bibliography
NNDB
This is a beta version of NNDB
Search: for

Kathy Bates

Kathy BatesAKA Kathleen Doyle Bates

Born: 28-Jun-1948
Birthplace: Memphis, TN

Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Misery

Kathy Bates is a film and stage actress best known for Misery, Dolores Claiborne, and The Waterboy. As a young woman, Bates got a degree in theater at Southern Methodist University, then worked as a waitress and sold trinkets in the souvenir shop at the New York Museum of Modern Art. She started landing bit parts and became a noted stage presence, starring in several hit plays that were subsequently adapted as motion pictures without her. The play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, for example, featured Bates playing a plain-looking waitress, but when the movie was made the role went to dumpy Michelle Pfeiffer.

Bates' film appearances were generally limited to small, "character" roles until Misery, where she poured years of bottled-up acting energy into an otherwise underwritten role as Stephen King's "number one fan." It won her an Oscar as Best Actress. Bates played the unsinkable Molly Brown in Titanic, a brass-balled political consultant in Primary Colors, and Jay Leno's bitchy agent in The Late Shift. She's overweight and post-menopausal, but that didn't stop Bates from appearing nude in a hot tub in About Schmidt.

Father: Langdon Doyle Bates (mechanical engineer)
Mother: Bertye Kathleen Talbot (b. 1906, d. 15-Feb-1997)
Sister: Mary Bates
Sister: Patricia Bates
Husband: Anthony Campisi (actor, m. 1991, div. 1997)
Boyfriend: Bernard Hill (actor, b. 17-Dec-1944, dating since 1993)

    High School: White Station High School, Memphis, TN (1966)
    University: BFA Theater, Southern Methodist University (1969)

    Oscar for Best Actress 1991 for Misery
    Golden Globe 1991 for Misery
    Golden Globe 1997 for The Late Shift (television)
    (list:ew-2003-it) Movie Improver
    Mastectomy double (2012)
    Endorsement of DirecTV 2008
    Risk Factors: Obesity, Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer

    TELEVISION
    American Horror Story (2013-)
    Harry's Law Harriet Korn (2011-12)
    The Office Jo Bennett (2010-11)
    Six Feet Under Bettina (2003-05)
    All My Children Belle Bodelle (1984)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
    Ambulance Girl (12-Sep-2005)
    Dash and Lilly (31-May-1999)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    The Highwaymen (10-Mar-2019)
    On the Basis of Sex (8-Nov-2018)
    Bad Santa 2 (23-Nov-2016)
    The Boss (21-Mar-2016)
    Complete Unknown (25-Jan-2016)
    When Marnie Was There (19-Jul-2014) [VOICE]
    Tammy (2-Jul-2014)
    Midnight in Paris (11-May-2011) · Gertrude Stein
    A Little Bit of Heaven (4-Feb-2011) · Beverly Corbett
    Valentine's Day (10-Feb-2010) · Susan
    Alice (6-Dec-2009)
    The Blind Side (17-Nov-2009) · Miss Sue
    Personal Effects (5-Mar-2009)
    Chéri (10-Feb-2009) · Mme. Peloux
    Revolutionary Road (15-Dec-2008)
    The Day the Earth Stood Still (10-Dec-2008)
    The Family That Preys (12-Sep-2008)
    P.S. I Love You (20-Dec-2007)
    The Golden Compass (27-Nov-2007) [VOICE]
    Fred Claus (3-Nov-2007)
    Bee Movie (28-Oct-2007) [VOICE]
    Charlotte's Web (7-Dec-2006) · Bitsy the Cow [VOICE]
    Bonneville (11-Sep-2006) · Margene Cunningham
    Failure to Launch (10-Mar-2006)
    Relative Strangers (2006) · Agnes Menure
    Ambulance Girl (12-Sep-2005)
    Warm Springs (4-Apr-2005)
    Guilty Hearts (2005)
    The Bridge of San Luis Rey (22-Dec-2004)
    Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy (9-Nov-2004) [VOICE]
    Little Black Book (6-Aug-2004) · Kippie Kann
    Around the World in 80 Days (13-Jun-2004)
    Unconditional Love (23-Aug-2002)
    About Schmidt (22-May-2002) · Roberta Hertzel
    Dragonfly (18-Feb-2002)
    Love Liza (14-Jan-2002) · Mary Ann Bankhead
    American Outlaws (14-Aug-2001)
    The Dress Code (16-Apr-2000) · Mother Superior
    Annie (7-Nov-1999)
    The Waterboy (6-Nov-1998)
    Primary Colors (20-Mar-1998) · Libby Holden
    Titanic (1-Nov-1997) · Molly Brown
    Swept from the Sea (9-Sep-1997)
    The War at Home (6-Sep-1996)
    Diabolique (22-Mar-1996)
    The Late Shift (24-Feb-1996)
    The West Side Waltz (23-Nov-1995)
    Angus (15-Sep-1995) · Meg
    Dolores Claiborne (24-Mar-1995) · Dolores Claiborne
    Curse of the Starving Class (13-Sep-1994) · Ella Tate
    North (22-Jul-1994) · Alaskan Mom
    A Home of Our Own (5-Nov-1993)
    Hostages (20-Feb-1993)
    Used People (16-Dec-1992)
    Prelude to a Kiss (10-Jul-1992) · Leah Blier
    Shadows and Fog (30-Mar-1992) · Prostitute
    Fried Green Tomatoes (27-Dec-1991) · Evelyn Couch
    At Play in the Fields of the Lord (6-Dec-1991)
    Misery (30-Nov-1990) · Annie Wilkes
    White Palace (19-Oct-1990)
    Dick Tracy (15-Jun-1990) · Mrs. Green
    Men Don't Leave (2-Feb-1990)
    High Stakes (17-Nov-1989)
    Roe vs. Wade (15-May-1989)
    Signs of Life (1989) · Mary Beth Alder
    Arthur 2: On the Rocks (8-Jul-1988) · Mrs. Canby
    My Best Friend Is a Vampire (May-1988)
    Summer Heat (29-May-1987)
    Murder Ordained (3-May-1987)
    The Morning After (25-Dec-1986) · Woman on Mateo Street
    Two of a Kind (16-Dec-1983)
    Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (12-Nov-1982)
    Straight Time (18-Mar-1978) · Selma Darin
    Taking Off (28-Mar-1971)


New!
NNDB MAPPER
Create a map starting with Kathy Bates
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.

Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile



Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications