Bates won her second Emmy for her role as Delphine LaLaurie
Credit: Michele K. Short/FX Networks/courtesy Everett
NEED TO KNOW
- Kathy Bates said she was “surprised” to win an Emmy for her role on American Horror Story: Coven
- She returned to the horror anthology series four more times and will also reprise one of her roles in the upcoming 13th season
- Last year, the Matlock actress became the oldest person ever nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Kathy Bates didn't expect to win an Emmy for American Horror Story.
Bates, 77, opened up about her career in Deadline's The Actor's Side video series, published on Tuesday, June 16. The actress, who currently stars on the CBS series Matlock, began appearing on American Horror Story in 2013, the show's third season. The season was subtitled Coven and also starred Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Denis O'Hare and Jessica Lange.
Bates played Delphine LaLaurie, a fictionalized version of a real person who lived from 1787 to 1849 and was a New Orleans socialite and serial killer. Bates returned to the American Horror Story franchise for 2014's American Horror Story: Freak Show, 2015's American Horror Story: Hotel, 2016's American Horror Story: Roanoke and 2018's American Horror Story: Apocalypse, and she played a different character in each season.
Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty
She's also set to return for season 13, and told Deadline that she'll be filming for “one day.”
“The new season is the all-stars, so they're bringing back all the old ones,” she said. Which of her iconic characters will appear on the show, however, remains a mystery.
She said that American Horror Story, and the show's executive producer Ryan Murphy, have been “very good to me.” The show, she said, has “been fun” because “I got to do so many different characters.”
She joked about Murphy, “He's obsessed with cutting my head off, I don't know why.”
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Credit: Emma McIntyre/WireImage
After her first appearance on the show, in Coven, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. “I was surprised,” she admitted about the win. She was nominated in the category with two of her Coven costars — Conroy and Angela Bassett — plus Julia Roberts, Ellen Burstyn and Allison Tolman. Lange, 77, also won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role on Coven.
Bates added that she was also surprised by her first Emmy win, which came in 2012 for the show Two and a Half Men. She played the ghost of Charlie Sheen's character Charlie Harper, and expressed her own surprise that she won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the role, especially because Sheen, 60, was nominated four times for an Emmy without any wins.
Bates has been nominated for an Emmy 15 times in total (including for Freak Show and Hotel). Last year, she became the oldest Emmy nominee ever for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Matlock, a feat she's hoping to repeat again this year. Matlock was renewed for a third season, which is expected to air midseason on CBS.
Earlier this month, Bates spoke to PEOPLE about turning 78 on June 28, and how she's found more ease in her life. “Sometimes I find myself, at my age, just taking a chill pill,” Bates said. “Just taking a minute to decide, 'Is this something I have to solve? Is this on my desk?' And if it's not, I just back up and let nature take its course.”
She continued, “I'm thinking life is a lot easier than I thought it would be. A lot of bad stuff is going on in the world, but I just got to focus on the one thing, two things I need to do.”
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