Darlene Cates

Darlene Cates Born Rita Darlene Guthrie
December 13, 1947(1947-12-13) (age 60)
Borger, Texas

Darlene Cates (born Rita Darlene Guthrie on December 13, 1947 in Borger, Texas) is an actress who made her feature film debut in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, alongside Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, in which she played the title character's morbidly obese mother. Darlene was chosen for the part of Bonnie Grape after a casting director saw her on an episode of the Sally Jessy Raphael show in which she discussed her extreme obesity.

Television roles followed on the hit shows Picket Fences and Touched by an Angel, and a cameo in Wolf Girl, a Halloween Special for USA Network. Producer J. Miles Dale flew a small crew and the film's two young stars Dov Tiefenbach and Victoria Sanchez from Romania to Texas to shoot their scenes with Darlene.