Kathy Bates

Bates met actor Tony Campisi in 1977. The couple dated for 14 years before marrying in April 1991, and their marriage ended in divorce in 1997. She has no children.

Bates has managed multiple significant health challenges throughout her life. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003 and later went into remission. In 2012, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy. Following the surgery, she developed lymphedema in both arms due to the removal of lymph nodes. Following her diagnosis, she became an active public advocate, serving as the national spokesperson for the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN) and chairing its honorary board. In April 2019, she testified before the United States Congress to lobby for increased research funding for lymphatic diseases.

Kathleen Doyle Bates was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the youngest of three daughters of mechanical engineer Langdon Bates and homemaker Bertye Kathleen Talbert. She graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a degree in theater in 1969 before relocating to New York City in 1970 to pursue professional acting. While working odd jobs, including as a cashier at the Museum of Modern Art, she trained at the William Esper Studio.

Bates initially built her reputation on the stage throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She appeared in the Off-Broadway production of Vanities in 1976 and originated the role of Lenny in Crimes of the Heart at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in 1979. Her Broadway work earned significant critical praise, including a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance as Jessie Cates in Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play 'night, Mother in 1983. In 1988, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress for starring in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a role McNally wrote specifically for her.

After minor early screen appearances, including her feature film debut in Miloš Forman's Taking Off (1971) under the name Bobo Bates, Bates achieved international fame in 1990. Director Rob Reiner cast her opposite James Caan in Misery, the film adaptation of Stephen King's novel. Bates portrayed Annie Wilkes, a reclusive former nurse who holds an author captive. The role earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama, making her the first woman to win the Best Actress Oscar for a horror film.

Following Misery, Bates maintained a prolific film career through the 1990s and 2000s. She starred as Evelyn Couch in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), reunited with Stephen King material as the title character in Dolores Claiborne (1995), and portrayed Molly Brown in James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic (1997). She garnered three additional Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress: as political adviser Libby Holden in Primary Colors (1998), as Roberta Hertzel in About Schmidt (2002) opposite Jack Nicholson, and as Bobi Jewell in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama Richard Jewell (2019).

Alongside her film work, Bates developed an extensive television career as both an actress and a director. She directed episodes of series such as NYPD Blue, Oz, and Six Feet Under, as well as television films including Dash and Lilly (1999) and Ambulance Girl (2005). As an actress, she received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for portraying Helen Kushnick in The Late Shift (1996) and Miss Hannigan in Annie (1999).

Bates won her first Primetime Emmy Award in 2012 for a guest appearance on Two and a Half Men. In 2013, she joined Ryan Murphy's anthology series American Horror Story, portraying Madame Delphine LaLaurie in Coven, which earned her a second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress. She remained a core cast member for subsequent seasons, including Freak Show, Hotel, and Roanoke. In 2024, Bates began starring as the lead character Madeline Matlock in the CBS reboot series Matlock, serving as an executive producer and earning a Critics' Choice Television Award and an Emmy nomination for the performance.