While Hollywood has always been about looks, talent sometimes wills out. For Kathy Bates, it took some twenty years before she truly broke through in films playing the deranged fan of a mystery writer (James Caan) in the screen adaptation of Stephen King's "Misery" (1990), directed by Rob Reiner. After copping a Best Actress Oscar, she continued to offer a series of finely detailed character roles as well as developing a burgeoning secondary career as a director.

The youngest of three daughters, Bates was born and raised in Tennessee. Possessed with fine porcelain skin, striking blue-green eyes and full, pouty lips, she is an attractive woman who is capable of hiding her looks as the role required. Her one admitted problem was a tendency to gain weight, considered a cardinal sin in film and TV. Casting agents bluntly told her she was too unattractive for the roles for which she auditioned and even some critics (chiefly John Simon) ridiculed her appearance. Bates persevered and carved a rich career. She made her feature debut (billed as Bobo Bates) as an auditioning singer performing a song she wrote in Milos Forman's "Taking Off" (1971) but quickly turned to the theater. Bates achieved her first taste of success as one of the Texas belles in the Off-Broadway hit "Vanities" (1976) and originated the role of Lenny, the eldest sibling, in Beth Henley's "Crimes of the Heart" (1978) and finally made it to Broadway in the short-lived "Goodbye Fidel" (1980), supporting Jane Alexander.

In 1982, Bates created the role of the loudmouthed Stella May in the Broadway production "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" (reprising it in Robert Altman's film version later that year). The following year, she scored a major hit as the depressed daughter bent on committing suicide in the Pulitzer-winning "'night Mother", earning several awards and a Tony nomination. She rounded out the decade as a frustrated waitress discovering love in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" (1987-88) a part written expressly for her by playwright Terrence McNally and replacing Amy Irving as a South African schoolteacher in Athol Fugard's "The Road to Mecca" (1988-89).

While her stage career was blossoming, Bates was making small inroads in other media, most notably in TV. She had made her primetime debut as a bride on "The Love Boat" in 1977 and had guest roles on "Cagney and Lacey". "L.A. Law" and "China Beach". There was even a 1984 recurring role on ABC's daytime soap "All My Children" as the cell mate of an incarcerated Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). Her film roles, though, tended to be negligible except for "Straight Time" (1978), in which she was Gary Busey's put-upon wife. Tired of watching roles she had created go to other actresses (perhaps the biggest insult was the casting of the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer as the mousy waitress in the film "Frankie and Johnny"), Bates relocated to L.A. and made a concerted effort to raise her profile. Indelible character turns in such films as "Men Don't Leave" and "Dick Tracy" (both 1990) laid the groundwork for her superlative work as the psychotic Annie Wilkes in "Misery". Following her Academy Award win, the actress delivered a strong turn as Aidan Quinn's repressed missionary wife whose grief over the death of their son causes her to have a breakdown in "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" (1991). She rounded out the year playing the slightly passive role of the woman listening to the stories of a nursing home resident (Jessica Tandy) in "Fried Green Tomatoes".

Despite her acclaim and standing, Bates found good roles difficult to find; a function partly of her being a character player, partly of the lack of imagination by casting agents and producers and partly because of both her age and her full figure. When she did land roles, she often proved better than the material (i.e., "Used People" 1992; "A Home of Our Own" 1993). Ironically, perhaps, it was embodying another of Stephen King's crusty characters that gave her career a boost. As "Dolores Claiborne" (1995), Bates was terrific, delivering a showy turn as a murder suspect. Although some felt her miscast as a hard-boiled detective investigating a possible homicide in the pallid remake "Diabolique" (1996), she injected a much needed spark to the film. Similarly, her foul-mouthed, aggressive agent-turned-producer in the HBO movie "The Late Shift" (1996) proved her ability to handle comedy as well as drama. James Cameron tapped her to portray another larger-than-life character, Molly Brown, in his epic "Titanic" (1997) and, though her appearances were brief, the actress made a memorable impression as the nouveau riche Coloradan. "Primary Colors" offered her yet another rich role, a straight-talking, no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners political campaign advisor, and while "The Waterboy" (both 1998) was hardly high-brow, it was entertaining and her white trash mother to Adam Sandler was another gem.

In 1995, Bates made her directorial debut staging the PBS adaptation of "Talking With", a series of monologues performed by women (she also delivered one). Since then, she has gradually honed her craft, tackling episodes of the police dramas "Homicide: Life on the Street" and "NYPD Blue" as well as the gritty HBO prison drama "Oz" and "several episodes of HBO's dark dramedy "Six Feet Under," along with the family-oriented "Everwood." Although still a relative novice, Bates tackled her first longform, guiding Sam Shepard and Judy Davis through their paces as Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman in the 1999 A&E biopic "Dash and Lilly," for which she was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Movie.

