The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, January 21, 2011 2 coverstory Bates gets the boot Film star comes to TV as lawyer/shoe seller Brittany Snow stars in “Harry’s Law” By Dee Underwood TV Media he has played a heart- less murderer, a tyranni- cal headmistress, a de- lightful millionaire and a sweet wife who befriends an old woman. Between film and TV, this acclaimed actor has garnered dozens of award nominations. However, being almost ex- clusively a supporting star, her talent, though well known, is often overlooked and sometimes forgotten. But now, NBC has given Kathy Bates another chance to show her stuff as she stars in “Harry’s Law,” a new dramedy from TV producer David E. Kelley, which airs Monday, Jan. 24, on NBC. Harriet (Harry) Korn is un- expectedly fired from her cushy job as a patent lawyer. Struggling to keep her life in order, Korn sets up a small law office in the back of an old shoe store. With the help S of legal whiz Adam Branch (played by Nate Corddry) and new graduate Malcolm Da- vies (Aml Ameen), Korn opens Harriet’s Law and Fine Shoes. Jenna Backstrom (Brittany Snow) comes in to handle the paperwork, and the shoe side of the business. Corddry recently starred in “Yogi Bear,” but may be bet- ter known to TV audiences as Tom on the 2006-07 series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” Ameen is relatively new to American audiences, having appeared in mostly British productions such as “Kidulthood” (2006). Snow, however, may be a more fa- miliar face to viewers. She starred as Amber Von Tussle in 2007’s “Hairspray” after a three-year run on NBC’s “American Dreams,” and CBS’s bygone soap opera “Guiding Light.” Bates has become a house- hold name because of her im- pressive career on the silver screen. She’s jumped from genre to genre, including dra- ma (1991’s “Fried Green To- matoes”), horror (1990’s “Misery”) and comedy (1998’s “The Waterboy”) and has received praise for her roles in every one. She has won two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild awards and an Oscar, and has been nominated more than 30 times for other awards. She was even nominated for a Tony award in 1983 for “’Night, Mother” (she lost to future “Fried Green Toma- toes” co-star Jessica Tandy). Bates’s most recognized role is likely her portrayal of Annie Wilkes in “Misery.” Originally a Stephen King novel, “Misery” follows an author who is kidnapped by his biggest fan and tortured into writing another book -- she breaks his ankles and locks him in the house to make sure he doesn’t escape. Bates won her first and only Oscar for this role, but she broke ground by being the first woman to win for a role in a horror film. Her accep- tance speech directed most of the praise to her co-star James Caan, and she added, “Sorry about the ankles.” In “Fried Green Tomatoes,” Bates played a middle-aged woman captivated by an el- derly woman’s stories while visiting a relative at a nursing home. Bates has said that her favorite film was “Dolores Claiborne” (another King sto- ry), in which she tries to dodge one murder conviction by confessing to another. With all those characters under her belt, Bates looks to take on new and exciting challenges with her roles. Fortunately, she saw some- thing very familiar in the character of Harriet Korn. ”In my private life, I am just as curmudgeonly as Har- riet and I share some of her disillusion,” Bates said of the role. “She doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Sometimes I think David has been doing some kind of background re- search on me, the lines are so close.” But Kelley offers a slightly different viewpoint. ”The joy with Kathy is we didn’t have to give her lines or scenes that revealed her tender side, she oozes that naturally,” he said. “We could make her as tough and disgruntled as we wanted and she would take care of the rest.” ”Harry’s Law” is not the first time Bates has graced the small screen, but it is the first time she has had a per- manent role on a series, rath- er than a recurring guest spot or telefilm role. Recent- ly, she appeared in half a dozen episodes of “The Of- fice,” the HBO miniseries “Al- ice” and the HBO film “Am- bulance Girl,” which she also directed. Chirstopher’s Coins 2 x 2 hollywoodQ&A By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: In “The Sum of All Fears,” who is the singer who performs right before President Fowler enters the stadi- um? Has he appeared in any other films? A: Belting out “The Star-Spangled Banner” in that very flag- wavy film was Arnold McCuller, an unsung (if you will) backup man who’s worked with such greats as James Taylor, Phil Col- lins and Bonnie Raitt. He has appeared in a handful of other films, but has never strayed very far from reality. He’s played backup singers in films such as “Beaches” (1988), “Without You I’m Nothing” (1990), and most recently the 2009 comedy “Funny People” (technically playing himself, a member of James Taylor’s band). But all this is of course a sideline to his musical career. Apart from being a backup singer, he’s also a producer and solo artist with eight albums under his belt. Another recent film, 2000’s “Duets,” features his voice, but only partly. The film, about the surprisingly serious business of karaoke singing, asked an awful lot of its actors in terms of their singing prowess. Have a question? E-mail us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. 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