Kathy Bates’ biggest problem with Hollywood: “You have to face up to how people are looking at you”
Hollywood is a harsh industry. Even for the most talented of actors, bagging roles isn’t as easy as going for an audition and simply doing your best. Many other factors, like who you know or what you look like, can play a part in determining whether you become a star, even if you have the intrinsic talent to be one.
The world of celebrity – where you are scrutinized for every facial expression, outfit choice, or hairstyle – is notoriously difficult to navigate, especially for women. No matter if you’re simply attending an award show or walking your dog, you’re likely to be criticised for what you’re wearing or who you’re with. Don’t even think about stepping out without makeup on unless you want to be part of an article about what you look like bare-faced – it’s relentless.
Kathy Bates believes that Hollywood’s intense beauty standards have affected her career, with the actor admitting that she has felt the effects of not looking as ‘conventionally attractive’ as many of her contemporaries. She once told The New York Times, “I have always had a problem with my weight. I’m not a stunning woman. I never was an ingenue; I’ve always just been a character actor.”
She continued, “When I was younger, it was a real problem because I was never pretty enough for the roles that other young women were being cast in. The roles I was lucky enough to get were real stretches for me: usually a character who was older, or a little weird, or whatever. And it was hard, not just for the lack of work but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.”
Realising the harsh reality of Hollywood’s standards, Bates has tried not to let them stop her from having a varied career, although she is best known for playing some “weird” characters, like the terrifying superfan Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s Misery or a variety of unusual characters in American Horror Story, such as a bearded lady.
Still, Bates hasn’t allowed herself to be typecast based on her appearance, starring in everything from Titanic to P.S. I Love You, Revolutionary Road, Chéri, The Blind Side, Midnight in Paris (as Gertrude Stein), and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. So, while Bates might not have been cast in many romantic roles, for example, she has impressed critics with many fantastic performances across a range of genres, proving her incredible ability to do drama as well as comedy and horror.
Bates is a multifaceted star, but she’d be lying if she said that Hollywood’s sexist standards of beauty – which are considerably more ruthless for female actors – hadn’t affected her. “I hate to complain about it, but never being considered the romantic lead – which is fine, I’m over that, been there, done that – means they look at me in a different way,” she told The Guardian. However, she soon realised that this might’ve been a blessing in disguise: “But then I look at my friends who are beautiful girls but not working after 40 – very few of them.”
