Kathy Bates Biography

Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress and film director. After appearing in several minor roles in film and television during the 1970s and the 1980s, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery (1990), for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe. She followed this with major roles in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) and Dolores Claiborne (1995), before playing a featured role as Molly Brown in Titanic (1997).

She received a Tony Award nomination for her 1983 performance in the Broadway play 'night, Mother. She won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in Primary Colors (1998), for which she also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for About Schmidt (2002). Her television work has resulted in eleven Emmy Award nominations, two of which were for her starring role on the television series Harry's Law and most recently, a win for her acclaimed guest appearance on the CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men as the ghost of Charlie Harper, a role formerly portrayed by Charlie Sheen. It was confirmed in March 2013 that she would co-star in the third season of the FX television series American Horror Story.

Early life

Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters of Bertye Kathleen (née Talbert; 1907"1997), a homemaker, and Langdon Doyle Bates (1900"1989), a mechanical engineer. Her paternal grandfather was lawyer and author Finis L. Bates. One of her great-great-grandfathers emigrated from Ireland to New Orleans, Louisiana, and served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor. She graduated from White Station High School, and later attended Southern Methodist University, where she majored in theatre, is a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, and graduated in 1969. She moved to New York City in 1970 to pursue an acting career. She was raised Methodist.

Career

Bates' history of Broadway appearances includes Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July and the Robert Altman-directed Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean opposite Karen Black and Cher. She received a Tony Award nomination in 1983 for her stage role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'night, Mother opposite Anne Pitoniak. The production of 'night, Mother ran for more than a year. One of her other successful New York stage productions was, Off Broadway, in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune which ran 533 performances. McNally specifically wrote the play for Bates and F. Murray Abraham, who had to drop out and was replaced by Kenneth Welsh. The play was later filmed as Frankie and Johnny, starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. She succeeded Amy Irving in the off-Broadway production of The Road to Mecca in 1988.

Bates' first feature film was the 1971 Milo? Forman comedy Taking Off (credited as "Bobo Bates"), wherein she sings an original song "Even Horses Had Wings". Bates' next feature was the Dustin Hoffman film Straight Time (1978). In 1990, she would appear again with Hoffman in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy as a stenographer. She appeared in films such as Summer Heat and The Morning After, while guest-starring in television shows such as L.A. Law, before landing the role of obsessed fan Annie Wilkes, who holds her favorite author (played by James Caan) captive, in the 1990 thriller Misery, based on the Stephen King novel. Bates received her first Academy Award nomination for that role, winning Best Actress. Soon after, she starred with Jessica Tandy in the acclaimed 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes, based on the novel by comedic actress Fannie Flagg. In 1977, Bates made her soap opera debut as Phyllis on NBC's soap opera The Doctors. From 1983 to 1984, she played prison inmate Belle Bodelle on All My Children and from 1984 to 1985, she played Evelyn Maddox on One Life to Live.

In 1995, Bates played the title character in Dolores Claiborne, a film adaption of another Stephen King novel, although she was not nominated for an Oscar. In 1997, Bates played Molly Brown in James Cameron's Titanic. Based on the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, the film went on to earn more than US$1.8 billion in box-office receipts worldwide.

Bates also excelled in her role as the acid-tongued "dustbuster" political advisor Libby Holden in the 1998 drama Primary Colors which was adapted from the book in which political journalist Joe Klein novelized his experiences on the Presidential campaign trail in 1991"1992. For this performance, she received her second Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. In 2002 she received her third nomination, for About Schmidt. More recently, she and Terry Bradshaw played the parents of Matthew McConaughey's character in the 2006 film Failure to Launch. Bates was featured in an uncredited cameo in the miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand.

Bates has been nominated for an Emmy Award eight times: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, for her performance as Jay Leno's manager Helen Kushnick in HBO's The Late Shift (1996), and, twice again in the same category; as Miss Hannigan in Disney's remake of Annie (1999), and for the HBO Franklin Roosevelt biopic Warm Springs (2005). She was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Lifetime Television's Ambulance Girl (2006), which she also directed and received a Supporting Actress nomination for Alice.

She appeared on 10 episodes of the HBO cable television series Six Feet Under for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, as Bettina, in 2003. She also was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for 3rd Rock from the Sun in 1999, the same year that she was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Miniseries or Movie for the Dashiell Hammett-Lillian Hellman biopic Dash & Lilly. She also had a recurring guest role on the American version of The Office as Jo Bennett.

