Uncle Matthew Radlett Alan Bates Uncle Matthew, head of the Radlett family, was modeled on Nancy Mitford's own father, Lord Redesdale. Prone to volcanic eruptions, Uncle Matthew is forever roaring his outrageous views about anyone who happens to be anything other English. But actor Alan Bates thinks Matthew is sentimental at heart. "He is a lovable old softie, really. Underneath that mock rage and that fiery temper and extremely violent reaction to things, he can be very emotional, which is very interesting. A song can set him off, and I think it would have had an awful lot to do with his experiences during World War I." Bates, one of Britain's greatest actors, was drawn to Deborah Moggach's screenplay instantly. "You cannot help but have fun with a script like this," says Bates. "Uncle Matthew is so outrageous and so politically incorrect. And it's extraordinary to have the license to say such terrible things." In 1956, at the age of 22, Bates appeared in John Osbome's groundbreaking play, Look Back in Anger, which launched his rise to international fame. In 1960 he made his first film, The Entertainer, and more than 50 film roles followed, including The Fixer, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. His television credits include title roles in ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre's The Mayor of Casterbridge, Hard Time and Bertie and Elizabeth, as well as 0liver's Travels, Dr. Fischer of Geneva, and 102 Boulevard Haussmann. In Mitford's words: Uncle Matthew Radlett It was an accepted fact at Alconleigh that Uncle Matthew loathed me. This violent, uncontrolled man, like his children, knew no middle course; he either loved or he hated, and generally, it must be said, hated. His reason for hating me was that he hated my father; they were old Eton enemies. When it became obvious, and obvious it was from the hour of my conception, that my parents intended to doorstep me, Aunt Sadie had wanted to bring me up with Linda. We were the same age, and it had seemed a sensible plan. Uncle Matthew categorically refused. He hated my father, he said, he hated me, but above all he hated children, it was bad enough having two of his own. (He evidently had not envisioned so soon having seven, and indeed both he and Aunt Sadie lived in a perpetual state of surprise at having filled so many cradles, about the future of whose occupants they seemed to have no particular policy.) The Pursuit of Love, Chapter 2