Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Kathy Bates continues her streak of eclectic acting choices with Disjointed, which premiered last week on Netflix. In the new series, Bates plays Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, a long-time cannabis lover and holdover hippie who owns a marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles. Ruth entrusts her son (Aaron Moten), newly minted with an MBA, and a few other “budtenders” with the shop’s daily operations and, as in any workplace sitcom, shenanigans ensue.
Playing “cannabis legend” Ruth may seem like an odd move in Bates’ career trajectory, but really it’s squarely in line with the casting decisions she’s made since her career started in the late ‘70s. As in, her choices refuse to follow a linear path towards one specified endpoint (Oscar winner! Comedy icon! Dramatic Actress!).
Bates has notoriously been all over the map when it comes to the roles she’s playing. She first broke into the mainstream consciousness with the 1990 crime thriller Misery, based on Stephen King’s novel. Bates naturally slides into the role of a psychopathic mega-fan who kidnaps and tortures her favorite author, and she was rewarded with an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her efforts.
After Misery, Bates’ movie star cred rose steadily, and she appeared in a loooong and wildly varied list of hits, including the feel-good drama Fried Green Tomatoes, all-time box office champ Titanic, Adam Sandler star vehicle The Waterboy (who could forget Mama Boucher!), About Schmidt, and depression fest Love Liza.
In the mid 2000s, Bates switched her focus to television, and she’s stayed in prominent view ever since. After a long stint on the dark comedy Six Feet Under, Bates played the infamous Jo Bennett, Sabre CEO, on The Office. With her large southern personality and even larger Great Danes, she provided comic relief at a time when we were still reeling from Michael’s departure. Her success on The Office prompted NBC to offer her top billing in the legal comedy Harry’s Law, a role for which she was nominated for about every award out there.
In the last few years, especially, Kathy Bates has been acting under the tutelage of two of the largest producer/creators in the industry: Ryan Murphy and Chuck Lorre. She has been featured in every season of Murphy’s American Horror Story anthology since 2013–in roles ranging from a racist socialite to a murderous colonial leader–and she also had a recurring role in FEUD: Bette and Joan as veteran Hollywood actor Joan Blondell. On the Lorre front, Bates has appeared in Two and a Half Men as Charlie’s ghost (a role for which she won her first Emmy) and on Mike & Molly alongside Melissa McCarthy.
And that brings us to Disjointed, the most recent Lorre-Bates project that once again alters the direction of Bates’ career. Is she able to make the transition from homicidal colonist to peaceful budtender? Of course she is, as she’s proven time and time again that she can do it all. She excels at playing the crazies, the socialites, the comic relief, and the concerned mothers of the world. Bates seamlessly floats from comedy to drama to horror just as easily as she moves from film to TV, and she does it with the poise of an actress who’s been calling the shots for decades.
Yes, Bates’ filmography may be all over the map, but she deserves a massive amount of credit for her ability to always seem at home in those new locations. She isn’t afraid to travel outside her comfort zone and make risky career transitions, which can’t be said for the vast majority of actors (how many times can Tom Cruise play the same action hero dude?). I mean, not many actors can play both a bearded lady and Queen Victoria, but Bates kills it in both roles.
Here’s to you, Kathy Bates. May you always have the courage to go from carnie to weed connoisseur to sociopath and back again.
