by Hal Erickson
biography
Owl-faced Granville Bates began scowling his way through films in 1929. At one juncture in the mid-1930s, it was virtually impossible not to see Bates on screen; between 1936 and 1939, he appeared in 46 films-an average of 11 per year! Most often cast as dyspeptic grandpops and truculent storekeepers, he was particularly well-served in two of director Garson Kanin's RKO productions. In 1939's The Great Man Votes, Bates played the corrupt, bird-brained incumbent mayor; and in 1940's My Favorite Wife he was seen as the bewildered judge. Granville Bates continued working right up to his fatal heart attack in the summer of 1940.