Starting in the 1990s, Bates forged a formidable career as a director. She has directed episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, NYPD Blue, Oz, Six Feet Under, and Everwood. Bates directed the television movies Dash and Lilly and the self-starring Ambulance Girl. She directed and co-starred in Have Mercy (2006) with Melanie Griffith. In 2008, she re-teamed with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road. She starred in David E. Kelley's legal drama Harry's Law, which began airing on NBC on January 17, 2011, but was cancelled on May 14, 2012.

In 2012, 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. In the episode Charlie has returned as a ghost to haunt his brother, Alan (Jon Cryer). He tells Alan that after a life of womanizing and debauchery, he was sent to hell and condemned to spend eternity in a woman's body. This guest appearance resulted in Bates' winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. It was Bates' first Emmy win after nine nominations.

Affiliations

Bates is the Executive Committee Chair of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.

Cancer battles

Bates has successfully battled ovarian cancer since her diagnosis in 2003. In September 2012, she revealed via Twitter that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer two months earlier and had undergone a double mastectomy.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Taking Off	Audition Singer	as Bobo Bates
1978	Straight Time	Selma Darin
1982	Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean	Stella Mae
1983	Two of a Kind	Furniture man's wife
1986	'	Woman on Mateo Street
1987	Summer Heat	Ruth
1987	My Best Friend Is a Vampire	Helen Blake	as Kathy D. Bates
1988	Arthur 2: On the Rocks	Mrs. Canby
1989	Signs of Life	Mary Beth Alder
1989	High Stakes	Jill
1990	Men Don't Leave	Lisa Coleman
1990	Dick Tracy	Mrs. Green
1990	White Palace	Rosemary
1990	Misery	Annie Wilkes
1991	Shadows and Fog	Prostitute
1991	At Play in the Fields of the Lord	Hazel Quarrier
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes	Evelyn Couch
1992	'	Elsa Barlow
1992	Prelude to a Kiss	Leah Blier
1992	Used People	Bibby Berman
1993	Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun	Lunar Mom	Direct-to-video
1993	'	Frances Lacey
1994	North	Alaskan mom
1994	Curse of the Starving Class	Ella Tate
1995	Dolores Claiborne	Dolores Claiborne
1995	Angus	Meg Bethune
1996	Diabolique	Det. Shirley Vogel
1996	'	Maurine Collier
1997	Swept from the Sea	Miss Swaffer
1997	Titanic	Molly Brown
1998	Primary Colors	Libby Holden
1998	'	Raphaella, the Magic Bunny	voice
1998	'	Helen "Mama" Boucher
1998	A Civil Action	Bankruptcy judge	uncredited
1999	Baby Steps	Mrs. Mellon	short film
1999	Dash and Lily	Director
2000	Bruno	Mother Superior
2001	Rat Race	The Squirrel Lady	uncredited
2001	American Outlaws	Ma James
2002	Love Liza	Mary Ann Bankhead
2002	Dragonfly	Mrs. Belmont
2002	About Schmidt	Roberta Hertzel
2002	Unconditional Love	Grace Beasley
2004	Around the World in 80 Days	Queen Victoria
2004	Little Black Book	Kippie Kann
2004	Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy	Sea Hag	voice
2004	'	The Judge	short film
2004	The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing	Narrator	documentary
2004	'	The Marquesa
2005	Hansel and Gretel	Narrator	direct-to-video
2005	Guilty Hearts	The Judge
2005	Rumor Has It...	Aunt Mitsy	uncredited
2006	Failure to Launch	Sue
2006	Have Mercy	Unknown
2006	Solace	Marrow's wife
2006	Relative Strangers	Agnes Menure
2006	Bonneville	Margene
2006	Charlotte's Web	Bitsy the Cow	voice
2007	Bee Movie	Janet Benson	voice
2007	Fred Claus	Mother Claus
2007	'	Hester	voice
2007	P.S. I Love You	Patricia
2007	Christmas Is Here Again	Miss Dowdy	voice
2008	'	Charlotte Cartwright
2008	'	Secretary of Defense, Dr. Regina Jackson
2008	Revolutionary Road	Mrs. Helen Givings
2009	Cheri	Madame Charlotte Peloux
2009	Personal Effects	Gloria
2009	'	Miss Sue
2009	The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club	Narrator
2010	Valentine's Day	Susan Milton
2011	Midnight in Paris	Gertrude Stein
2011	You May Not Kiss the Bride	Bryan's Mother
2011	'	Beverly Corbett
2014	Tammy		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	'	Phyllis	Unknown episodes
1978	'	Sally Allison	3 episodes
1984	All My Children	Belle Bodelle	Unknown episodes
1984	One Life to Live	Evelyn Maddox	Episode: "December 17, 1984"
1986	Johnny Bull	Katherine Kovacs	Television film
1986	Cagney & Lacey	Brenda Harris	Episode: "Revenge"
1986-1987	St. Elsewhere	Polly	2 episodes
1987	Murder Ordained	Bobbi Birk	Television movie
1989	Roe vs. Wade	Unknown	Television film
1989	China Beach	Jan	Episode: "The World: Part 2"
1989	L.A. Law	Charlotte Haley	Episode: "One Rat, One Ranger"
1989	No Place Like Home	Boonie Cooper	Television film
1993	Hostages	Peggy Say	Television film
1993-2004	'	Narrator	2 episodes
1994	'	Rae Flowers (uncredited)	Episode: "The Plague"
1995	'	Mr. Goo	Television film
1996	'	Helen Kushnick	Television film
1999	Annie	Miss Agatha Hannigan	Television film
1999	3rd Rock from the Sun	Charlotte Everly	Episode: "Alien Hunter"
2000	MADtv	Stuart's Grandma	Episode: "#6.2"
2001	King of the Hill	Police Officer	Episode: "Lupe's Revenge"
2002	My Sister's Keeper	Christine Chapman	Television film
2003-2005	Six Feet Under	Bettina	10 episodes
2005	Ambulance Girl	Jane Stern	Television film
2005	Warm Springs	Helena Mahoney	Television film
2009	Alice	Queen of Hearts	2 episodes
2010-2011	The Office	Jo Bennett	8 episodes
2011-2012	Harry's Law	Harriet Korn	34 episodes
2012	Two and a Half Men	Charlie Harper	Episode: "Why We Gave Up"
2013	American Horror Story: Coven	Delphine LaLaurie

