Kathy Bates owes a lot of her success to the sacrifices her parents made when she was young. In fact, one of the biggest regrets of her career was failing to thank her mother during her 1991 Oscars speech.
But during a recent interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” the iconic actress discovered that she did thank her mother during that speech. And the realization, after years of doubt, brought tears to her eyes.
The moment came when Bates was talking about how unimpressed her mother was by the Oscar win. “I don’t know what all the excitement about. You didn’t discover the cure for cancer,” her mother said to her.
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Bates initially said she “forgot to thank her that night,” and thought her mother’s slight was a result of her getting snubbed in the acceptance speech. But that’s when reporter Ben Mankiewicz corrected her memory.
“You know, you did thank her at the end of your speech,” Mankiewicz said, to which Bates responded, “No, I did not. I did not. You go back and look at it. I didn’t.” Sure enough, they went back and looked.
Towards the end of the acceptance speech, Bates says: “I would like to thank my family, my friends, my mom at home, and my dad, who I hope is watching somewhere.”
Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1991 for her performance in Stephen King’s “Misery.”
Bates froze when she watched the video. Her hands quickly covered her mouth out of shock. A weight was lifted. “Thank you! Why did I think I didn’t thank her?” she said, getting emotional. “Oh, what a relief.”
Bates explains why that moment means so much to her
When asked why that moment means so much to her after all these years, Bates couldn’t help but think back to all the things her mother gave up. And how those sacrifices helped pave the way for her success.
“When she died, I remember I said, ‘Come into me.’ I wanted her spirit to come into me, even though we had so many difficulties,” she said, adding that she wanted her spirit to “enjoy everything I was enjoying.”
“She should’ve had my life,” Bates added.
Bates’ mother, Bertye Kathleen (née Talbert), passed away on February 15, 1997, six years after her daughter’s iconic Oscars win.
While she didn’t always have a good relationship with her mother, she wasn’t blind to all the things her parents did to ensure she had an opportunity to find success, including putting off their own retirement.
In the interview, she explained how her father had to “spend a fortune we didn’t have to send me to Southern Methodist University” and even “went to work in his 70s” to pay for her college tuition.
But it was those sacrifices that led Bates to have the career she has had over the past six decades.
Is Bates career coming to an end soon?
Last month, Mamas Uncut reported that Bates was considering retirement before she was offered the lead role of Madeline Matlock in an upcoming 18-episode reboot of the classic TV series, Matlock.
“Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it,” she told New York Times. She went on to call it her “last dance,” meaning it would be her final role.
But in her latest interview with CBS Sunday Morning, she seemed a little less attached to the idea.
“Not retiring. I want to stay for this show for as long as it runs, and I hope it runs for a very long time,” she said. While she didn’t talk about taking any new projects on, she seems ready to settle in with Matlock.
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The first episode of Matlock premiered on Sept. 22. The second episode airs on Oct. 17, with newer episodes dropping every Thursday at 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT on Paramount+.
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