Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actress.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, she has appeared on stage, television and film. She tends to play a broad spectrum of characters, but seems to tend toward Apron Matron characters as of late. Can be seen as the modern day equivalent to either Shelley Winters (specifically Winters during later years of her life and acting career) or Louise Fletcher due to Bates' Celebrity Resemblance to them for being each a Big Beautiful Woman, Bates' and Winters' melodramatic acting, Fletcher and Bates winning Oscars for their breakout roles as the Big Bad of The Film of the Book, Fletcher's and Bates' roles mostly consisting of Apron Matron characters in their acting resumes, and all three's respected status as Academy Award winners. Her breakout role was Annie Wilkes in Stephen King's Misery, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Appearances in American Horror Story
- American Horror Story: Coven as Madame Delphine LaLaurie
- American Horror Story: Freak Show as Ethel Darling
- American Horror Story: Hotel as Iris
- American Horror Story: Roanoke as Agnes Mary Winstead
- American Horror Story: Apocalypse as Ms. Miriam Mead
Other notable roles:
- Lenny in Crimes of the Heart (stage play, original cast)
- Jessie in 'night, Mother (stage play, original cast)
- Annie Wilkes in Misery (her breakout and most famous role, winning her the Oscar for Best Actress)note
- The prostitute in Shadows and Fog
- Evelyn Couch in Fried Green Tomatoes
- Leah Blier in Prelude to a Kiss
- Dolores Claiborne in Dolores Claiborne (a role written with her in mind by the book's author Stephen King, who had met her on the set of Misery; her favorite role of her own).
- The Eskimo mother in North.
- Molly Brown in Titanic (1997)
- Libby Holden in Primary Colors (received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her pastiche of Betsey Wright
) - Mama Boucher in The Waterboy
- Ma James in American Outlaws
- Miriam Belmont in Dragonfly (2002)
- Roberta Hertzel in About Schmidt (received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, in a role largely remembered for her nude scene)
- Sue in Failure to Launch
- Mrs. Claus in Fred Claus
- Provided the voice of a cop in King of the Hill
- Harriet Korn in the TV series Harry's Law
- Jo Bennett in The Office (US)
- Belle Bodelle in All My Children
- Regina Jackson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
- Miss Sue in The Blind Side
- The Queen of Hearts in Alice (2009)
- Mrs. Fowler in The Big Bang Theory
- Bobi Jewell in Richard Jewell (received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress)
- Selma Darin in Straight Time.
- Sylvia Simon in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
