7/16/2023 0 Comments Kathy batesEven more impressive, she was over 40 when she first made a dent in Hollywood a town with a poor track record for accepting anyone who is past society's idea of "a woman's prime" - never mind if she was also plus-sized. Unbeknownst to those outside theater circles, Bates had already enjoyed an over 20-year career as a Tony Award-winning actress on Broadway. To the general moviegoer, Kathy Bates seemed to materialize from nowhere, giving an Academy Award-winning performance as a psychotic literary fan-turned-kidnapper in the screen adaptation of Stephen King's "Misery" in 1990. And you think, 'Well, y'know, I'm a real person.'"-Kathy Bates quoted in 'I Was Never an Ingenue' by David Sacks, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, January 27, 1991. 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. The roles I was lucky enought to get were real stretches for me usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. 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. I never was an ingenue I've always just been a character actor. "I have always had a problem with my weight. And vice-versa: a character can have power, but not femininity."-Kathy Bates, quoted in INTERVIEW, 1990. But the one who gets to play the young, pretty, gets-the-boy-at-the-end role doesn't have any power. Read the original article on Southern Living."You're either young and glamorous and you're going to get the lead and get the man at the end of the picture, or it's the opposite: you're a character actress, you're not attractive enough for the other role, and so you're playing the friend or the killer or the lesbian or the doctor or whatever. The pilot is currently in production at CBS.įor more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Matlock, which Bates is set to star in and executive produce, is described as a “gender-swap reboot” of the classic legal drama series about folksy criminal defense lawyer Ben Matlock. If you're an actor, it's your life force. Why haven't they sent a script yet?” she continued with a laugh. And there I am, sitting, looking at my watch. “So I hung up and I was kind of grumpy and gruff. You have to let them know by Monday,’” Bates recalled to Parade. They said, ‘Listen, they're doing a pilot of Matlock. “After I swore to my agent-I said, ‘That's it, I'm done I'm out of here’-I got offered this Matlock pilot. The Memphis-native said that something “funny” happened not long after she decided that she was done with show business that had her right back in the saddle. And it really knocked me off my beam.”īut Bates, like the rest of us, knows that life is rarely black and white-especially when it comes to our passions. But sometimes, there are films that you just give everything, and then they take what you've given them and they ruin it, and there's nothing you can do about it. “You go into projects and you have such high hopes and you realize as a film actor, you really don't have any control over how they edit it, and it's very frustrating,” Bates explained to Parade. The Oscar winner didn’t identify the film that nearly caused her to walk away from the industry, but she did make it very clear that she was unhappy with how it turned out. And that's sort of been the way that it's been for me for years,” Bates, 74, shared in a recent interview with Parade.īates, who described herself as in her “third act” of life, is currently shooting a movie in North Carolina with Diane Keaton and Alfre Woodard. I'm done.’ And then all of a sudden, all these opportunities popped up. “Last year, I had gone through a difficult experience with a film, and I just thought, ‘Oh, that's it. That is, until the opportunity to reboot a classic Andy Griffith character came knocking. The one-and-only Kathy Bates nearly bid farewell to Hollywood for good, recently.
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