Kathy Bates says ‘Matlock’ will be her ‘last dance’ as she plans to retire from acting
Kathy Bates poses for a portrait to promote "Matlock" during the Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour on July 13.
(CNN) — Kathy Bates says starring in the reboot of the procedural drama “Matlock” will be her swan song.
In an interview with the New York Times, the Oscar-winning actress said she was ready to step out of the spotlight but was drawn to the series after she read the script. Viewers will have to enjoy it, as Bates said this will be her final acting gig.
“This is my last dance,” she told the publication.
Bates, who in 1991 won a best actress Academy Award for her role in the horror thriller “Misery,” talked about her longstanding career in Hollywood and how the new TV series lured her away from her plans to quit the industry.
“Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it,” the 76-year-old actress said. “And it’s exhausting.”
She was pretty forthright in her interview with the Times, talking about being born the youngest of three daughters with her sisters being much older.
“As I got older, I realized that I wasn’t meant to be,” Bates said. “That has informed my evolution as a human being, and who you are as a human being, it’s who you are as an artist.”
Her performance as Annie Wilkes, a psychotic recluse who kidnaps a famous writer in “Misery,” took her career to a new level.
But Bates couldn’t quite enjoy it.
“I never felt dressed right or well,” she said about the publicity rounds she made for the film and after. “I felt like a misfit. It’s that line in ‘Misery’ when Annie says, ‘I’m not a movie star.’ I’m not.”
Bates has also found success on the small screen with roles on shows like “Six Feet Under,” “The Office” and more recently “American Horror Story.”
Rebooting “Matlock,” which originally starred Andy Griffith as genial Atlanta attorney Ben Matlock and ran from 1986 to 1995, offered Bates the opportunity to explore a world from the perspective of an older woman with her character, Madeline “Matty” Matlock.
“There’s this funny thing that happens when women age,” Bates’s character says in the “Matlock” pilot. “We become damn near invisible.”
“It’s useful, because nobody sees us coming,” she adds.
“Matlock” premieres September 22 on CBS.
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