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Florence Bates

Florence Bates

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).

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Movies Starring Florence Bates (60)

Paris Model (1953)

A new dress plays a key role in the lives of four women who are not acquainted with each other. ...

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Main Street to Broadway (1953)

In New York, a surly, down-on-his-heels playwright meets a country girl who's giving up trying to act and returning home. He goes with her for inspiration when his agent convinces a stage star to take his next effort. When he returns to Broadway, his girl ...

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Les Miserables (1952)

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France. ...

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The San Francisco Story (1952)

After five years of being away, Rick Nelson returns to San Francisco to find it filled with corruption - and crooked politicians. It isn't until he meets a beautiful San Franciscan, that Nelson decides to get involved with bringing law-and-order to the cit ...

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Havana Rose (1951)

Ambassador Rico DeMarco is in Washington trying to raise a five-million dollar loan for his country, Lower Salamia. Filbert Filmore and his domineering wife are about to sign on the dotted line for the loan when DeMarco's vivacious daughter, Estelita, upse ...

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The Tall Target (1951)

A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during a train ride headed for Washington in 1861. ...

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Father Takes the Air (1951)

In the fifth and final movie in Monogram's "Father" series, Henry Latham and Mayor Colton dream of reliving their WWI flying careers, leading to an increasingly antagonistic competition. ...

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Lullaby of Broadway (1951)

Pretty Melinda Howard has been abroad singing with a musical troupe. She decides to return home to surprise her mother whom she thinks is a successful Broadway star with a mansion in Manhattan. She doesn't know that her mother is actually a burnt-out cabar ...

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County Fair (1950)

"Ma" Ryan, who runs a burger stand at the county fair, asks daughter Loretta to put a bet on a horse that Loretta's boyfriend Tommy is riding. Unfortunately, Loretta mistakenly places the bet on the wrong horse. When she discovers her error she tries to ge ...

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The Second Woman (1950)

In flashback from a 'Rebecca'-style beginning: Ellen Foster, visiting her aunt on the California coast, meets neighbor Jeff Cohalan and his ultramodern clifftop house. Ellen is strongly attracted to Jeff, who's being plagued by unexplainable accidents, maj ...

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Belle of Old Mexico (1950)

Wealthy Kip Artmitage III (Robert Rockwell) honors his late wartime friend's request to look after the friend's "little sister. ...

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On the Town (1949)

Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City. ...

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The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)

Glamour artist Bob Randolph is world famous for his paintings of a stunning beauty dubbed "The Randolph Girl". What the world doesn't know is that his pin-up creation is really a composite of parts of the anatomy of 12 different models. In an effort to fin ...

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A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

A letter is addressed to three wives from their 'best friend', announcing that she's running away with one of their husbands – but she doesn't specify which one. ...

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Portrait of Jennie (1948)

A mysterious girl inspires a struggling artist. ...

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My Dear Secretary (1948)

A budding young writer thinks it's her lucky day when she is chosen to be the new secretary for Owen Waterbury, famous novelist. She is soon disppointed, however, when he turns out to be an erratic, immature playboy. Opposites attract, of course, but not w ...

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Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948)

Eddie Tayloe's grandfather leaves him six thousand dollars and the money belt it came in, freeing Tayloe to leave his dull newspaper job in Texas and move to New York to become a playwright. Along the way, his car breaks down and a girl walking along the h ...

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River Lady (1948)

In the 1850s, in a logging town on the Mississippi River, a conflict between the people of a mill town and the lumberjacks who work downriver. Romance and deceit are catalyzed by the arrival of the gambling river boat, River Lady, owned by the beautiful Se ...

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Winter Meeting (1948)

A repressed poetess and an embittered war hero help each other cope with their problems. ...

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The Inside Story (1948)

A collection agent arrives in a small town with $1000 for a local farmer. Whilst waiting for the farmer to arrive the money is put in a safe at a hotel for safe keeping. However, it is removed by mistake and solves a number of financial problems before it ...

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I Remember Mama (1948)

Norwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triump ...

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The Judge Steps Out (1947)

A judge flees the pressures of professional and family life for a job as a short-order cook. ...

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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According ...

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Love and Learn (1947)

A wealthy socialite bored with her life meets and falls in love with a struggling songwriter on the verge of leaving New York and quitting the music business. ...

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The Brasher Doubloon (1947)

Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock hires Marlowe to find an old rare coin, the Brasher Doubloon, that belonged in her deceased husband's collection. Marlowe begins investigating, but quickly finds himself entangled in a series of unexplained murders. ...

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The Man I Love (1946)

Tough torch singer Petey Brown, visiting her family, finds a nest of troubles: her sister, brother, and the neighbor's wife are involved in various ways with shady nightclub owner Nicky Toresca. Petey has what it takes to handle Nicky, but then she meets S ...

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The Time, The Place and The Girl (1946)

The stuffy manager of lovely opera singer Vicki Cassel and her uncle, a classical conductor, is determined to close down the noisy nightclub next door to the Cassels' home. The club's owners--Steve, a handsome ladies' man, and Jeff, his clownish sidekick-- ...

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Cluny Brown (1946)

Amateur plumber Cluny Brown gets sent off by her uncle to work as a servant at an English country estate. ...

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Claudia and David (1946)

The follow-up film to "Claudia", with Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young reprising their earlier roles as a young married couple living in a small Connecticut town. ...