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1991	Academy Awards	Best Actress	Misery
1991	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Actress	Misery
1991	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress " Motion Picture Drama	Misery
1992	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Misery
1992	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture	Fried Green Tomatoes
1992	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Fried Green Tomatoes
1993	BAFTA Awards	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Fried Green Tomatoes
1995	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Supporting Actress	North
1996	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Actress	Dolores Clairborne
1996	Chlotrudis Awards	Best Actress	Dolores Clairborne
1996	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Dolores Clairborne
1996	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	The Last Shift
1997	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Female Performer on Television	The Late Shift
1997	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film	The Late Shift
1997	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film	The Late Shift
1997	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	The Late Shift
1998	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actress in a Drama	Titanic
1998	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Titanic
1999	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Primary Colors
1999	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Primary Colors
1999	BAFTA Awards	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Primary Colors
1999	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actress in a Drama	Primary Colors
1999	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Primary Colors
1999	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress	Primary Colors
1999	Chlotrudis Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Primary Colors
1999	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture	Primary Colors
1999	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture	Primary Colors
1999	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Primary Colors
1999	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actress in a Comedy	The Waterboy
1999	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special	Dash and Lilly
1999	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	3rd Rock from the Sun
2000	American Comedy Awards	Funniest Female Performer on Television	Annie
2000	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Annie
2000	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Annie
2000	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Annie
2000	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Annie
2003	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	About Schmidt
2003	Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actress	About Schmidt
2003	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress	About Schmidt
2003	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture	About Schmidt
2003	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actress	About Schmidt
2003	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture	About Schmidt
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	About Schmidt
2003	Satellite Awards	Best Actress " Miniseries or Television Film	My Sister's Keeper
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	My Sister's Keeper
2003	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Six Feet Under
2004	Directors Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Directing " Drama Series	Six Feet Under
2005	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Warm Springs
2006	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Ambulance Girl
2009	Palm Springs International Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast	Revolutionary Road
2010	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie	Alice
2011	Phoenix Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Acting	Midnight in Paris
2011	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Harry's Law
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Harry's Law
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Two and a Half Men
2012	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Midnight in Paris