Kathryn Kates
{{short description|American actress (1948–2022)}}
{{Infobox person
| image = KKates 11.JPG
| alt =
| caption = Kates in 2013
| birth_date = {{birth date|1948|1|29}}
| birth_place = Queens, New York City, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|1|22|1948|1|29}}
| death_place = Lake Worth, Florida, U.S.
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1974–2022
| employer =
| organization =
| agent =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| television = Seinfeld
| title =
}}
Kathryn Jane Kates (January 29, 1948 – January 22, 2022) was an American actress. She was known for appearances on Seinfeld in the episodes "The Rye"{{cite web|title=The Rye|url=http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheRye.htm|publisher=Seinfeld Scripts|accessdate=December 12, 2011}} and "The Dinner Party."{{cite web|title=The Dinner Party|url=http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheDinnerParty.html|publisher=Seinfeld Scripts|accessdate=December 12, 2011}} She also appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Orange Is the New Black, The Many Saints of Newark among other roles in television and film. Kates also has many off-Broadway credits.
Early life and career
Kathryn Jane Kates was born in New York City on January 29, 1948. Her father, Louis Kates, was an electronics engineer. Her mother, Sylvia Kates, was an actress who worked under the stage name Madelyn Cates. Kathryn Kates graduated from Great Neck North Senior High School in 1967. She graduated from Tisch School of the arts at New York University in 1971. Ms. Kates moved to Los Angeles in 1974 where she began her acting career.{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Annabelle|date=2022-02-15|title=Kathryn Kates, Actress of 'Seinfeld' Babka Fame, Dies at 73|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/arts/television/kathryn-kates-dead.html|access-date=2022-02-16|issn=0362-4331}} She is one of 25 actors who are founding members of The Colony Theatre,{{cite web|title=Kathryn Kates|url=http://www.colonytheatre.org/bios/kates.html|publisher=The Colony Theater Company|accessdate=December 12, 2011|archive-date=April 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430060457/http://www.colonytheatre.org/bios/kates.html|url-status=dead}} at The Studio Theatre in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. Kates, was co-general manager with Barbara Beckley of The Colony from 1975 to 1981. Kates and Beckley produced all of the company's plays during those years. Kathryn Kates played opposite John Larroquette as his mother, lover, and wife: as his mother in Enter Laughing (Cast Theatre, 1974); as his wife in A Company of Wayward Saints (Colony Theatre 1978);{{cite web|title=A Company of Wayward Saints|url=http://www.colonytheatre.org/shows/CompanyWaywardSaints.html|publisher=The Colony Theater Company|accessdate=December 12, 2011|archive-date=October 9, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009065652/http://www.colonytheatre.org/shows/CompanyWaywardSaints.html|url-status=dead}} and as his lover in The Lady's Not For Burning (Colony Theatre, 1979).{{cite web|title=The Lady's Not For Burning|url=http://www.colonytheatre.org/shows/LadyNotForBurning.html|publisher=The Colony Theater Company|accessdate=December 12, 2011|archive-date=April 30, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430060546/http://www.colonytheatre.org/shows/LadyNotForBurning.html|url-status=dead}} Kates also appeared in many of The Colony Theater's L.A. Drama Critics' Circle award-winning productions such as The Grapes of Wrath{{cite web|title=1980-1989 Awards |url=http://www.ladramacriticscircle.com/awards_1980_1989.htm |publisher=Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle |accessdate=December 12, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210192554/http://ladramacriticscircle.com/awards_1980_1989.htm |archivedate=February 10, 2009 }} and The Martian Chronicles.
Later career
One of Kates's most memorable roles was her recurring appearance on Seinfeld as The Counter Woman in the episodes "The Dinner Party" (1994) and "The Rye" (1996). Other recurring roles have been on the Disney series Lizzie McGuire as Mrs. Carrabino ("You're a Good Man, Lizzie McGuire",{{Citation needed |date=December 2020}} 2002 and "My Fair Larry", 2003),{{Citation needed |date=December 2020}} on Pam Am (2011) as Mrs. Luckovich,{{Citation needed |date=December 2020}} as June Starr in Judging Amy{{Citation needed |date=December 2020}} (2003), as Ginny in Caroline in the City, as Mrs. Bowman in Hudson Street (1996), and as Mable Maloney in a two-part Matlock, "The Witness Killings" (1991). Kates had a recurring role in the Orange Is the New Black. She was a series lead in the CBS/Showtime pilot Gurland on Gurland, playing Myrna Birnbaum. She also appeared in Reggie Rock Bythewood's pilot for the BET network, Gun Hill, as Bora.
Kates worked in film, for director Daryl Wein in Lola Versus, and for Paul Moshe Mones in Dovid Moyer as Odel, the Orthodox cook. She also worked with Don Siegel (in Jinxed!,{{cite news| url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/26220/Jinxed-/cast | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712030100/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/26220/Jinxed-/cast | url-status=dead | archive-date=2012-07-12 | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=The New York Times | title=Jinxed! (1982)}}) and Lamont Johnson in the television movie Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982). She won the Drama Logue Award for best actress for her role as Ruby in Marsha Norman's Getting Out (1982), and in 2010 received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the MITF in NYC for her work in Gray Matters as the high-powered agent, Miriam Berger (2010).{{cite web |url=http://www.midtownfestival.org/bestofthefest2010.htm |title=The 2010 MITF Award Winners |work=midtownfestival.org |access-date=July 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703073634/http://www.midtownfestival.org/bestofthefest2010.htm |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}} Image:Judd Hirsch and Kathryn Kates.jpg in Small Miracles.]]
