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Granville Bates

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American actor (1882–1940

Granville Bates
Bates in My Favorite Wife (1940)
Born(1882-01-07)January 7, 1882
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJuly 8, 1940(1940-07-08) (aged 58)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting placeGraceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
OccupationActor
Years active1917–1940
Spouses
  • Pearl Dowell ​ ​(m. 1913; div. 1919)​
  • Josephine Weller ​(m. 1930)​

Granville Bates (January 7, 1882 – July 8, 1940) was an American character actor and bit player, appearing in over ninety films.

Biography

Bates was born in Chicago in 1882 to Granville Bates, Sr., a developer and builder, and Adaline Bates (née Gleason). He grew up in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago on the southeast corner of Evanston (now Broadway) Ave. and Oakdale Ave. in a townhouse that his father later demolished, along with all of the others on the block, to redevelop as a four-story commercial building with apartments above.

Bates began his film career in the 1910s with Essanay Studios of the Chicago film industry, and his World War I draft Registration Card listed him as a travelling actor for Francis Owen & Co. He appeared on Broadway in the late 1920s and early 1930s, notably in the original production of Merrily We Roll Along (1934) by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. He was also the Conductor in the original production of Twentieth Century (1932).

Bates' grave at Graceland Cemetery

From the 1930s, he appeared in a number of classic films, although sometimes uncredited. He received favorable notice for his character roles, such as in My Favorite Wife (1940), where he played an irascible judge – The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther wrote "Mr. Bates deserves a separate mention for his masterpiece of comic creation." Another New York Times reviewer noted that "Edward Ellis and Granville Bates provoked an early audience yesterday to gentle laughter in a brief but quietly amusing sequence" in Chatterbox (1936), while Crowther praised his work in Men Against the Sky (1940): "The players' performances are stock and pedestrian, excepting that of Granville Bates as a cynical banker".

Bates died of a heart attack in Hollywood on July 9, 1940. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Select stage credits

Run Title Character Playwright(s) Theater/Location
Nov 12, 1924 - Jan 1925 Silence Dr. Thorpe Max Marcin List
Oct 06, 1927 - Oct 22, 1927 My Princess Mitchell Edward Sheldon and Dorothy Donnelly List
Nov 07, 1927 - Nov 1927 The Stairs Gianfranchi Rosso di San Secondo List
Aug 27, 1928 - Dec 1928 Gentlemen of the Press Braddock Ward Morehouse List
Jan 08, 1930 - Jan 1930 So Was Napoleon (Sap from Syracuse) Solomon Hycross Jack O'Donnell and John Wray List
Sep 24, 1930 - Sep 05, 1931 Once in a Lifetime Bishop (replacement) Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman List
Feb 18, 1932 - Apr 1932 Trick for Trick Lieutenant Jed Dodson Vivian Crosby, Shirley Warde and Harry Wagstaff Gribble List
Sep 19, 1932 - Oct 1932 Lilly Turner Dave Turner George Abbott and Philip Dunning List
Dec 29, 1932 - May 20, 1933 Twentieth Century Conductor Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; Based on a play by Charles Bruce Millholland List
Sep 21, 1933 - Jan 1934 Double Door Mortimer Neff Elizabeth McFadden List
May 15, 1934 - Jun 02, 1934 Come What May Dr. Hughes Richard F. Flournoy List
Sep 29, 1934 - Feb 1935 Merrily We Roll Along Mr. Murney George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart List
  • - Music Box Theatre
  • - New York, NY
Feb 12, 1935 - Mar 1935 Rain Joe Horn John Colton and Clemence Randolph; from a story by W. Somerset Maugham List
  • - Music Box Theatre
  • - New York, NY


This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2022)

Filmography

References

  1. "GENERAL NOTICES - Champion Builders of Chicago". The Chicago Tribune. XXIII (213): 1. January 19, 1870.
  2. The Lakeview Directory. Chicago: R.R. Donnelly & Sons. 1888. p. 86.
  3. "Recent Sales, Leases and Loans". The Chicago Tribune. LIX (329): 38. November 25, 1900.
  4. "No Holiday for Death". Oakland (CA) Tribune. July 14, 1940. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  5. "Granville Bates". Playbill. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  6. "Twentieth Century". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database.
  7. Bosley Crowther (May 31, 1940). "The Screen; 'My Favorite Wife' a Lively Farce, With Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, at the Music Hall--2 Other Films". The New York Times.
  8. T. M. P. (February 15, 1936). "At the RKO Albee". The New York Times.
  9. Bosley Crowther (September 12, 1940). "The Screen; At the Rialto". The New York Times.
  10. "Veteran Actor Taken by Death". Los Angeles Times. July 10, 1940. p. 37. Retrieved November 21, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "OBITUARIES - Granville Bates". The Chicago Tribune. XCIX (167): 14. July 12, 1940.
  12. The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Volume 1. University of California Press. 1993. p. 63. ISBN 9780520079083. Retrieved January 1, 2018.

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