Titanic is one of the most iconic films of our generation. There is an argument to be made that it is perhaps the greatest film of all time. Indeed, there is no motion picture in history that has ever been nominated for, or won more Oscar awards.
At the 70th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1998, Titanic was nominated for a total of 14 accolades. That equaled the previous record, which was set by Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve in 1951. The musical drama La La Land became only the third picture to hit that number in 2017, but the record remains unbroken.
Out of the 14 nominations, James Cameron's epic disaster drama swept to victory in 11 categories. Among those, Cameron carried the day for Best Director and Best Picture. The feat matched the record that was set by Ben Hur in 1960. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King also bagged 11 Oscars in 2004. However, this is another record that is yet to be surpassed.
In the midst of all this success was one rather unsung hero: Tennessee-born actress Kathleen Doyle Bates. This is how she contributed to the making of a classic.
Forged A Love Story
Apart from the actual sinking of the ship, very few other aspects of Titanic were actually based on real life events surrounding the tragedy. Yes, there was no Jack and Rose tragic romance on the British vessel when it met its end on 15 April, 1912.
Films whose central plot tends to revolve around a real life disaster have not done very well historically. Cameron appeared to tap into this knowledge for his crafting of Titanic. Out of the tragedy, he forged a love story, a pattern that he claims denotes all his work: "All my films are love stories, but in Titanic I finally got the balance right. It's not a disaster film. It's a love story with a fastidious overlay of real history."
Nonetheless, the Canadian filmmaker wanted to honor the real life victims of the tragedy. As such, he spent months combing through details of the lives of all passengers and crew aboard the Titanic when it sank. "I read everything I could," he told Eye for Film. "I created an extremely detailed timeline of the ship's few days and a very detailed timeline of the last night of its life."
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
In order to accomplish his goal, Cameron embedded a few stories and characters who were in the actual Titanic ship. The most poignant of this would turn out to be the character of American socialite and philanthropist, Margaret Brown, who survived the 1912 wreck and later came to be known as 'The Unsinkable Molly Brown.'
CinemaBlend described the character of Molly Brown in the film as 'the voice of reason in a number of different conversations and situations.' Brown had been maligned by her fellow first class passengers on the ship for being 'vulgar' and only nouveau riche. One of the most iconic scenes in the film depicted her convincing crew members to go back on a lifeboat and save more people from drowning or freezing in the Atlantic waters after the wreck.
There was no question of how good the film turned out to be. The New York Times called Titanic 'the movie of the year' and quipped that 'this 'Titanic' is too good to sink.' Legendary critic Roger Ebert referred to the picture as 'his favorite movie of all time.'
Very Little Recognition
Kate Winslet won an Oscar for Best Actress and was nominated in a similar category in the Golden Globes. Leonardo DiCaprio arguably became the acclaimed actor he is today on the back of his performance in Titanic. He also earned himself a Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actor in a dramatic motion picture.
Yet despite all this recognition being accorded to the film and its makers, very little of it went to Kathy Bates. Nonetheless, it would not be an overstatement to say that Titanic would not have been the movie it was without the input of the Misery and Dolores Claiborne star.
Nick Perkins perhaps put it best on ComingSoon.net. "There are very few actors who can bring so much to a part so little, but that’s exactly what Kathy Bates did in Titanic," he wrote. "Molly Brown was a loud, sardonic, uncouth woman and Bates showed off all of those qualities in spades with her performance... She was perfect for the role, really, as she humanized a lot of the cardboard characters that were aboard the Titanic."