Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film) fell off a steep cliff. Ignoring Gabriel's love, Bathsheba impulsively sends a valentine to William Boldwood (Peter Finch), a nearby gentleman farmer. When he misinterprets her capriciousness and proposes to her, Bathsheba promises to consider his offer. But she becomes enamoured of Frank Troy (Terence Stamp), a dashing cavalry sergeant. Troy was supposed to marry young Fanny Robin (Prunella Ransome), a maidservant pregnant with his child, but she went to the wrong church on their wedding day, and Troy was then posted out of town. Bathsheba marries him after his return. Troy gambles away most of Bathsheba's money and creates
Alan Bates several plays for television in Britain. In 1960 he appeared in "The Entertainer" opposite Laurence Olivier, his first film role. Bates worked for the "Padded Wagon Moving Company" in the early 1960s while acting at the "Circle in the Square Theatre" in New York City. Throughout the 1960s he starred in several major films including "Whistle Down the Wind" (1961), "A Kind of Loving" (1962), "Zorba the Greek" (1964), Philippe de Broca's "King of Hearts" (1966), "Georgy Girl" (1966), "Far From the Madding Crowd" (1967) and the Bernard Malamud film "The Fixer" (1968), which earned him an Academy Award nomination