From Misery to Matlock, the legendary Kathy Bates continues to breathe life into some of entertainment’s most formidable characters.

Kathy Bates has long had a life philosophy that has kept her in good stead. Throughout her stellar 50-year acting career on stage and screen, which began in 1971 with Milos Forman’s film Taking Off, she is known for always working hard to be the best that she can be.

“I’ve only ever been interested in doing the best work that I can possibly do every single time,” says the multi-award-winning actor, now 76. “I always want to dig deep and at the same time also make it look easy.”

Photo by Chris Chew/Shutterstock

From her Oscar-winning role as a psychotic, obsessed fan in the 1990 psychological thriller Misery, and her hilarious portrayal of a liberated housewife in 1991’s Fried Green Tomatoes, to her emotional performances as six different disturbing characters in American Horror Story, her roles are more than memorable.

During her acclaimed career, Bates has received two Primetime TV Emmy Awards (Two and a Half Men and American Horror Story) and a Best Actress Tony Award for her emotional role in Long Day’s Journey into Night.

Along the way, she starred as the Unsinkable Molly Brown in Titanic, as well as in the likes of The Blind Side, Dolores Claiborne, The Waterboy and Primary Colors. A common thread is that Bates can never be underestimated—a theme that resonates with her current TV show.

The iconic actor stars as an experienced attorney named Madeline “Matty” Matlock in Matlock, a clever new CBS legal series with a surprise twist. It also has a wink and a nod to Andy Griffith’s beloved, folksy legal drama of the same name, which ran from 1986 to 1995, and helped set the stage for the many procedural dramas to follow.

In the new Matlock, Bates’ character, Matty, rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm, where she uses her unassuming demeanor and clever tactics to win cases and expose corruption. Rounding out the A-list cast are Beau Bridges, Jason Ritter, David Del Rio, Leah Lewis and Skye P. Marshall, who plays Matty’s much younger boss. It’s expected that each episode will also feature one or two guest stars.

Jennie Snyder Urman, the show’s creator, executive producer and showrunner, says the series’ guiding principle is how older women are often overlooked in society.

“I wanted our heroine to be constantly telling the audience that she’s being underestimated, and then I wanted the audience to enjoy watching her take advantage of that underestimation,” says Urman, who is an accomplished storyteller. “Then, by the end, even though she said it constantly and we watched it happen over and over again, I wanted to still be able to shock the audience when they realize that they, too, have underestimated Madeline Matlock.”

Matty remarks in the pilot episode something that truly resonates with the actor: “There is a funny thing that happens when women age: They become damn near invisible. This is extremely helpful because nobody sees us coming.” Bates concurs that “a lot of us feel invisible and not useful these days.”

The witty new series fits in perfectly with Bates’ overall career; she is known for her portrayals of strong women who act against the societal norms. Despite earlier mentions of possible retirement after a recent film project that did not go as well as she had hoped, Bates tells us she’s not ready for her “last dance” anytime soon. And it appears as she won’t have to as Matlock has already been renewed for a second season.

What can you tell us about the new Matlock series?

This is a wonderful role, and I feel the joy on the set. I have to say I love playing all those facets of this character, and I just feel so lucky to be able to do all of that in one person and in the same episode.

You have said the role reminds you of your mother. Can you elaborate?

There’s a lot of what I imagine my mother, Mary, could have been if she had been given the opportunity to realize her dreams of becoming a lawyer. I think about the frustration she must have felt of having that kind of dream and having it subverted by the time period she lived in.

There are a lot of different aspects to your character when it comes to her colleagues, witnesses and home life. How do you juggle all of these levels of your performance?

I feel really lucky. I get to play all of those levels with everything I’ve learned over the last 50 years. It’s interesting that you say she is honest at home, because I think she even keeps things from her husband, every now and then and—without giving too much away—I think there’s a struggle between her relationship with her husband, Edwin, and then this new relationship that she’s having at work with this woman that she so admires, and they click.

I think she begins to love that part of her life almost even more than she does at home with Edwin. So, we get to see a really different side of her as their relationship develops.

Do you hit different toggles to play each of those things, or is it all the same process?

Playing each scene is like sort of creating a little bead on a necklace, you know? You need to have faith. Because of course, when you’re making television or film, you’re breaking everything up, so we really have to be careful about where we are in the show, what’s happened, and where we are in this character development and that one. It all shifts and changes and that’s part of what makes it exciting, because you never know what’s ahead. Matty is never sure what’s happening in front of her own eyes, and she has to shift with all of it. So, each scene is its one little pearl, so to speak, so I just have to focus on what happens moment to moment.

How familiar were you with the original Matlock TV series?

I was starting out in the New York theater [scene], so I wasn’t watching television at night. But I did watch it a little bit. And of course, I’ve been a huge fan of Andy Griffith. But what excited me about this was that I read the script on a Friday, and when I was going in to sit down with Jennie [Snyder Urman] on a Monday, I think the first thing I said to her was, “Don’t change a word.” And then I said, “Don’t leave me,” because I knew what a challenge it was, and also how much I would need her to create this amazing character.

Why was this the right role at this time in your life?

Well, because a woman my age would never have received such a role, and the complexity of the role and the writing. I pinch myself every day. This is certainly a business where a lot of ageism exists. I’ve only been interested in doing the best work I can possibly do. So to be able to bring in all those facets that I’ve learned from doing all those different kinds of roles into this, I’m glad I stuck around for it.

How can you relate to your own career experience when they try not to realize how much you can bring? 

When I was younger, I would get my feelings hurt. Sometimes I’d get on a plane and fly home. But I had a wonderful producer, God rest his soul, the three-time Oscar-winning Saul Zaentz. I remember we were in London doing a British press tour and it was a nightmare. I remember I got very upset, and I said, “I’m going home, that’s it. I’m not going to put myself through this anymore.” I remember Saul coming up to me and saying, “You gotta get tougher.” And someone else had said to me around that same time, “You gotta have a head like a bullet and a heart like a baby.”

So that’s what I’ve tried to do. But sometimes I take it too far and I can be like a bull in a china shop. But I’m not like my characters; I wish I was.

How different is this experience from when you did the 2011 TV legal drama Harry’s Law?

Well, of course, this is a much more complex character. Although I loved playing Harry. I met some wonderful people doing it. But this is different, and I’m different than I was way back then. I appreciate the complexity of the role, and getting an opportunity to work with Jennie, and I mean, you text her and she texts you right back. I know we didn’t have texting back then, but she’s right there with us, and so it seems like it’s incredibly collaborative.

This series is a very different experience to be able to say, “Hey, I need help with this. What’s going on? I don’t want to bother you,” and suddenly she’s right there, so that’s very different for me. That wasn’t really the style that [Harry’s Law] producer David E. Kelley had back in those days.

You previously mentioned wanting to retire. Did you change your mind?

I had thought I might semi-retire or retire, but then Matlock came along, so I am not ready to take a final bow yet. I am having the best time with this show. I am eager to stay with this for several years.

Do you feel like this series has given you multiple roles to kind of play? Or is it just one role that sort of weaves its way through this story?

It’s just one minute she’s doing, you know, she’s at the office and she’s trying to figure things out, the other minute she’s with her husband at home and they are very tender moments. It’s because of all those layers that I love this experience so much. And as my mother, God rest her soul, would have said, she would always wish that I’d not play all these characters that were afflicted.

I think my mother would be very happy because she wanted to be a lawyer. I’m not afflicted in this show, you know so it’s just so fun to play all those different facets of the same woman, and facets that she’s learning about at the same time as they are happening. It’s a feeling of, “Oh, my God, I didn’t know I could do this!”