Darlene Cates

Darlene Cates was born on Dec 13, 1947 in USA. Darlene Cates's big-screen debut came with What's Eating Gilbert Grape directed by Lasse Hallström in 1993. Darlene Cates is known for What's Eating Gilbert Grape directed by Lasse Hallström, Johnny Depp stars as Gilbert Grape and Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie Grape. Darlene Cates has got 1 awards and 1 nominations so far. The most recent award Darlene Cates achieved is 20/20 Awards. The upcoming new movie Darlene Cates plays is Wolf Girl which will be released on Oct 16, 2001.

Cates' acting career ignited after she appeared on an episode of Sally Jessy Raphael (1983), titled "Too Heavy to Leave Their House". Shortly after, author and screenwriter Peter Hedges proposed to her that she play Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio's morbidly obese and housebound mother in Gilbert Grape (1993)--Cates accepted. Her performance earned stellar reviews; Roger Ebert said about the actress, "Darlene Cates, making her movie debut, has an extraordinary presence on the screen. We see that she is fat but we see many other things, too, including the losses and disappointments in her life, and the ability she finds to take a grip and make a new start." The actress went on to appear in a handful of film and television projects before succumbing to natural causes, she was 69. When the The Guardian released a statement on the actress's death, Leonard DiCaprio paid tribute to the actress identifying her as "the best acting mom I ever had".