Florence Bates

Florence Bates

  • Birthday: 1888-04-13
  • Deathday: 1954-01-31
  • Place of birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA
  • Also know as: Florence Rabe

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.

Filmography

Tahiti Nights

1944

As Queen Liliha

The Brasher Doubloon

1947

As Mrs. Murdock

Calling All Husbands

1940

As Emmie Trippe

County Fair

1950

As Nora 'Ma' Ryan

The Second Woman

1950

As Amelia Foster

The Son of Monte Cristo

1940

As Countess Mathilde Von Braun

The Chocolate Soldier

1941

As Madame Helene

My Heart Belongs to Daddy

1942

As Mrs. Saunders

Havana Rose

1951

As Mrs. Fillmore

Love Crazy

1941

As Mrs. Cooper

Winter Meeting

1948

As Mrs. Castle

San Antonio

1945

As Henrietta

Strange Alibi

1941

As Katie

The Judge Steps Out

1947

As Chita

Belle of Old Mexico

1950

As Nellie Chatfield

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

1947

As Mrs. Griswold

Lullaby of Broadway

1951

As Mrs. Anna Hubbell

The Moon and Sixpence

1942

As Tiare Johnson

River Lady

1948

As Ma Dunnegan

The Tuttles of Tahiti

1942

As Emily

The Inside Story

1948

As Geraldine Atherton

Mexican Spitfire at Sea

1942

As Mrs. Baldwin

Paris Model

1953

As Nora Sullivan

My Dear Secretary

1948

As Horrible Hannah Reeve (the landlady)

Saratoga Trunk

1945

As Sophie Bellop

Father Takes the Air

1951

As Minerva Bobbin

The Mask of Dimitrios

1944

As Madame Elise Chavez

Kismet

1944

As Karsha

Whistle Stop

1946

As Molly Veech

Slightly Dangerous

1943

As Mrs. Amanda Roanoke-Brooke

Out of This World

1945

As Harriet Pringle

The Girl from Jones Beach

1949

As Miss Emma Shoemaker

On the Town

1949

As Madame Dilyovska

Portrait of Jennie

1948

As Mrs. Jekes

Claudia and David

1946

As Nancy Riddle

The Time, The Place and The Girl

1946

As Mme. Lucia Cassel

Love and Learn

1947

As Mrs. Bella Davis - Landlady

Rebecca

1940

As Edythe Van Hopper

The Tall Target

1951

As Mrs. Charlotte Alsop

I Remember Mama

1948

As Florence Dana Moorhead

Belle of the Yukon

1944

As Viola Chase

A Letter to Three Wives

1949

As Mrs. Manleigh

We Were Dancing

1942

As Mrs. Elsa Vanderlip

His Butler's Sister

1943

As Lady Sloughberry

Tonight and Every Night

1945

As May Tolliver

Mister Big

1943

As Mrs. Mary Davis

They Got Me Covered

1943

As Gypsy Woman

Mr. Lucky

1943

As Mrs. Van Every

Les Miserables

1952

As Madame Bonnet

Road Show

1941

As Mrs. Newton

Cluny Brown

1946

As Dowager at Ames's Party

Heaven Can Wait

1943

As Mrs. Edna Craig (uncredited)

The Devil and Miss Jones

1941

As Store Shopper

Kitty Foyle

1940

As Customer

Main Street to Broadway

1953

As Mrs. Bessmer in Fantasy Sequence

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