20 Actors Who Had To Wait DECADES Before Hitting Big
19. Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates is one of the most reliably brilliant actors working today, and she was launched into the A-list when she won a Best Actress Oscar for her barnstorming performance as psycho-fan Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner's Misery.
This breakthrough came in 1990 when Bates was already 42 years old, but she was certainly no slouch in the lead up to this.
Bates spent most of the 1970s performing on stage and in smaller roles in TV and film.
Though she was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in the 1983 Broadway rendition of night, Mother, to moviegoers she was a total unknown - or, at best a "that lady" character actress - until Misery finally shattered the glass ceiling.
Bates' Oscar win cemented her as a Hollywood mainstay, with just a few of her more memorable roles being Primary Colors, Dolores Claiborne, Titanic, The Waterboy, About Schmidt, and Richard Jewell, while her storied career has also earned her an additional three Oscar nominations.