Actor Kathy Bates is taking on a new role on CBS’s legal drama series, “Matlock,” at a time when she said she was considering semi-retirement.
“Then all of a sudden I got this script, and I was like, ‘Oh wow. I have to do it’.”
Bates revealed in an interview with “CBS Mornings” that at 76, she didn’t think such an opportunity would happen.
“It was also a big thing for me about being invisible. There are so many women my age who really feel invisible, and these years it’s hard to put that despair in check to get through each day,” said she. “I think if I didn’t do this show, I might feel the same way. But it’s changed overnight.”
The series is inspired by the original hit show of the same name. Bates, who said she initially considered not taking the role, plays a lawyer named Madeline “Matty” Matlock. Her character decides to re-enter the workforce and uses her age and wits to land a job at a prestigious law firm.
“At first I thought this was just going to be another episode, but the twist at the end where Mattie goes around the corner and gets into a chauffeur car and drives up to Westchester and you realize she’s there undercover to actually get justice for her daughter who died from opioids.”
In addition to dealing with ageism in the workforce, Bates said she feels healthy afterward lost 100 pounds over the years.
“I just feel like a different woman, I really do,” she said. “I look in the mirror and go ‘oh my god’ or I go into my fitting and I’m wearing a size 10 and it’s just so different from being a 3x and being able to walk and move around and pick things off racks … How these two things came together in my life, to be really healthy and then suddenly have this gift, just every day feels like a miracle.”
The Emmy and Oscar winner is passionate about her work and said she only sees herself as a “working actor.”
“It’s always about the work for me. It’s about the work and the awards are wonderful and all of this is really exciting … it’s the work that gets us there and it’s the work that we all love to do.”