Darlene Cates

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Birthday:

13 December 1947, Borger, Texas, USA

Birth Name:

Rita Darlene Guthrie

Height:

175 cm

The lovable, impressionable and immeasurably talented Darlene Cates was born December 13, 1947 in Borger, Texas, to Dorothy Ann (née Pfrimmer) and Truman Madison Guthrie. She grew up in Dumas. Darlene's parents divorced when she was 12 years, which lead to overeating, which manifested itself into obesity. She underwent gastroplasty in 1981. She went from 410 lb to 310 lb but eventually gained the weight back and more with a total weight of 550 lb. While appearing on an episode of Sally Jessy Raphael (1983) entitled: "Too Heavy to Leave Their House", she was discovered by Author and screenwriter Peter Hedges. He proposed that she play the morbidly obese mother in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). She accepted. Since, Darlene has made appearances on episodes of Picket Fences (1992), and Touched by an Angel (1994), and played the supporting role of Athena the Fat Lady in the made-for-television film Wolf Girl (2001). Show less «

I wish everyone that's kind of hiding away at home still could understand or could have the same experience that I did. Once I did the [Sall...Show more »

I wish everyone that's kind of hiding away at home still could understand or could have the same experience that I did. Once I did the [Sally Jessy Raphael (1983)] show, all of a sudden I realized that if I went out and people stared at me, I wouldn't know if they were staring at me because I was fat or because they recognized me from being on TV. That empowered me. Show less «

[about working on What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)] I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a r...Show more »

[about working on What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)] I had to make a choice, I could stay where I was and be miserable, or I could take a risk and do something exciting. I talked with the author,Peter Hedges. There were some things in the book that I didn't like. We talked about those extensively and I trusted him because the character was based on somebody that meant something to him in his life. So I knew that it wouldn't be anything horrible. As we went along I was so proud of the way that the character was portrayed and so proud of the way that the children came around to see that this woman had these good qualities, and how much she really did care about her family. Show less «