1. Kathleen Doyle Bates was born on June 28,1948 and is an American actress.
51 Facts About Kathy Bates
1. 2.
Kathy Bates landed minor stage roles before being cast in her first on-screen role in Taking Off.
3.
Kathy Bates garnered a nomination for the Tony Award Best Lead Actress in a Play for the Marsha Norman play 'night, Mother, and won an Obie Award for her role in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
4.
Kathy Bates earned the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Annie Wilkes in the psychological thriller Misery.
5.
Kathy Bates won her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Two and a Half Men and her second for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of Delphine LaLaurie in American Horror Story: Coven.
6.
Kathy Bates was Emmy-nominated for The Late Shift, Annie, Six Feet Under, Warm Springs, Harry's Law, American Horror Story: Freak Show, and American Horror Story: Hotel.
7.
Kathy Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters of mechanical engineer Langdon Doyle Kathy Bates of Tennessee and homemaker Bertye Kathleen of McCormick County, South Carolina.
8.
Kathy Bates's paternal grandfather Finis L Bates was a lawyer and author.
9.
Kathy Bates graduated early from White Station High School and from Southern Methodist University, where she studied theater and became a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
10.
Kathy Bates moved to New York City in 1970 to pursue an acting career.
11.
Kathy Bates is an alumna of the William Esper Studio for the performing arts in Manhattan, New York City.
12.
In 1970, Kathy Bates was cast in a minor role in the Milos Forman comedy Taking Off, her first on-screen role in a feature film.
13.
Kathy Bates subsequently originated the role of Lenny in the first production of Crimes of the Heart at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in 1979.
14.
The New York Times wrote that, in the early 1980s, Kathy Bates "established herself as one of America's finest stage actresses".
15.
Kathy Bates found further success on Off Broadway, in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, for which she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1988.
16.
Kathy Bates later succeeded Amy Irving in the Off-Broadway production of The Road to Mecca in 1988.
17.
In 1995, Kathy Bates played the title character in Dolores Claiborne, another well-received Stephen King adaptation, for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the 22nd Saturn Awards.
18.
In 1995, Kathy Bates began working behind the screen as well, as a director, on several television series; her early directing jobs include episodes of Great Performances, Homicide: Life on the Street, and NYPD Blue.
19.
In 1996, Kathy Bates received her first Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie, for her performance as Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick in HBO's The Late Shift.
20.
Kathy Bates gained wider recognition in 1997 when she portrayed American socialite Molly Brown in James Cameron's epic romance disaster film Titanic.
21.
Kathy Bates received her second Academy Award nomination for her work as the acid-tongued political advisor Libby Holden in Primary Colors, which was adapted from the book by political journalist Joe Klein.
22.
In 2000, Kathy Bates received another Emmy Award nomination for her turn as Miss Hannigan in Disney's remake of Annie.
23.
In 2008, Kathy Bates played the matriarch Charlotte Cartwright in Tyler Perry's movie "The Family That Preys," and re-teamed with her Titanic co-stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, in the romantic drama film Revolutionary Road.
24.
Kathy Bates starred in ten episodes of the HBO television drama series Six Feet Under, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2003.
25.
Kathy Bates received another Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, for Lifetime Television's film Ambulance Girl, which she directed.
26.
In 2010, Kathy Bates appeared in the romantic comedy film Valentine's Day, directed by Garry Marshall.
27.
In 2012, Kathy Bates made a guest appearance on Two and a Half Men as the ghost of Charlie Harper on the episode "Why We Gave Up Women", which aired on April 30,2012.
28.
Kathy Bates claimed that Ryan Murphy, the creator of the series, "resurrected [her] career".
29.
Kathy Bates returned for the fourth season of American Horror Story, Freak Show, this time as Ethel Darling, a bearded lady who performs in a freak show.
30.
Kathy Bates subsequently returned again for the fifth season, Hotel, where she played Iris, the hotel's manager.
31.
Kathy Bates received further Emmy Award nominations for Freak Show and Hotel.
32.
On September 20,2016, Kathy Bates received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in the film industry.
33.
In 2017, Kathy Bates starred in the Netflix television series Disjointed, in which she played the character of Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, an owner of a California medical marijuana dispensary.
34.
In 2019, Bates portrayed American politician Miriam A Ferguson in the Netflix crime film The Highwaymen.
35.
Kathy Bates starred in the Clint Eastwood biographical drama film Richard Jewell, playing the mother of the title individual.
36.
In 2020, it was reported that Kathy Bates would be starring in an Irish drama film, The Miracle Club, with Maggie Smith and Laura Linney.
37.
In 2024, Kathy Bates began starring as Madeline Matlock in the CBS TV series Matlock.
38.
In September 2024, the New York Times reported that Kathy Bates would retire after the production of Matlock.
39.
In February 2025, Kathy Bates won the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of "Matty" Matlock.
40.
Since her universally acclaimed breakout role in Misery, Kathy Bates has often been referred to by the media as one of America's most respected actresses.
41.
Kathy Bates has been praised for her ability to portray a wide range of characters across genres and performing media.
42.
Kathy Bates ascribes this to her perceived lack of conventional beauty, which has allowed her to take on unconventional and interesting roles from the very beginning of her career.
43.
Derek Malcolm of The Guardian noted that Kathy Bates emerged as a new kind of a film actress unrestrained by the necessity to be glamorous, a standard that had hitherto been expected of female screen stars.
44.
Jacob Trussell of Film School Rejects notes how "truthful" Kathy Bates' performances are, observing that her ability to access a character's inner life enables her to "approach [them] from unique angles that can surprise even the writers who created them".
45.
Kathy Bates was married to Tony Campisi for six years, from 1991 until their divorce in 1997.
46.
Kathy Bates met Campisi in 1977 and dated him for 14 years before their marriage.
47.
In 2003, Kathy Bates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer; in January 2009, she said she had been in remission for more than five years.
48.
Kathy Bates was awarded the 2018 WebMD Health Heroes "Game Changer" Award for her role in raising awareness of chronic lymphatic disease.
49.
Between roughly 2017 and 2024, Kathy Bates lost 100 pounds, and said the weight loss gave her more energy to take on the leading role in Matlock.
50.
Kathy Bates has discussed her efforts to raise awareness about lymphedema in interviews with The Saturday Evening Post and on the Office Ladies podcast.
51.
Kathy Bates has won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.