After his son Tristan's death aged 19 from an asthma attack, Bates and his other son Benedick, Tristan's twin, established the Tristan Bates Theatre at the Actors' Centre in Covent Garden.
His health has been generally good in recent years but in his memoirs - Robin Cook: The Point Of Departure - he described fainting at a restaurant in Covent Garden in July 2002. He was taken to ...