Alan Bates's £95,000 for secret lover who nursed him through his final days

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Bates with Joanna in 1964

She was the secret mistress of Sir Alan Bates who remained in the shadows until his final days.

But the legendary actor honoured Joanna Pettet on his deathbed by giving her £95,000 from his £1.5million estate.

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Bates amended his will during his final days in hospital to include former Bond girl Joanna, with whom he had fallen in love on the set of a Broadway play 40 years earlier.

Joanna, 64, said: "It was a very touching gesture because he had done everything while he was in hospital to make sure I would be looked after following his death."

The pair first met when they appeared in Poor Richard in 1964. Joanna, then aged 22, was a last-minute replacement for Shirley Knight, who quit shortly before the production was due to open in New York.

"I just saw Alan and I felt weak,' Joanna said. "I thought he was just magnificent."

They soon embarked on a passionate affair but their relationship petered out when the play finished its run.

The London-born actress went on to star in the original Casino Royale in 1967, playing Mata Bond, and a year later married American actor Alex Cord.

Bates, who famously wrestled naked with Oliver Reed in Women In Love, married model and actress Victoria Ward in 1970, but the pair remained friends. "I saw Alan a lot, whenever I was in Britain or he was in America, but I never met him with Victoria,' Joanna said.

Then a series of tragedies brought them closer once again. First Bates's son Tristan, 19, collapsed and died at a party in 1990 after an asthma attack. Victoria developed a disease similar to anorexia and died in 1992, stricken by grief.

Five years later, Joanna's son Damien lapsed into a coma after a heroin overdose and she had to make the harrowing decision to turn off his life-support machine.

She said: "We had that bond that nobody should share. Parents of children who have died cluster together like alcoholics, all sharing the same misery. I realised when Damien died how bad it had been for Alan.

"By then, he had reached the age where he could begin to talk about things. He was actually a shy man. Of course, in company he was a great raconteur and had a great wit. But he was a child of the Fifties - reserved and reluctant to reveal anything of himself."

The pair rekindled their relationship in 2002. Joanna left her home in Arizona and flew to Britain just before Christmas.

The next two months were the happiest of her life - but that joy was shattered when Bates was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February 2003. "It was horrible. We had all these plans and I could just see it crumble away. But he was so brave. We never talked about him dying,' she said.

The following month, Bates received his knighthood. "It was just the most fantastic day,' said Joanna. "Alan was having chemotherapy and he joked, "At least I kept my hair until I met the Queen"."

Bates, who died in December 2003, spent his final month in hospital, surrounded by friends. "He had so many visitors,' said Joanna. "He said, "They all want to say they were the last ones to speak to Alan Bates. I've got to give them a good last line". He was such a joy to be with, even then."

Joanna, who has since moved back to America, added: "I'm just grateful to have had that time with him but I do miss him."

Bates's surviving son,Ben, said: "I remember him saying how great Joanna was. She was very helpful, giving him companionship at a difficult time."

 

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