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The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)

Celestine, the chamber-maid, has a new job in the country, at the Lanlaires. She has decided to use her beauty to seduce a wealthy man, but Mr. Lanlaire is not a right choice: the house is firmly controlled by Madame Lanlaire, helped by the strange valet J ...

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Whistle Stop (1946)

When beautiful Mary returns to her "whistle stop" hometown, long-standing feelings of animosity between two of her old boyfriends leads to robbery and murder. ...

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San Antonio (1945)

Rancher Clay Hardin arrives in San Antonio to search for and capture Roy Stuart, notorious leader of a gang of cattle rustlers. The vicious outlaw is indeed in the Texan town, intent on winning the affections of a beautiful chanteuse named Jeanne Starr. Wh ...

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Saratoga Trunk (1945)

An opportunistic Texas gambler and the exiled Creole daughter of an aristocratic family join forces to achieve justice from the society that has ostracized them. ...

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Out of This World (1945)

An all-girl band hits paydirt—and mud—when they sign a male crooner and then sell five 25% shares of his contract. ...

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Tonight and Every Night (1945)

An American girl falls for an RAF pilot while performing at a British music hall. ...

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Tahiti Nights (1944)

During World War Two, an American band leader, Jack (Dave O'Brien) arrives on a Tahitian island , and via a chain of unexpected events, soon finds himself soon about to be betrothed to Luana (Jinx Falkenburg), the princess of a local tribe. ...

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Belle of the Yukon (1944)

Left by a con man, Belle De Valle, a dancer, finds him again in gold-rush Alaska running an honest casino/dance hall. ...

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Kismet (1944)

Hafiz, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself. ...

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The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)

A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the ...

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His Butler's Sister (1943)

Aspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway. ...

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Heaven Can Wait (1943)

Spoiled playboy Henry van Cleve dies and arrives at the entrance to Hell, a final destination he is sure he deserves after living a life of profligacy. The devil, however, isn't so sure Henry meets Hell's standards. Convinced he is where he belongs, Henry ...

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Mr. Lucky (1943)

A conman poses as a war relief fundraiser, but when he falls for a charity worker, his conscience begins to trouble him. ...

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Mister Big (1943)

Students at the Davis School of the Theatre are assigned "Antigone" as their class play, but they conspire to do a swing musical instead. ...

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Slightly Dangerous (1943)

Small-town soda-jerk Peggy Evans quits her dead-end job and moves to New York where she invents a new identity. ...

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They Got Me Covered (1943)

Bumbling reporter Robert Kittredge has been fired after bungling his latest assignment. His career isn't all he's botched up: his girlfriend Chris is tired of waiting for him to marry her. When he gets a hot tip on some Nazi spies operating in Washington, ...

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My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1942)

A distinguished professor finds his well-ordered life tospy-turvy after he is forced to take in a pregnant widow. ...

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The Moon and Sixpence (1942)

Loosely inspired from Gauguin's life, the story of Charles Strickland, a middle-aged stockbrocker who abandons his middle-classed life, his family, his duties to start painting, what he has always wanted to do. He is from now on a awful human being, wholly ...

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The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942)

After a long absense from the island, Chester Tuttle returns to Tahiti to find that little has changed. His large family, particularly his scheming Uncle Jonas, would rather dance and romance than earn a living. When Jonas loses the family plantation in a ...

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We Were Dancing (1942)

A penniless former princess weds an equally cash-strapped baron, so they support themselves by becoming houseguests at the homes of wealthy American socialites. ...

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Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)

An advertising executive and his temperamental wife sail to Hawaii in search of business. The fifth entry (of eight) in the "Mexican Spitfire" comedy series. ...

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The Chocolate Soldier (1941)

Maria and Karl Lang are the singing duo of Vienna. Maria is very flirtatious and Karl very jealous. Karl decides to masquerade as a Russian guardsman and attempts to make Maria flirt with him - to test her loyalty to him - as the Russian, Karl makes a vigo ...

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Love Crazy (1941)

Circumstance, an old flame and a mother-in-law drive a happily married couple to the verge of divorce and insanity. ...

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Strange Alibi (1941)

An undercover cop finds himself on the wrong side of the law when the mob discovers his true identity. ...

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The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

The wealthiest man in the world, John P. Merrick, is a private person who likes to stay anonymous. One of his many assets is Neeley's Department Store. There is labor unrest at the store, and the employees' anger is directed at him, who they hang in effigy ...

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Road Show (1941)

Rich playboy Drogo Gaines is in imminent danger of marrying a gold digger, and escapes by feigning insanity. The joke's on him when he wakes up in an asylum full of comical lunatics. There he befriends Colonel Carraway, and together they escape, catching a ...

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Kitty Foyle (1940)

A hard-working, white-collar girl falls in love with a young socialite, but meets with his family's disapproval. ...

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Hudson's Bay (1940)

Highly fictionalized early history of Canada. Trapper/explorer Radisson imagines an empire around Hudson's Bay. He befriends the Indians, fights the French, and convinces King Charles II to sponsor an expedition of conquest. ...

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The Son of Monte Cristo (1940)

Rightful owner of the kingdom, the Duchess of Zona, is engaged in a power struggle with the evil General Gurko. Edmond, the son of Monte Cristo, dons many disguises to come to the aid of the Duchess. ...

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Calling All Husbands (1940)

A henpecked husband and his bossy wife are due for a surprise when the wife's former boyfriend unexpectedly turns up. ...

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Rebecca (1940)

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, who died mysteriously several years earlier. The young wife must come to grips with the terrible secret of her handsome, ...

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