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Kathy Bates, 76, told Variety she credits her long career to not looking like a beauty queen.
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Bates said she has “friends who have been beauty queens who are no longer working because of ageism.”
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Ageism against women isn’t just a Hollywood problem; it’s prevalent in other workplaces, too.
Kathy Bates, 76, says the secret to her long acting career is not looking like “a beauty queen.”
In an interview with Variety published Wednesday, Bates reflected on her career and shared her thoughts on retirement.
“I always knew going into this business that it was going to take me a while because I wasn’t a beauty queen,” she told Variety. “I have to say I give an inner wink when I see friends who have been beauty queens who are no longer working because of ageism, and in my case, I’ve been able to continue working for many years because I don’t look like that.”
Bates made her film debut in the 1971 movie “Taking Off,” per IMDb, and has been acting consistently ever since. At 42, she won an Oscar for best actress for her role as Annie Wilkes in 1990’s “Misery.”
“I don’t think I would have gotten the role in ‘Misery’ if I had been a beauty queen,” Bates said.
The actor said she’d contemplated retirement before landing the lead role in the CBS legal drama “Matlock,” which is set to premiere on September 22.
Bates said she hopes to do “several years” of “Matlock” before calling it quits.
“My friends say I’ll probably be like Molière and die in my chair on the stage,” Bates said, “because it really is a life force for me.”
Bates isn’t the only actor who has spoken up about ageism in Hollywood.
In an interview with Porter magazine in November, Anne Hathaway said she was told her career would “fall off a cliff” after she turned 35.
Kirsten Dunst told Marie Claire in March that she took a two-year break from acting because she was being typecast and only offered “sad mom” roles.
But ageism against women isn’t just a problem in Hollywood; it’s prevalent in other workplaces, too.
Discrimination against older workers cost the US economy an estimated $850 billion in GDP in 2018, according to a 2020 report from the AARP — formerly the American Association of Retired Persons — and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
A representative for Bates did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside business hours.
