Kathy Bates

IMDB profile

Add to favorites

Edit page

Search at Amazon

Stats

Birth Name: Kathleen Doyle Bates

Age: 76, born 28 June 1948

Country of origin: United States

Height: 5' 3"

Lists

355 votes

Women With Weapons (463 items)
list by Kev64

Published 1 week, 5 days ago

47 comments

159 votes

Greatest Movie Villains (92 items)
list by Adriano Lopes

Published 15 years, 6 months ago

19 comments

120 votes

For the ♥ of "Bad" (87 items)
list by Chani

Published 15 years, 9 months ago

23 comments

117 votes

I won an Oscar... (158 items)
list by propelas

Published 12 years, 2 months ago

12 comments

110 votes

Best perfomances in cinema (89 items)
list by propelas

Published 14 years, 4 months ago

13 comments

View all Kathy Bates lists

Photos

11 votes

6 votes

5 votes

View all Kathy Bates pictures

Description: Kathleen Doyle Bates was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters born to Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer, and his homemaker wife Bertye Talbot. Kathy's great-great Irish grandfather, who emigrated to New Orleans, once served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She discovered acting appearing in high school plays and studied drama at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1969. With her mind firmly set, she moved to New York City in 1970 and paid her dues by working everything from a cash register to taking lunch orders. She scored a tour-de-farce performance alongside Christopher Kathleen Doyle Bates was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters born to Langdon Doyle Bates, a mechanical engineer, and his homemaker wife Bertye Talbot. Kathy's great-great Irish grandfather, who emigrated to New Orleans, once served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She discovered acting appearing in high school plays and studied drama at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1969. With her mind firmly set, she moved to New York City in 1970 and paid her dues by working everything from a cash register to taking lunch orders. She scored a tour-de-farce performance alongside Christopher Walken at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre in Lanford Wilson's world premiere of "Lemon Sky" in 1970 -- but she also had a foreshadowing of the heartbreak to come when the successful show relocated to New York's off-Broadway Playhouse Theatre without Kathy. Walken wound up winning a Drama Desk award.

By the mid-to-late 1970s Kathy was trotting the boards frequently as a rising young actress of the New York and regional theater scene. She appeared in "Casserole" and "A Quality of Mercy" (both 1975) before earning exceptional reviews for her role of Joanne in "Vanities". She took her first Broadway curtain call in 1980's "Goodbye Fidel," which lasted only six performances. She then went directly into replacement mode when she joined the cast of the already-established and highly successful "Fifth of July" in 1981.

Kathy made a false start in films with Taking Off (1971), in which she was billed as "Bobo Bates". She didn't film again until Straight Time (1978), starring Dustin Hoffman, and that part was not substantial enough to cause a stir. Things turned hopeful, however, when Kathy and the rest of the female ensemble were given the chance to play their respective Broadway parts in the film version of Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). It was a juicy role for Kathy and film audiences finally started noticing the now 34-year-old.

Still and all, it was the New York stage that continued to earn Kathy awards and acclaim. She was pure textbook to any actor studying how to disappear into a role. Her characters ranged from free and life-affirming to downright pitiable. Despite winning a Tony Award nomination and Outer Critic's Circle Award for her stark, touchingly sad portrait of a suicidal daughter in 1983's "'night, Mother" and the Obie and Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for her powerhouse job as a romantic misfit in "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune," Kathy had no box-office pull and was hardly a strong consideration when the roles finally went to film.

Kathy Bates was forever losing out when her award-winning stage characters transferred to the screen. First Sissy Spacek took on her potent role as the suicidal Jessie Cates in 'night, Mother (1986), then Michelle Pfeiffer seized the moment to play her dumpy lover character in Frankie and Johnny (1991). It would take Oscar glory to finally rectify the injustice.

It was her fanatical turn as the drab, chunky, porcine-looking psychopath Annie Wilkes, who kidnaps her favorite author (James Caan) and subjects him to a series of horrific tortures, that finally turned the tide for her in Hollywood. With the 1990 shocker Misery (1990), based on the popular Stephen King novel, Bates and Caan were pure box office magic. Moreover, Kathy captured the "Best Actress" Oscar and Golden Globe award, a first in that genre (horror) for that category. To add to her happiness she married Tony Campisi, also an actor, in 1991.

Quality film scripts now started coming her way and the 1990s proved to be a rich and rewarding time for her. First, she and another older "overnight" film star, fellow Oscar winner Jessica Tandy, starred together in the modern portion of the beautifully nuanced, flashback period piece Fried Green Tomatoes (1991). She then outdid herself as the detached and depressed housekeeper accused of murdering her abusive husband (David Strathairn) in Dolores Claiborne (1995). Surprisingly, she was left out of the Oscar race for these two excellent performances. Not so, however, for her flashy political advisor Libby Holden in the movie Primary Colors (1998) and her quirky, liberal mom in About Schmidt (2002), receiving "Best Supporting Actress" nominations for both

Kathy has also done prolific work on TV as a seven-time Emmy nominee, and has taken to directing a couple of TV-movies on the sly. She was nominated for a DGA award after helming an episode of "Six Feet Under", in which she also had a recurring role. While some of her more recent movie parts have been generally unworthy of her talents, she has more than made up for it in TV-movies playing everything from cruel-minded caricatures (Little Orphan Annie's Miss Hannigan) to common, decent, every day folk.

