| Granville Bates | |
| Birth Date: | 1882 1, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Hollywood, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 1917–1940 |
Granville Bates (January 7, 1882 – July 8, 1940) was an American character actor and bit player, appearing in over ninety films.
Bates was born in Chicago in 1882 to Granville Bates, Sr., a developer and builder,[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]
Bates began his film career in the 1910s with Essanay Studios of the Chicago film industry,[4] 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.[5] He was also the Conductor in the original production of Twentieth Century (1932).[6]
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."[7] 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),[8] 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".[9]
Bates died of a heart attack in Hollywood on July 9, 1940.[10] He was buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.[11]
| Run | Title | Character | Playwright(s) | Theater/Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 1924 - Jan 1925 | Silence | Dr. Thorpe | |||
| Oct 06, 1927 - Oct 22, 1927 | My Princess | Mitchell | |||
| Nov 07, 1927 - Nov 1927 | The Stairs | Gianfranchi | |||
| Aug 27, 1928 - Dec 1928 | Gentlemen of the Press | Braddock | |||
| Jan 08, 1930 - Jan 1930 | So Was Napoleon (Sap from Syracuse) | Solomon Hycross | |||
| Sep 24, 1930 - Sep 05, 1931 | Once in a Lifetime | Bishop (replacement) | |||
| Feb 18, 1932 - Apr 1932 | Trick for Trick | Lieutenant Jed Dodson | Vivian Crosby, Shirley Warde and Harry Wagstaff Gribble | ||
| Sep 19, 1932 - Oct 1932 | Lilly Turner | Dave Turner | |||
| Dec 29, 1932 - May 20, 1933 | Twentieth Century | Conductor | Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur; Based on a play by Charles Bruce Millholland | ||
| Sep 21, 1933 - Jan 1934 | Double Door | Mortimer Neff | Elizabeth McFadden | ||
| May 15, 1934 - Jun 02, 1934 | Come What May | Dr. Hughes | Richard F. Flournoy | ||
| Sep 29, 1934 - Feb 1935 | Merrily We Roll Along | Mr. Murney | George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart | ||
| Feb 12, 1935 - Mar 1935 | Rain | Joe Horn |