By Lubna Abdel Aziz In the present state of mistiness and uncertainty regarding world peace and security, it is indeed puzzling and difficult to comprehend the irresponsible thunder of otherwise responsible voices, the insane rhetoric of otherwise sane men. The world is turning contrariwise, what is up is down, what is down is up. The only note of reason comes from a most improbable fanciful source, normally considered fickle, flighty, frenzied. The soft murmur from tinsel town rings with warmth and truth, a safe alternative to the clang and clatter of inconsistencies, double standards and opportunism. Hollywood has just announced its nominations for its upcoming Oscar night when it crowns its kings and queens -- a welcome distraction drowning the discordant blast of war drums. In celebration of the finest, in the most popular of art forms, is the less noticed category of best actors in supporting roles. Amongst them is a name familiar to most film aficionados. It may not be a household name, but we all know her well. She made our flesh creep and our blood run cold as she hammered away at the ankles of her beloved author with a huge baseball bat, in the heart-stopping psychological Stephen King thriller Misery. As the maniacal fan bent on keeping her favourite writer as her personal prisoner for the rest of his "cock-a-doodle" life, Kathy Bates' terrorizing portrayal earned her an Oscar. As Annie Wilkes, psychotic former nurse with a violent past, Bates modulates kindness to sympathetic loneliness to final horrific violence harrowing up the soul. Funny, frightening and totally engaging, Misery was such a hit that bits of her dialogue, such as calling her prisoner "Mr. Man", entered the popular lexicon. Most of Bates' admirers then believed her to be an amazing newcomer able to steal the Oscar that year from under the noses of such contenders as Meryl Streep, Angelica Huston and Joanne Woodward. Even that Pretty Woman Julia Roberts lost the Oscar to Kathy Bates in 1990. Bates was certainly no newcomer. She had been acting in every medium , particularly the stage since 1970. In 1990 she had a very successful run on Broadway as the drab, dumpy waitress in Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire de Lune. But when they came to make the film version, she was passed over for the glamorous Michelle Pfeiffer. The film version of the play bombed at the box office while Bates, cast in Misery instead, walked away with the Oscar. If you missed her in her perversely delicious performance as the crazy nurse you may have caught her in a touchingly sweet rendition of a subdued downtrodden housewife, who changes her life after meeting a special old lady in a nursing home, Jessica Tandy. The film was Fried Green Tomatoes and critics raved about the range of Miss Bates. She joined Tandy again as "Bibby" in Used People (1992), one of those precious little gems about family relations starring Shirley Maclaine and Marcello Mastroianni. Unlike the plastic Hollywood types, Bates has a natural acting style, never allowing artifice to interfere with her emotional honesty. She was nominated for another Oscar for her role as "Libby Holden", the dirty campaign manager of Bill Clinton's presidential candidacy in Primary Colours (1998). Fresh out of a mental institution Libby is tough, ruthless, knows all the dirty tricks, and is not afraid to use them. If you have missed her in the 50 or so films she appeared in, it is certain you saw her in the most commercial film in memory. The film everyone must have seen, Titanic (1997) was a box office phenomenon and Kathy Bates as the feisty American heiress sassy, unrefined yet unsinkable Molly Brown, was unforgettable. If you are one of the 2 or 3 people who did not see Titanic, you have a chance to see Kathy Bates at her best. In the much acclaimed About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson, Bates has accomplished the impossible. Most critics hail her for having upstaged Nicholson himself as his daughter's eccentric future mother-in-law. Starring as a loud, controlling, confirmed hippie, Bates strips naked and jumps in a hot tub with a disbelieving and increasingly frightened Nicholson. At 53, the very ample Miss Bates, with her massive portly physique thinks nothing of stripping in front of the cameras for the sake of her art. Well, not exactly nothing. She and director Alexander Payne negotiated loud and long before they agreed on what to reveal in the shot: "The way it is written in the script was something I wouldn't do," says Bates. What she does, has everyone applauding for the pleasantly plump Miss Bates. Even "Jack thanked me after the scene. He was a true gentleman", she says with a wink and a smile. This is not the first time the portly Miss Bates strips down to her birthday suit. Back in 1991 she appeared as a fanatical Christian fundamentalist stuck in the Amazon in At Play in the Fields of the Lord, and there again Miss Bates bared all. Bates has received her third Oscar nomination for her astonishing turn in About Schmidt, and bookmakers are betting on her walking away with another Oscar, this time for a supporting role. She has strong competition however from another Cathy -- slender, sleek and stylish, as in Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago, and veteran perennial Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, receiving her record 13th Oscar nomination for Adaptation. What Kathy Bates possesses in abundance, perhaps more than her competitors, is charm. Whether villain, cop, murderess or heiress, or a corpulent loud dame jumping in a tub in the nude, this Southern belle oozes with charm. Born in the deep South in Memphis Tennessee, Kathleen Doyle Bates, nicknamed "Bobo", aspired to be a singer as a young girl. She graduated 1970 from the renowned Texas academic institution Southern Methodist University in Dallas majoring in Theatre Arts. She started acting on stage in New York but occasionally worked in TV and films until she snatched her plum role in Misery. Only 160cms, Bates appears 10 feet tall, possessing remarkable range and versatility. She receives praise for everything she does, and everything she does is praiseworthy. Bates carries such star power turning over a bad film into something worth watching. She can scare you as much as she can cheer you. This rounded quality stems from an amazing talent that is like putty in her hands, which she moulds and reshapes at every turn. Totally without complexes or inhibitions, Bates is slave only to her art. Her extra pounds have never been an obstacle to directors, to viewers, or to herself. She is incomparable in her total abandon of any limitations or shortcomings transforming them instead to assets and resources. She is a heavyweight in the most meaningful sense, and most everyone in the film community is hoping she will walk out with another "golden boy" come Oscar night. A real woman with a down-home personality, her human quality always makes a difference. It remains to be seen how much of a difference to Academy members come Oscar night. But there is little doubt, judging from the buzz in Hollywood town, that her name will be pronounced with pleasure by a hundred thousand pairs of lips. Not bad at all for a plain, burly, short 53 year-old, with her usual gustiness, her high degree of sensitivity exposing the contrast between good taste, high morals, and the supreme art of serving her art. In these muddy murky waters of our troubled seas, her lucidity, simplicity and sincerity is a welcome relief from "the heavy and the weary weight of this unintelligible world". Once again we have reason to cheer Hollywood and put our money where our "Bates" is!
