Claim: Kathy Bates is a person who acts.

Kathleen Doyle Bates -LRB- born June 28 , 1948 -RRB- is an American actress . Bates began her career on the stage , and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play in 1983 for her performance in ` night , Mother . She rose to prominence with her performance in Misery -LRB- 1990 -RRB- , for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress . She followed this with major roles in Fried Green Tomatoes -LRB- 1991 -RRB- and Dolores Claiborne -LRB- 1995 -RRB- , before playing a featured role as Molly Brown in Titanic -LRB- 1997 -RRB- , which was at the time the highest grossing film of all time .   Bates ' television work has resulted in 14 Emmy Award nominations , two of which were for her starring role on the television series Harry 's Law , and most recently a win for her highly praised appearance in the third season of FX horror-thriller series American Horror Story , where she portrayed the real life socialite Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie . She won another Emmy Award in 2012 for her portrayal as the ghost of Charlie Harper on CBS comedy series Two and a Half Men , a role formerly portrayed by Charlie Sheen .