After relocating to New York City in 2006, Kates appeared in over twenty off- and off-off-Broadway productions, and toured Europe (Bucharest, Sibiu and Stockholm) with Saviana Stanescu's Waxing West,{{cite news| url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/theater/reviews/17waxi.html | work=The New York Times | first=Wilborn | last=Hampton | title=Go West, Young Woman (Ceausescu Ghosts Too) | date=April 17, 2007}} She was the Palestinian Aunt in the New York Theatre Workshop production of Food and Fadwa, on Theatre Row in Herman Kline's Midlife Crisis,{{cite news| url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/08/16/theater/reviews/herman-klines-midlife-crisis-by-josh-koenigsberg-review.html | work=The New York Times | first=Daniel M. | last=Gold | title='Herman Kline's Midlife Crisis,' by Josh Koenigsberg - Review | date=August 15, 2011}} and, more recently starred along with Greg Mullavey and Gaby Hoffmann in The Last Seder. She was a company member of Daniel Talbott's Rising Phoenix Rep.{{cite web |title=Company |url=http://www.risingphoenixrep.org/company/ |website=Rising Phoenix Repertory |access-date=February 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327161819/http://www.risingphoenixrep.org/company/ |archive-date=March 27, 2019 |url-status=dead}}
Death
Kates died of lung cancer at her brother's home in Lake Worth, Florida on January 22, 2022, a week short of turning 74.{{cite news |last1=Pederson |first1=Erik |title=Kathryn Kates Dies: 'Many Saints Of Newark', 'Seinfeld' & 'SVU' Actress Was 73 |url=https://deadline.com/2022/01/kathryn-kates-dead-seinfeld-many-saints-of-newark-1234919782/ |work=Deadline |access-date=26 January 2022}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| + Film and television credits |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"|Notes |
|---|
| 1982
| Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice | Diedre | TV movie - with Carol Burnett |
| 1982
| Jinxed! | Miss Nina | Film - with Bette Midler |
| 1983
| The Taming of the Shrew | Player 4 | Video |
| 1990
| Pastime | Ethel | Film |
| 1991
| Matlock | Mabel Maloney | Recurring role; 2 episodes |
| 1991
| Maid | Film |
| 1992
| | Episode: "Love Is Here to Stray" |
| 1994
| Nurse #1 | Episode: "Never Say Die" |
| 1994–1996
| Seinfeld | Counter Woman | Episodes: "The Dinner Party", "The Rye" |
| 1996
| Mrs. Bowman | Episode: "Having My Baby" |
| 1997
| The Nurse | Marsha Harriman | Film |
| 1997
| Asylum | Nurse Taylor | Film |
| 1998
| Ginny | Episode: "Caroline and the Little White Lies" |
| 2002–2003
| Mrs. Carrabino | 2 episodes |
| 2003
| June Starr | Episode: "Into The Fire" |
| 2003
| Mrs. Berman | Episode: "The Wild Bunch"; uncredited |
| 2008
| Saveta's Gift | Looba | Short film |
| 2009
| Check-Up: From the Gently Twisted Life of Michael Kleinfeld | Susan Kleinfeld | Short film |
| 2009
| Out of the Fog | Ludmilla Bashilevsky | Film |
| 2009
| Lott Oh | Gertrude | Short film |
| 2010
| Older Woman | Episode: "Sanctuary" |
| 2011
| Monkey Man | Mrs. Howard | Film |
| 2011
| Pan Am | Mrs. Luckovich | Episode: "Truth or Dare" |
| 2011
| Gun Hill | Bora | TV movie |
| 2012
| Woman at Restaurant | Film |
| 2013–2019
| Amy Kanter-Bloom | 4 episodes |
| 2014
| Mary Garroto | Episode: "Manhunt" |
| 2016
| Ruth Cline | 2 episodes |
| 2016–2017
| Mrs. Saperstein | 5 episodes |
| 2017–2020
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Judge Marlene Simons | 5 episodes |
| 2019
| Martha | 2 episodes |
| 2019
| Older Woman | Film |
| 2020
| Hunters | Hilda Hoffman | Episode: "The Mourner's Kaddish" |
| 2020
| Amelia Diamond | Episode: "The Gang Discovers Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein" |
| 2021
| Angie DeCarlo | Film |
| 2023
| Mrs. Goldblatt | 1 episode; posthumous release |
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=nm0441235|name=Kathryn Kates}}
- Official website: [http://www.kathrynkates.com www.kathrynkates.com]
- Official website: [http://www.colonytheatre.org www.colonytheatre.org]
- Official Website: [http://zackcalhoon.blogspot.com/2011/02/people-you-should-know-kathryn-kates.html Visible Soul: People You Should Know, Kathryn Kates]
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kates, Kathryn}}
Category:Place of death missing
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Queens, New York
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses