This Day in Horror History: Happy Birthday Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates can be thanked for bringing her A-List acting talents to the sets of may horror movies and TV shows. Her resume includes several seasons of American Horror Story, plus the films My Best Friend Is a Vampire, The Stand, Dolores Claiborne, and The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Of course, horror fans will remember her best for her insanely-perfect portrayal of Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Misery (written by Stephen King), for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress. If it’s been a while, or if you’ve never experienced Misery for yourself, check out the trailer and synopsis below.

Synopsis:
After a serious car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon (James Caan) is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), who claims to be his biggest fan. Annie brings him to her remote cabin to recover, where her obsession takes a dark turn when she discovers Sheldon is killing off her favorite character from his novels. As Sheldon devises plans for escape, Annie grows increasingly controlling, even violent, as she forces the author to shape his writing to suit her twisted fantasies.

Trivia:
Kathy Bates has said Dolores Claiborne (1995) is her favorite film role. (Source)

Personal Quotes:
“I was a big fan of Stephen King’s. I’d read a lot of the books. I love his gift for observation of human beings, his characters. They’re unique and quirky, like he is. I once ran into him and said, ‘Stephen, how are you?’ And – he’s quite tall – he looked down at me and said, ‘You’re in the pink.’ Which was something that could come out of one of his characters’ mouths.” (Source)

Kathy Bates was born on this day on 1948 and, today, all of us at Dread Central wish her a Happy Birthday!

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