3 Questions with Kathy Bates

An Oscar, two Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a lot of love from critics and fans reflect the enduring popularity of Kathy Bates, who doesn’t deny she will always be remembered most as the obsessive fan who wreaked havoc on James Caan in Misery.

She’s coming to prime time on CBS as Madeline Matlock — “yes, Matlock, like the old TV show,” she quips in the trailer — a 70-something lawyer returning to the work force at a prestigious law firm. Bates is perfectly cast in Matlock as a wily senior who uses her old lady persona to uncover clues that solve cases.

For Bates, it’s more sweet success after battles with both breast and ovarian cancer that nearly ended her career. Still afflicted with lymphedema, she’s been out front to get attention to the disease that afflicts millions.

Jeanne Wolf: In Matlock, you have to sound like a lawyer and a sweet old lady, to be tough, to be funny.

Kathy Bates: There’s so many layers to Matty. It’s a tremendous challenge, but it has also given me an opportunity to use everything I’ve learned about acting over the last 50 years. Matty played the old-age card to get the job. She feels useful. And I think that’s something as older people we can all relate to. Sometimes I look at nursing homes as “wisdom warehouses.” We warehouse people who are wise, who still have potential. A lot of them feel invisible. I sometimes think if I wasn’t famous maybe I’d be invisible.

JW: You’ve faced some horrific challenges along the way.

KB: When I got ovarian cancer, followed by breast cancer, I really thought my career was over. I won that battle, then I found out I had lymphedema. I was very angry, enraged. My arms became terribly swollen. I only could wear men’s shirts for a long time. I was also hugely overweight. Now, I’ve lost 100 pounds. I’ve done it on my own. I taught myself how to eat healthy.

When I was sick, the parts were getting smaller, in movies that didn’t do well. I was terribly depressed. Finally, I went to Ryan Murphy at American Horror Story, and he gave me the first of some fantastic roles, and it changed my life and career. Now I’m zooming around.

JW: You’re optimistic and determined, a survivor, like your character in Matlock. Where did that come from?

KB: My family has a wicked sense of humor, gallows humor. My mother said when they spanked my bottom when I was born I thought it was applause for my entrance and I’ve been wanting it ever since. But they taught me to stand on my own feet. My dad, in a lot of ways, tried to make me tough like the son he never had. When I decided to go to New York and try acting, he gave me $500 and said, “I always wanted to be a baseball pitcher, but instead I did what I was expected to do. I think you should get your chance at the big league.”

I’m cancer-free, but I’m still fighting the edema. William Repicci, the CEO of the Lymphatic Education Research Network, asked me to be their spokesperson. About 10 million people in this country suffer from lymphedema, and it’s most heartbreaking to see it in kids. It has given my life a sense of purpose I never dreamed I’d have.

—Jeanne Wolf is the Post’s West Coast editor

This interview is featured in the September/October 2024 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.