Biografie

She was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in a horror/thriller for her role as Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990).

Bates was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2003, but she did not reveal her illness to the general public until 2009. She stated that she has been "in total remission" for over five and a half years, as of January 2009. In September 2012, Bates announced via Twitter that she has breast cancer and is recovering from a double mastectomy.

Has said Dolores (1995) is her favorite film role.

Is an artist and writer and hopes to someday write and illustrate her own children's book. Has spoken at award ceremonies for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

Her Oscar-winning role as Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990) was ranked #17 on the American Film Institute's villains list of the 100 years of The Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains.

The Oscar changed everything. Better salary, working with better people, better projects, more exposure, less privacy.

[on losing the role of Frankie, which had been written for her by playwright Terrence McNally, to Michelle Pfeiffer in the movie version of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune"] I thought it was wonderful to see a love story about people over forty, ordinary people who were trying to connect. We haven't seen it before, and I don't think we will see it with this movie Frankie und Johnny (1991).

[on playing Terry Bradshaw's movie wife in Zum Ausziehen verführt (2006)] When I was told Terry Bradshaw would be playing my husband, I was like "The star-quarterback Terry Bradshaw?".

I was never an ingénue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

My mother used to tell this corny story about how the doctor smacked me on the behind when I was born and I thought it was applause, and I have been looking for it ever since.