But Bates also continued to thrive before the camera, winning multiple awards and nominations--including an Academy Award nomination-- for her turn as the hard-driving politco Libby Holden in the presidential campaign drama "Primary Colors," and taking small but pivotal and often comedic roles in films such as "A Civil Action" (1998), "Rat Race" (2001), "American Outlaws" (2001) and "Dragonfly" (2002) on the big screen. Her zesty performance as Miss Hannigan in the TV-movie version of the stage hit "Annie" (1999) earned her a new round of critical kudos and shed light on her powerful singing voice--it also snagged her an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. That same year, in which she was also nominated as a director, Bates was nominated as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for a stint on "3rd Rock from the Sun." Her next career-defining performance came in the 2002 film "About Schmidt," in which she played Roberta Hertzel--the eccentric, low-class mother of Jack Nicholson's prospective son-in-law. Bates attacked the role with comedic gusto and no regard for vanity, resulting in critical accolades and an Academy Award nomination for her supporting turn. In 2003 she began a recurring role on "Six Feet Under" playing the earthy, outspoken Bettina, who helps Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) break out of her self-repressing ways, and earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

In 2004 Bates had a cameo role as Queen Victoria in the contemporary remake of "Around the World in 80 Days" and she turned up in support of Brittany Murphy in the middling comedy "Little Black Book" (2004) as the daytime talk show hostess Kippie Kahn. She received rave reviews for her turn as physical therapist Helena Mahoney, who helps Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Kenneth Branagh) come to terms with his debilitating case of polio in the acclaimed HBO telepic "Warm Springs" (2005), for which she was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. That same year she directed and starred in the Lifetime telepic "Ambulance Girl" playing a former food writer who overcomes a bout of clinical depression when she begins working as a paramedic.

from movies.yahoo.com

  Have Mercy (2006) (announced)
Bee Movie (2007) (filming) (voice)
Charlotte's Web (2006) (post-production) (voice) .... Bitsy
Ambulance Girl (2005) (TV) (post-production) .... Jane Stern
Relative Strangers (2006) (completed) .... Agnes Menure

Failure to Launch (2006) .... Sue
3 & 3 (2005) .... The Judge
Warm Springs (2005) (TV) .... Helena Mahoney
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004) .... The Marquesa
... aka Puente de San Luis Rey, El (Spain)
Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy (2004) (V) (voice) .... The Sea Hag
Little Black Book (2004) .... Kippie Kann
Around the World in 80 Days (2004) .... Queen Victoria
The Ingrate (2004) .... The Judge
Unconditional Love (2002) .... Grace Beasley
About Schmidt (2002) .... Roberta Hertzel
Dragonfly (2002) .... Mrs. Belmont
... aka Im Zeichen der Libelle (Germany)
My Sister's Keeper (2002) (TV) .... Christine Chapman
Love Liza (2002) .... Mary Ann Bankhead
American Outlaws (2001) .... Ma James
Rat Race (2001) (uncredited) .... The Squirrel Lady
... aka Course folle (Canada: French title)
Bruno (2000) .... Mother Superior
... aka The Dress Code (USA: alternative title)

Annie (1999) (TV) .... Miss Agatha Hannigan
Baby Steps (1999) .... Mrs. Mellon
A Civil Action (1998) (uncredited) .... Bankruptcy Judge
The Waterboy (1998) .... Helen 'Mama' Boucher
The Effects of Magic (1998) .... Voice of Raphaella, the Magic Bunny
Primary Colors (1998) .... Libby Holden
... aka Mit aller Macht (Germany)
... aka Perfect Couple (Japan: English title)
... aka Primary Colors (France)
Titanic (1997) .... Molly Brown
Swept from the Sea (1997) .... Miss Swaffer
... aka Amy Foster (UK)
... aka Balayé par la mer (Canada: French title)
The War at Home (1996) .... Maurine Collier
Diabolique (1996) .... Shirley Voguel
The Late Shift (1996) (TV) .... Helen Kushnick
The West Side Waltz (1995) (TV) .... Mr. Goo
Angus (1995) .... Meg Bethune
... aka Angus - Voll Cool (Germany)
Talking with (1995) (TV)
Dolores Claiborne (1995) .... Dolores Claiborne
Curse of the Starving Class (1994) .... Ella Tate
North (1994) .... Alaskan Mom
"The Stand" (1994) (mini) TV Series (uncredited) .... Rae Flowers
... aka Stephen King's The Stand
A Home of Our Own (1993) .... Frances Lacey
Hostages (1993) (TV) .... Peggy Say
Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun (1993) (V) .... Lunar Mom
Used People (1992) .... Bibby Berman
Prelude to a Kiss (1992) .... Leah Blier
Shadows and Fog (1992) .... Prostitute
The Road to Mecca (1992) .... Elsa Barlow
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) .... Evelyn Couch
... aka Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (UK)
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) .... Hazel Quarrier
Misery (1990) .... Annie Wilkes
White Palace (1990) .... Rosemary
Dick Tracy (1990) .... Mrs. Green
Men Don't Leave (1990) .... Lisa Coleman

No Place Like Home (1989) (TV)
Roe vs. Wade (1989) (TV)
High Stakes (1989) .... Jill
... aka Melanie Rose
Signs of Life (1989) .... Mary Beth Alder
... aka One for Sorrow, Two for Joy
Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) .... Mrs. Canby
My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988) (as Kathy D. Bates) .... Helen Blake
... aka I Was a Teenage Vampire
Summer Heat (1987) .... Ruth
Murder Ordained (1987) (TV) .... Bobbi Birk
The Morning After (1986) .... Woman on Mateo Street
Johnny Bull (1986) (TV) .... Katherine Kovacs
"All My Children" (1970) TV Series .... Belle Bodelle (1984)
... aka All My Children: The Summer of Seduction (USA: promotional title)
Two of a Kind (1983) .... Furniture Man's Wife
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) .... Stella Mae

Straight Time (1978) .... Selma Darin
Taking Off (1971) (as Bobo Bates) .... Audition Singer: 'Even the Horses Had Wings'