| KATHY BATES
Academy Award winner KATHY BATES initially earned her reputation
as an actress of infinite range in the theatre. She made
her debut in the original company of the longest running
off-Broadway play, Vanities, and won an Obie Award for her
performance as Frankie in the original off-Broadway production
of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. She garnered
a Tony Award nomination for her portrayal of the suicidal
daughter in Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
Broadway play, ‘night, Mother, and subsequently appeared
in an impressive line-up of productions including Fifth
of July and the stage and screen versions of Come Back to
the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, Curse of the
Starving Class and The Road to Mecca, playing opposite the
author, Athol Fugard. She starred in the original production
of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Crimes
of the Heart, at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Born in Memphis,
Tennessee, Bates graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts
in 1969 from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In
2002, she was invited to give the commencement address at
SMU and received a Doctor of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa.
Bates has created an indelible impression in such widely
acclaimed films as Misery (1990), for which she won the
Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe, as
well as James Cameron’s Academy Award-winning Titanic
(1997), the critically acclaimed Dolores Claiborne (1994)
and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), with Jessica Tandy, which
earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
In 1999, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role as
Libby Holden in Mike Nichols’ Primary Colors. Bates
also earned a Golden Globe nomination and won both a Broadcast
Film Critics Award and the coveted Screen Actors Guild Award
for her portrayal of the hard-nosed political trouble-shooter.
More recently, she received the National Board of Review
Award, a Golden Globe nomination and an Academy Award nomination
for her performance as Roberta Hertzel in About Schmidt
opposite Jack Nicholson
She was also seen as Adam Sandler’s protective mother
in the box office hit, The Waterboy. Other film credits
include Love, Liza (2002), The War at Home (1996), Dick
Tracy (1990), Men Don’t Leave (1990) and Straight
Time (1978). She made her film debut in Milos Forman’s
Taking Off (1971).
For her performance as Helen Kushnick in the HBO telefilm
The Late Shift (1996), she won the Golden Globe, a Screen
Actors Guild Award and an American Comedy Award. She appeared
as Miss Hannigan in ABC’s Annie (1999), for which
she was nominated for a Golden Globe and won an American
Comedy Award.
In the fall of 1999, Bates directed her first cable film,
A&E’s Dash and Lilly, starring Sam Shepard and
Judy Davis, which was nominated for 3 Golden Globes and
13 Emmy Awards. PBS “Great Performances” aired
her TV directorial debut, Talking With... in 1995. Her directorial
credits also include NBC’s Homicide, ABC’s NYPD
Blue and HBO’s Oz. Kathy has directed five episodes
of the award-winning HBO series Six Feet Under and has guest-starred
in that series earning a 2003 Emmy nomination.
Ms. Bates will next be seen as Dona Maria, Marquesa de
Montemayor in The Bridge of San Luis Rey. She is currently
filming Little Black Book alongside Brittany Murphy and
Holly Hunter. She is scheduled to star in Picadilly Jim,
written by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellows. Entertainment
Weekly voted her one of the “25 Greatest Actresses
of the ‘90s”.
also see: Genealogy
Report from Patricia Bates Smith
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