Kathy Bates Interview (January 6, 1992)

Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948)[1] is an American actress and director. Known for her roles in comedic and dramatic films and television programs, she has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for a Tony Award and two BAFTA Awards. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she studied theater at Southern Methodist University before moving to New York City to pursue an acting career. She landed minor stage roles before being cast in her first on screen role in Taking Off (1971). Her first Off-Broadway stage role was in the play Vanities (1976). Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, she continued to perform on screen and on stage, and garnered a nomination for the Tony Award Best Lead Actress in a Play for 'night, Mother (1983), and won an Obie Award for her role in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1988). She earned the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Annie Wilkes in thriller Misery (1990). Her other Oscar-nominated roles were in Primary Colors (1998), About Schmidt (2002), and Richard Jewell (2019). Her other notable films include Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Dolores Claiborne (1995), Titanic (1997), The Waterboy (1998), Revolutionary Road (2008), The Blind Side (2009), and Midnight in Paris (2011). Bates is also known for her extensive work on television. She won her first Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the ninth season of Two and a Half Men (2012) and her second for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of Delphine LaLaurie in American Horror Story: Coven (2013). Her other Emmy-nominated roles were in The Late Shift (1996), Annie (1999), Six Feet Under (2003), Warm Springs (2005), Harry's Law (2011–12), American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014), and American Horror Story: Hotel (2015). Early life Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters of mechanical engineer Langdon Doyle Bates and homemaker Bertye Kathleen (née Talbert).[citation needed] Her paternal grandfather was lawyer and author Finis L. Bates. Her great-great-grandfather, an Irish emigrant to New Orleans, Louisiana, served as President Andrew Jackson's doctor.[2] She graduated early from White Station High School (1965) and from Southern Methodist University (1969), where she studied theater and became a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.[3] She moved to New York City in 1970 to pursue an acting career.[4] Bates is an alumna of the William Esper Studio for the performing arts in Manhattan, New York City.[5] Career See also: Kathy Bates filmography and List of awards and nominations received by Kathy Bates Early work and success on stage (1970–1989) After moving to New York City, Bates worked several odd jobs as well as minor stage roles while struggling to find work as an actress. At one point, she worked as a cashier at the Museum of Modern Art.[6] In 1971, Bates was cast in a minor role in the Miloš Forman comedy Taking Off (credited as "Bobo Bates"), her first on screen role in a feature film.[7] Following this, she continued to struggle to find acting roles, later claiming in an interview with The New York Times that more than one casting agent told her that she wasn't sufficiently attractive to be a successful actress: "I'm not a stunning woman. I never was an ingenue; I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough for the roles that other young women were being cast in. The roles I was lucky enough to get were real stretches for me: usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. And it was hard, not just for the lack of work but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you. And you think, 'Well, y'know, I'm a real person.'"[8]