Profile of the Day: Kathy Bates

Posted June 28, 2023 by Amanda | No Comment

Happy birthday to Kathy Bates! Today the star turns 75.

Image: Kathy Bates / Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

She was born Kathleen Doyle Bates on June 28, 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee. She is the youngest of three daughters born to Langdon Doyle Bates and Bertye Kathleen Talbert. Her paternal grandfather, Finis L. Bates, was a lawyer and the author of The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth. In the book, he claimed that John Wilkes Booth was not killed by Union Soldiers. Instead, Booth had eluded capture and lived for many years under a series of assumed names.

Bates began her career in New York City working odd jobs while struggling to find work as an actress. She soon found success on stage and earned a Tony Award nomination in 1983 for her performance in the play ‘night, Mother. In 1990, Bates got her big break in Hollywood with a starring role in the horror-thriller Misery. Her performance as Annie Wilkes landed Bates her first Academy Award for Best Actress. She has since continued to find success on both the big and small screen, earning 3 more Oscar nominations and several Emmy Awards.

What’s your favorite performance?

Explore Kathy Bates’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re connected to the actress.