermaid poster
6.2

Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet Joseph. Then she tries the neighbour, former officer Mauger. This seems to work. But soon the son of the Lanlaires comes back. He is young, attractive and does not share his mother's antirepublican opinions. So Celestine's beauty attracts Captain Mauger, young Georges Lanlaire, and Joseph. Three men, from three different social classes, with three different conceptions of life. Will Celestine be able to convince Georges of her sincerity?

The Diary of a Chambermaid

1946

Main Street to Broadway poster
7.3

In New York, a surly, down-on-his-heels playwright meets a country girl who's giving up trying to act and returning home. He goes with her for inspiration when his agent convinces a stage star to take his next effort. When he returns to Broadway, his girl stays behind and starts seeing a local businessman.

Main Street to Broadway

1953

The Devil and Miss Jones poster
7.6

The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy outside the store despite not knowing what he looks like. Merrick, not happy at what he sees going on, decides to mete out the rabble-rousers. So he goes undercover as a sales clerk in the shoe department.

The Devil and Miss Jones

1941

San Antonio poster
6.1

Rancher Clay Hardin arrives in San Antonio to search for and capture Roy Stuart, notorious leader of a gang of cattle rustlers. The vicious outlaw is indeed in the Texan town, intent on winning the affections of a beautiful chanteuse named Jeanne Starr. When the lovely lady meets and falls in love with the charismatic Hardin, the stakes for both men become higher.

San Antonio

1945

Les Miserables poster
5.5

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

Les Miserables

1952