Darlene Cates - wikipedia Darlene Cates Darlene Cates Rita Darlene Guthrie ( 1947 - 12 - 13 ) December 13, 1947 Borger, Texas, U.S. March 26, 2017 ( 2017 - 03 - 26 ) ( aged 69 ) Forney, Texas, U.S. Occupation Actress Years active 1993 -- 2017 Spouse ( s ) Robert Cates ( m. 1963 ) Darlene Cates ( born Rita Darlene Guthrie ; December 13, 1947 -- March 26, 2017 ) was an American actress. She was best known for her role in the 1993 film What 's Eating Gilbert Grape, in which she played the title character 's housebound mother. Contents 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 Death 4 Filmography 4.1 Film 4.2 Television 5 References 6 External links Career Author and screenwriter Peter Hedges saw a tape of Cates on a 1992 episode of Sally entitled `` Too Heavy to Leave Their House ''. On the show, she discussed her battle with obesity and how it had affected her life. In 1986, pelvic infections caused by her excess weight kept her bedridden for two years, during which she gained an additional 149 pounds. Hedges offered her the role of a morbidly obese mother in the 1993 film What 's Eating Gilbert Grape, which she accepted. Television roles followed on the shows Picket Fences in 1994 and Touched by an Angel in 1996. She had a small role in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. Producer J. Miles Dale flew a small crew and the film 's stars from Romania to Texas to shoot their scenes with Cates. Her performance in What 's Eating Gilbert Grape, her first attempt at acting in any form, received critical acclaim and was lauded by her costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp. Personal life Cates was born in Borger, Texas to Truman Madison and Dorothy Ann Guthrie, and grew up in Dumas. Her parents divorced when she was 12 years old. She took solace in food, and her overeating led to obesity. She underwent gastroplasty in 1981, when she weighed 408 lb ( 29 st 2 lb or 185 kg ). She lost 99 lb ( 7 st 1 lb or 45 kg ) but eventually gained the weight back and more, topping out at 548 lb ( 39 st 2 lb or 249 kg ). Darlene married Robert Cates, a U.S. Marine, on January 11, 1963. She had one daughter, Sheri Ann ( b. 1966 ), and two sons, Mark ( b. 1967 ) and Chris ( b. 1971 ). She had four grandchildren and lived in the Dallas suburbs. In 1992, she received her high school diploma via correspondence courses. In 2012, Cates had lost 240 pounds after a series of 2010 health issues kept her hospitalized for nearly a year, and she expressed a desire to resume her acting career. Death Darlene died in her sleep at age 69 on March 26, 2017. Her daughter, Sheri Cates Morgan, announced her passing on a Facebook post. Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes What 's Eating Gilbert Grape Bonnie Grape 2014 Mother Mother Short 2017 Billboard Penny Post-production, ( final film role ) Television Year Title Role Notes Picket Fences Sophie Wallace `` Squatter 's Rights '' Touched by an Angel Claudia Bell `` Statute of Limitations '' Wolf Girl Athena the Fat Lady TV film References Jump up ^ Leonardi, Marisa ( December 12, 1993 ). `` Darlene Cates Knows a Weighty Role When It 's Offered ''. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Nudd, Tim ( August 9, 2012 ). `` Darlene Cates Loses 250 Lbs., Sets Sights on Acting Again ''. People Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Vincent, Alice ( February 15, 2016 ). `` Oscars flashback : whatever happened to Gilbert Grape 's mama ? ''. The Telegraph. Retrieved March 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Kaul, Greta ( August 10, 2012 ). `` Forney actress in ' What 's Eating Gilbert Grape ' sheds 240 pounds, looks to act again ''. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 8, 2016. Jump up ^ Kelley, Seth ( March 28, 2017 ). `` ' What 's Eating Gilbert Grape ' Star Darlene Cates Dies at 69 ''. Variety. Retrieved March 28, 2017. Jump up ^ Cummings, Tommy ( March 28, 2017 ). `` Forney resident Darlene Cates, the overweight mom in ' What 's Eating Gilbert Grape, ' died ''. Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 28, 2017. External links Darlene Cates on IMDb Darlene 's Biography at the Wayback Machine ( archived December 19, 2007 ) VIAF : 85081059 LCCN : no2003054863 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Darlene_Cates&oldid=836413884 '' Categories : 1947 births 2017 deaths American film actresses American television actresses People from Borger, Texas 20th - century American actresses 21st - century American actresses Actresses from Dallas People from Dumas, Texas People from Forney, Texas Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from March 2017 Pages using infobox person with unknown parameters Articles with hCards Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia تۆرکجه Deutsch فارسی Français Italiano Magyar 日本 語 Polski Русский Simple English Svenska Türkçe 5 more Edit links This page was last edited on 14 April 2018, at 17 : 35. 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Question: who played the mother in what's eating gilbert grape
Answer: Darlene Cates