On June 5, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for some of the most impressive and engaging work of this TV season. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind television well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.
Honoring Kathy Bates, our Vanguard Award winner and her “Matlock” co-star, actress Skye P. Marshall reflects on the legendary Oscar winner’s presence in and around their smash-hit procedural.
It’s not every day you get to share a dream set with someone whose presence is so grounded, powerful, joyful, and yet so completely unassuming. I have the true privilege of working alongside Kathy Bates on “Matlock,” and it’s a time I deeply cherish with this one-of-a-kind woman.
Kathy possesses a magnetism that’s impossible to manufacture. She has that rare ability to walk into a room and instantly elevate it. Every scene she’s in becomes charged — intelligent, emotional, alive! And just when the intensity hits its peak, she’ll break the moment with a perfectly timed zinger and that unmistakable laugh that’s uniquely contagious and instantly recognizable. Between takes, she’ll sometimes drop a joke so dry it should come with a warning label, because the whole crew’s doubled over.
But beneath that wit and staggering talent is someone beautifully relatable. Kathy treats everyone with the same curiosity and kindness. She brings dignity not just to the screen, but to every space she inhabits. In an industry that often rewards ego, she leads with compassion, humility, and a kind of no-nonsense grace that makes you want to be better at your craft, and as a human being.
What’s most extraordinary about Kathy isn’t the awards. It’s her humanity. Her refusal to be anything other than fully, unapologetically herself. Her generosity with her time, her wisdom, and her heart. She’s one of those rare people who makes you feel fully seen, even in a room full of people pretending.
Kathy, you are a genuinely decent human being who took the carpool lane straight to my heart. Thank you for making us feel, laugh, and believe in the work, in the moment, and in ourselves.
