Kathy Bates Reacts To Death Of Her ‘Misery’ Director Rob Reiner: “He Changed The Course Of My Life”

Kathy Bates, who broke out in Rob Reiner‘s 1990 adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery, as obsessed fan Anna Wilkes, a role which delivered her a Best Actress Oscar, exclaims, “He changed the course of my life.”

Reiner and his wife Michele were found at their Brentwood home yesterday with several stab wounds. This morning their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested in connection with the death of his parents.

“I’m horrified hearing this terrible news,” said Bates in a statement to Deadline late last night, “Absolutely devastated.”

“I loved Rob. He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michelle was a gifted photographer. She shot my beautiful photos for the Misery campaign. My heart breaks for them both. My thoughts are with their family,” said the Matlock star.

Bates was a working actress prior to the success of Misery, with parts in movies such as Dick Tracy, Men Don’t Leave, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, and a Lead Best Actress in a Play Tony nomination for the 1983 Marsha Norman play ‘night, Mother as well as an Obie Award win for her turn in Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

Bates’ breakout in Misery as a crazed fan who rescues a famous author from a car crash, only to keep him captive and abuse him. While Reiner’s adaptation of Misery was his second for a King novel after Stand by Me, the movie repped a successful departure for the filmmaker from his comedies of the time, i.e. When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, The Sure Thing and This Is Spinal Tap. Bates won an Oscar off her first nomination. The role also garnered her a Golden Globe in Best Actress Drama.