Kathy Bates

I have a new favorite actress -- Kathy Bates. She's everywoman. She has had a role in each of the last few movies I have seen, and in each one of them she has stolen every scene. She played Michael Oher's tutor in The Blind Side, and brought his grades -- and the movie -- up from a C- to an A. She was wonderful. And who else could steal a movie from Michelle Feiffer or Kate Winslet? Only Kathy Bates. And for some reason, Kathy Bates never seems to age. She has had the same face for 20 years.

Kathy Bates was blessed with an expressive, mobile face and she can either look attractive or she can look dreadful, and she can switch from one face to the other in an instant. As Annie Wilkes in Misery, the role for which she won an Oscar, she was truly frightening.

"I'm your number one fan. There's nothing to worry about. You're gonna be just fine. I'll take good care of you. I'm your number one fan. You better show me a little more appreciation, Mr. Man."

I think that's the scariest line ever spoken in a movie. It still makes my hair stand on end. During an interview she once said, "I read the book and had to do the movie," she says. "My response to any material is through my stomach. If it grabs me there, I have to do it, and Misery did."

Kathy Bates appears to be having the time of her life in every role she plays. It's as if she knows she's the best thing in the movie, and she plays it to the hilt, but in a subtle way, as if her fans are part of a private club, and only we are in on the secret. Her hot tub scene with Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt was a hoot. Lately Kathy Bates has had a recurring role on The Office, as the CEO of a company taking over Dunder Mifflin, and she has completely re-energized the show.

Kathy, I'm your number one fan.