If there is one thing we know about the Oscars, that's it They have a bias against the horror. Although we here on /film we want a horror about how subversive and entertaining the genre - and how is one of the only genres that seems to make a profit constantly - Oscar voters seem to be considered too "unrefined" to take it seriously. There are too many unforgettable horror performances that have never received a nomination, just as there are too many talented horror directors and screenwriters who have never got their duty.

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So no one expected Katie Bates to win an Oscar for her performance in the 1990 Misery. Although her portrayal of the obsessive, retaliating Annie Wilks is still beloved even 35 years later, his context of horror film still made a long footage of the academy. That is why the film director, Rob Rainer, had no confidence in Bates to win the best actress for the role.

The Classic TCM Film Festival in 2025Bates and Rainer have reminiscent of her surprising Oscar win. Bates told Rainer, "you said," You can campaign, but you won't get it. " You said because it's a horror movie and it's probably not ... Then that night I just remember standing there and you were like (fists) "yes, yes".

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"Because you deserved it," Told said Rainer. "It's an incredible performance." Later on the panel, Rainer recalls that knowing that Bates is a great actress since she audited and worried about Bates potentially allowing Wilks' performance to bleed in the rest of her life:

"Katie is such a dedicated actress and she was so focused on wanting to do this job, she would take the character home with her many times. worried you won't choose it again.

For Best Actress Award, Katie Bates has run against Angelica Huston for "The Grifters", Iaulia Roberts for "Beautiful Woman", Meryl Streep for "edge postcards", and Anoan Woodward for "G -Din and Mr. Bridge". How Herald and review Noticed at the time, "Katie Bates, the revealed attraction in" misery ", may have been the biggest surprise of the night. Most of the folders predicted that either Angelika Huston or Anoan Woodward would go with the Best Actress Award. "

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People underestimated Bates not only because she behaved in horror, but because she did not have the conventional body type associated with the most popular Hollywood actresses. It is something that the Olympian noticed in their coverage of her victory, noting: "In another tacit recognition that Hollywood often looks at the unconventional, best actress award and went to Katie Bates, a veteran stage actress, who was regularly shot too.

But although he was widely considered a submerged, Bates' victory was not ridiculed in the same way as the other controversial best actress won over the years. Where Marisa Tomej was treated cruelly by the press When she (properly!) Beat for "My Cousin Winnie" a few years laterMost critics of the time have understood that Bates is a reasonable choice. As the daily sentiment wrote about the ceremony the next day, "surprises? Katie Bates seems unique, though in retrospect, the choice is natural. Her part as a crazy literary fan in" Misery "was much worse than the understated performances by the leading candidates.

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If there is an advantage that horror has at the award ceremonies, it is that the genre gives its actors a greater chance of going high with their performance. There are several roles more attention than not made a sleigh, and Bates has nailed it from start to finish. "Misery" Not the only horror movie to win an OscarBut that could be the one you earned the most.