Kathy Bates was overcome with emotion remembering how late director Rob Reiner helped fulfill her biggest dream.
“Rob changed the course of my life, and if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you now,” Bates, 77, said on CBS News: Rob Reiner — Scenes From a Life on Sunday, December 21.
The actress starred as obsessed fan Annie Wilkes in Reiner’s 1990 psychological horror thriller, Misery, opposite James Caan’s Paul Sheldon, an acclaimed novelist. Reiner initially saw Bates performing in a play, but they had their first “real” interaction at her memorable audition for Misery, which was based on the 1987 Stephen King book of the same name.
“I just remember coming in the office, and we tried a couple of other different [versions of the character], you know, softer Annie, crazy Annie and after a few minutes, he said, ‘I don’t need anymore; you can do it. I know you can do it,’” Bates recalled. “I remember this warmth from him, this excitement, this confidence that I was his Annie. He knew I was going to be great.”
Bates’ performance was so extraordinary, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the Oscar for Best Actress. Reiner was in the crowd at the 1991 Academy Awards cheering Bates on as she gave her speech.
“When they called my name, I looked over and Rob was standing, and he was just pounding his fists together, going, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ and I was talking to my ex-husband [Tony Campisi] the other night because he was there sitting next to me, and he told me that I had already walked up onto the stage, and Rob, I never knew this until he told me this the other night, and Rob had turned to him and said, ‘She was the best! She was the best!’ Hearing that was so wonderful because I wanted to be the best for him,” Bates shared while holding back tears.
Bates revealed that she and Reiner later asked King, 78, what he thought about the film adaptation.
“He said, ‘I never expected her to pull up her skirts and twirl in a circle,’” Bates remembered. “But that was Rob. In the hands of another director it might not have been as funny or have as much heart or certainly created a human being out of this woman.”
For Bates, Misery was a life-changing role in more ways than one.
“I realized that if I hadn’t done Misery, it would be like George Bailey going back and seeing what his life would have been like if he had never been there,” Bates said, referencing James Stewart’s character in It’s a Wonderful Life. “I’ve always wanted to be an actress, and if it wasn’t for Rob, I don’t think I would have ever been able to make that dream come true in such a dramatic and incredible way.”
Bates was one of several celebrities who appeared in the CBS special to pay tribute to Rob and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, after they were found dead in their Brentwood, California, home on December 14. They were 78 and 70, respectively. Their son Nick Reiner was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with his parents’ deaths and is facing life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted. Nick has not yet entered a plea, and an arraignment has been set for January 7, 2026.
