Florence Bates

Florence Bates (born Florence Rabe,[1] April 15, 1888 – January 31, 1954) was an American film and stage character actress who often played grande dame characters in supporting roles.

Florence Bates
Bates in Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948)
Born
Florence Rabe

(1888-04-15)April 15, 1888
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
DiedJanuary 31, 1954(1954-01-31) (aged 65)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
OccupationActress
Years active1937–1953
Spouse(s)?
(m. 1909; div. 19??)
William F. Jacoby
​
​
(m. 1929; died 1951)​
Children1

Life and career

Born in San Antonio, Texas, the second child of Jewish immigrants, Bates showed musical talent as a child, but a hand injury inhibited her from continuing her piano studies. In 1906, she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in mathematics, after which she taught school.[2]

In 1909, she met and married her first husband and gave up her career to raise their daughter. When that marriage ended in divorce, she began to study law and, in 1914 at the age of 26, passed the bar examination. She was the first female lawyer in her home state and practiced law for four years in San Antonio.[3]

After the death of her parents, Bates left the legal profession to help her sister operate their father's antique business. She became a bilingual (English—Spanish) radio commentator whose program was designed to foster good relations between the United States and Mexico. In 1929, following the stock market crash and the death of her sister, Florence closed the antique shop and married a wealthy businessman, William F. Jacoby. When he lost his fortune, the couple moved to Los Angeles and opened a bakery, which proved a successful venture. They sold it in the 1940s.[3]

Laurence Olivier, Florence Bates and Joan Fontaine in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940)

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 theater 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 widowed Mrs. Van Hopper, in Rebecca (1940).[4]

Bates appeared in more than 60 films over the course of the next 13 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 [5] and Our Miss Brooks.[6]

Selected filmography

References
  1. Ellenberger, Allan R. (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. p. 35. ISBN 9780786450190. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  2. Gordon, Dr Roger L. (2018). Supporting Actors in Motion Pictures. Dorrance Publishing. pp. 102–103. ISBN 978-1-4809-4499-2. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  3. Cottrell, Debbie Mauldin. "Jacoby, Florence Rabe". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  4. Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-55783-551-2. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  5. Joan Davis Channel, YouTube, 2 episodes: "Ballet" and "Lost Check"
  6. Florence Bates at IMDb

Further reading
  • Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Florence Bates". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.
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