Divorced from her husband since 1997, Kathy has been the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors. ... (more)

Tags: Actress (50), American (13), Born 1948 (8), Oscar Winner (7), Drama (4), Brunette (4), Talented (4), Female (4), Golden Globe Winner (3), Immense (3), Versatile (2), Amazing Actor (2), Great Actress (2), Straight (2), Cool (2), Amazing (2), Most Respected (2), Actors Who Make Every Movie Better (1), Hollywood Walk Of Fame (1), Annie Wilkes (1)

My tags:

Add tags

Movies

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. Titanic (1997)

Rating:

7.1

9088 Watched

2. Midnight in Paris (2011)

Rating:

7.5

1884 Watched

3. The Golden Compass (2007)

Rating:

5.9

1901 Watched

4. Misery (1990)

Rating:

7.5

1869 Watched

5. P.S. I Love You (2007)

Rating:

6.9

1805 Watched

View all Kathy Bates movies (72 more)

TV

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. The Big Bang Theory (2006)

Rating:

7.6

3191 Watched

2. The Office (2005)

Rating:

7.6

2379 Watched

3. Two and a Half Men (2003)

Rating:

6.6

2254 Watched

4. Six Feet Under (2001)

Rating:

8.1

1537 Watched

5. American Dad! (2005)

Rating:

6.2

1859 Watched

View all Kathy Bates TV (67 more)

TV directed by

Most popular

Top rated

Most recent

1. Six Feet Under (2001)

Rating:

8.1

1537 Watched

2. Oz (1997)

Rating:

7.9

677 Watched

3. Everwood (2002)

Rating:

6.3

425 Watched

4. NYPD Blue (1993)

Rating:

6.8

192 Watched

5. Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)

Rating:

8.4

72 Watched

View all Kathy Bates TV (3 more)

Movies directed by

Most popular

Most recent

1. Ambulance Girl

Rating:

1 want to see

2. Fargo (2003)

1 want to see

3. The New Person (2001)

Rating:

1 Watched

4. Out, Out, Brief Candle (2002)

Rating:

1 Watched

5. Making Love Work (2003)

Rating:

1 Watched

View all Kathy Bates movies

Update feed

Kev64 added this to a list 1 week, 5 days ago

Women With Weapons (463 person items)

dimitri7 voted for an image 2 months ago

sbrooks voted for 7 images [View All] 2 months ago

SA-512 posted a image 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Bloo posted 6 images [View All] 3 months, 2 weeks ago

TRUMP voted for an image 9 months, 2 weeks ago

SmittenKitten added this to a list 9 months, 2 weeks ago

Favorite People (120 person items)

L90 added this to a list 10 months ago

Females TV & Movies Deaths (1775 person items)

"Movies:• Misery (1990) : Smashed in the face with a metal pig statue, having been hit twice with a typewriter, during a fight with James Caan, after she non-fatally shoots him. • Primary Colours (1998) : Commits suicide by shooting herself in the head while sitting in her truck. Her body is shown later when Adrian Lester arrives and sees the police investigating. • American Outlaws (2001) : Mortally wounded in an explosion when Terry O'Quinn's thugs bomb her house. She leaves the building "

lovedriver posted a image 11 months, 2 weeks ago

darthjoker12 added this to a list 1 year ago

Minority Report (2022) (9 movies items)

"Dr. Iris Hineman!"

Libertine13 posted 19 images [View All] 1 year, 6 months ago

henrik4075 added this to a list 1 year, 8 months ago

My Favorite Performances of 1997 (Female) (25 person items)

" Molly Brown - Titanic "Ain't nothing to it, is there, Jack? Remember, they love money so pretend like you own a gold mine and then you're in the club." "

Citroen2cv voted for 5 images 1 year, 8 months ago

henrik4075 added this to a list 1 year, 10 months ago

My Favorite Performances of 2002 (Female) (25 person items)

" Roberta Hertzel - About Schmidt "People used to think it was strange 'cause I breast-fed him 'til he was almost five, but I say - hunh, just look at the results!" "

henrik4075 added this to a list 2 years ago

My Favorite Performances of 2008 (Female) (25 person items)

" Mrs. Helen Givings - Revolutionary Road "I remember the first day you came off the train. You weren't like my other clients. You were - different. You just seemed - special. - - Of course, you still are." "

yellowhair voted for an image 2 years, 2 months ago

henrik4075 added this to a list 2 years, 2 months ago

My Favorite Performances of 2019 (Female) (25 person items)

" Bobi Jewell - Richard Jewell "Richard is not the Olympic Park bomber. Richard is not a murderer, he saved people's lives. Please hear me, Mr. President and help me.""

A.M.A posted a image 2 years, 5 months ago

music_muses added this to a list 2 years, 5 months ago

Childless women (164 person items)

A.M.A posted 2 images 2 years, 9 months ago

Quattroporte voted for an image 2 years, 10 months ago

Totoro added this to a list 3 years, 1 month ago

Academy Awards nominated performances I've seen (446 person items)

" 2003 - NOMINEE Best Actress in a Supporting Role KATHY BATES as Roberta Hertzel in ABOUT SCHMIDT 2002 | dir: Alexander Payne 1991 - WINNER Best Actress in a Leading Role KATHY BATES as Annie Wilkes in MISERY 1990 | dir: Rob Reiner "

darthjoker12 added this to a list 4 years ago