Person Details

Birthday: 1888-04-15 16:06:16

Death: 1954-01-31 16:06:16

Aliases: Florence Rabe

Gender: Female

Place of birth: San Antonio, Texas, USA

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 24

TV Involvements: 1


Most Famous Work

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.

Most Famous Work

Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Average
8

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

(1955) Mrs. Van Hopper (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rebecca
Average
8

Rebecca

(1940) Edythe Van Hopper
A Letter to Three Wives
Average
7

A Letter to Three Wives

(1949) Mrs. Manleigh
Portrait of Jennie
Average
7

Portrait of Jennie

(1948) Mrs. Jekes
The Tall Target
Average
7

The Tall Target

(1951) Mrs. Charlotte Alsop
I Remember Mama
Average
7

I Remember Mama

(1948) Florence Dana Moorhead
Whistle Stop
Average
5

Whistle Stop

(1946) Molly Veech
Kismet
Average
5

Kismet

(1944) Karsha

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1955 Mrs. Van Hopper (archive footage) (uncredited)
1953 Nora Sullivan
Mrs. Bessmer in Fantasy Sequence
1952 Ottilie
Madame Bonnet
Sadie
1951 Mrs. Pettebone
Mrs. Fillmore
Mrs. Charlotte Alsop
Minerva Bobbin
Mrs. Anna Hubbell
1950 Nora 'Ma' Ryan
Amelia Foster
Nellie Chatfield
1949 Madame Dilyovska
Miss Emma Shoemaker
Mrs. Manleigh
1948 Mrs. Jekes
Horrible Hannah Reeve (the landlady)
Mandy
Ma Dunnegan
Mrs. Castle
Geraldine Atherton
Florence Dana Moorhead
1947 Chita
Mrs. Griswold
Mrs. Bella Davis - Landlady
Mrs. Murdock
1946 Mme. Lucia Cassel
Dowager at Ames's Party
Nancy Riddle
Rose
Molly Veech
1945 Henrietta
Sophie Bellop
Harriet Pringle
May Tolliver
1944 Queen Liliha
Viola Chase
Karsha
Madame Elise Chavez
1943 Lady Sloughberry
Mrs. Edna Craig (uncredited)
Mrs. Van Every
Mrs. Mary Davis
Mrs. Amanda Roanoke-Brooke
Gypsy Woman
1942 Mrs. Saunders
Tiare Johnson
Emily
Mrs. Elsa Vanderlip
Mrs. Baldwin
1941 Madame Helene
Mrs. Cooper
Katie
Store Shopper
Mrs. Newton
1940 Customer
Countess Mathilde Von Braun
Emmie Trippe
Edythe Van Hopper
Year Character Movie/Tv

Join the discussion

Please Log in to comment