Florence Bates
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 13, 1888
- Died
- January 31, 1954 (aged 65)
- Birthplace
- San Antonio, Texas, USA
Biography
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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
Main Street to Broadway
Movie · as Mrs. Bessmer in Fantasy Sequence
Paris Model
Movie · as Nora Sullivan
Les Miserables
Movie · as Madame Bonnet
The San Francisco Story
Movie · as Sadie
Four Star Playhouse
TV · as Ottilie · 1 ep
The Tall Target
Movie · as Mrs. Charlotte Alsop
Lullaby of Broadway
Movie · as Mrs. Anna Hubbell
Father Takes the Air
Movie · as Minerva Bobbin
Havana Rose
Movie · as Mrs. Fillmore
I Love Lucy
TV · as Mrs. Pettebone · 1 ep
Belle of Old Mexico
Movie · as Nellie Chatfield
The Second Woman
Movie · as Amelia Foster
County Fair
Movie · as Nora 'Ma' Ryan
Dick Tracy
TV · as Mrs. Frothingham · 1 ep
A Letter to Three Wives
Movie · as Mrs. Manleigh
The Girl from Jones Beach
Movie · as Miss Emma Shoemaker
On the Town
Movie · as Madame Dilyovska
I Remember Mama
Movie · as Florence Dana Moorhead
Winter Meeting
Movie · as Mrs. Castle
River Lady
Movie · as Ma Dunnegan
The Inside Story
Movie · as Geraldine Atherton
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven
Movie · as Mandy
My Dear Secretary
Movie · as Horrible Hannah Reeve (the landlady)
Portrait of Jennie
Movie · as Mrs. Jekes
The Brasher Doubloon
Movie · as Mrs. Murdock
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Movie · as Mrs. Griswold
The Judge Steps Out
Movie · as Chita
Love and Learn
Movie · as Mrs. Bella Davis - Landlady
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Movie · as Rose
Cluny Brown
Movie · as Dowager at Ames's Party
Whistle Stop
Movie · as Molly Veech
Claudia and David
Movie · as Nancy Riddle
The Time, The Place and The Girl
Movie · as Mme. Lucia Cassel
The Man I Love
Movie · as Mrs. Thorpe (uncredited)
Tonight and Every Night
Movie · as May Tolliver
San Antonio
Movie · as Henrietta
Out of This World
Movie · as Harriet Pringle
Saratoga Trunk
Movie · as Sophie Bellop
Tahiti Nights
Movie · as Queen Liliha
The Mask of Dimitrios
Movie · as Madame Elise Chavez
Kismet
Movie · as Karsha
Belle of the Yukon
Movie · as Viola Chase
Mr. Lucky
Movie · as Mrs. Van Every
Slightly Dangerous
Movie · as Mrs. Amanda Roanoke-Brooke
Mister Big
Movie · as Mrs. Mary Davis
Heaven Can Wait
Movie · as Mrs. Edna Craig (uncredited)
They Got Me Covered
Movie · as Gypsy Woman
His Butler's Sister
Movie · as Lady Sloughberry
The Moon and Sixpence
Movie · as Tiare Johnson
The Tuttles of Tahiti
Movie · as Emily
We Were Dancing
Movie · as Mrs. Elsa Vanderlip
Mexican Spitfire at Sea
Movie · as Mrs. Baldwin
My Heart Belongs to Daddy
Movie · as Mrs. Saunders
Love Crazy
Movie · as Mrs. Cooper
The Devil and Miss Jones
Movie · as Store Shopper
Strange Alibi
Movie · as Katie
The Chocolate Soldier
Movie · as Madame Helene
Road Show
Movie · as Mrs. Newton
Rebecca
Movie · as Edythe Van Hopper
The Son of Monte Cristo
Movie · as Countess Mathilde Von Braun
Calling All Husbands
Movie · as Emmie Trippe
Kitty Foyle
Movie · as Customer
Hudson's Bay
Movie · as Duchess (scenes deleted)