Darlene Cates, actress from Whats Eating Gilbert Grape, dies at 69

Darlene Cates, who played the morbidly obese, housebound mother in the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” died March 26 at her home in Forney, Tex. She was 69.

Her son-in-law, David Morgan, confirmed the death but did not disclose the cause.

Ms. Cates was cast in the film as the mother of Johnny Depp, in the title role, and his younger brother, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Peter Hedges, the film’s screenwriter, had spotted her on the “Sally Jessy Raphael” talk show in 1992 discussing her struggles with her weight. She weighed more than 500 pounds and said she was struggling with suicidal thoughts at the time she appeared on a segment called “Too Heavy to Leave the House.”

She later told the Dallas Morning News that her TV appearance had a liberating effect. “I didn’t know if ... [people] were staring at me because I’m fat or because they recognize me,” she said. “And all of a sudden ... I am free. It doesn’t matter anymore. People can be cruel, but that doesn’t mean you have to take it home, wrap yourself up in it and wear it.”

Advertisement

The film “Gilbert Grape,” directed by Lasse Hallstrom, won acclaim for its sensitive portrayal of a troubled but loving family in a small Iowa town. Ms. Cates’s character is suffering from depression after the suicide of her husband.

The film received mixed reviews, with critic Hal Hinson in The Washington Post calling it a “load of charmless shtick.” New York Times movie reviewer Janet Maslin called Ms. Cates “believable and emphatic.”

Ms. Cates later appeared on episodes of the TV series “Picket Fences” and “Touched By An Angel.”

Rita Darlene Guthrie was born in Borger, Tex., on Dec. 13, 1947, and she grew up in Dumas, Tex. At 15, she married Robert Cates, then a Marine, and they had three children. A list of survivors was not immediately available.

She told the Los Angeles Times that when a Hollywood casting director called her about “Gilbert Grape,” she was incredulous.

“I didn’t say anything for a long time — so long, as a matter of fact, that she began to think I wasn’t interested at all, which I set her straight real quick,” she said.

— Staff Reports and News Services

Read more Washington Post obituaries

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZLKvwMSrq5qhnqKyr8COnZirpJWjsm6vwK2crGWRmMGzsdKsZJ%2Bqn6J6uLTArapmnZGptq%2BzjKCgpZqVp8Fus9Gap55llJ6ytHnArWRvcV9nfXKDjmlqaGtgZISkf5edbZpqXWaCdYOMamieb11tgHSvjG5nbJ1hm4N0hZOccJirpKS%2FunrHraSl