Alan Bates

Bates was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1996, and was knighted in 2003.He died of pancreatic cancer. He is best known as Ritchie Cunningham's father, Howard in the long running sitcom Happy Days but he also portrayed the titular Father Frank Dowling on the TV mystery series, Father Dowling Mysteries. On television, his parts ranged from classic roles such as The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978) to Guy Burgess in An Englishman Abroad (1983) to the storyteller in the 2000 version of the Arabian Nights. LaGuardia in the long-running Broadway musical Fiorello! (1959) for which he won a Tony Award. Bates starred in such international hit films as Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd, Zorba the Greek, An Unmarried Woman and Women in Love, but he consciously decided to concentrate on a few well-defined roles, rather than to take everything that came his way. His breakthrough stage part was as New York's Mayor Fiorello H. He was married to the actress, Victoria Ward, from 1970 until her death in 1992; they had two sons. While attending DePaul University in Chicago in 1947, he made his stage debut in Our Town with the Canterbury Players at the Fine Arts Theatre.

He soon starred in Whistle Down the Wind, and in the Bernard Malamud film The Fixer, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Bosley was born in Chicago, Illinois and during World War II he served in the U.S. Navy. Four years later, he appeared in The Entertainer, his first film role. Thomas Edward Bosley (born October 1, 1927) is an American actor. In 1956, he debuted on stage in the West End, starring in Look Back in Anger, a role which made him a star. Born in Derbyshire, Bates earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he studied before leaving to join the Royal Air Force.

Sir Alan Arthur Bates (February 17, 1934 - December 27, 2003) was a British actor.