Kathy Bates on "Matlock" role, ageism and her healthy lifestyle

Kathy Bates talks "Matlock" reboot

Kathy Bates talks "Matlock" reboot, tackling ageism 06:51

Actor Kathy Bates is taking on a new role in the CBS legal drama series, "Matlock," at a time she said she considered going into semi-retirement.

"Then all of the sudden, I got this script, and I thought, 'Oh wow. I've got to do it.'"

Bates revealed in an interview with "CBS Mornings" that at 76 she didn't think an opportunity like this would happen.

"That was also a big deal for me about being invisible. There's so many women my age who really do feel invisible, and these years are difficult to put that despair at bay to get through everyday," she said. "I think if I wasn't doing this show, I might feel the same way. But it's all changed overnight."

The series is inspired by the original hit TV show of the same name. Bates, who said she was considering not taking the role initially, plays a lawyer named Madeline "Matty" Matlock. Her character decides to rejoin the workforce, and uses her age and wit to get a job at a prestigious law firm.

"At first I thought this was just going to be another episodic, but the twist at the end where Mattie goes around the corner and gets into a chauffeur-driven car and drives up to the Westchester and you realize that she's there undercover to actually get justice for her daughter who died of opioids."

Beyond tackling ageism in the workforce, Bates said she feels healthy after losing 100 pounds over the years.

"I just feel like a different woman, I really do," she said. "I look in the mirror and I go 'oh my gosh' or I go into my costume fittings and I'm wearing a size 10 and it's just so different from being a 3x and being able to walk and move and pick things off the rack … How these two things coincided in my life, being really healthy and then suddenly being given this gift, just every day feels like a miracle."

Passionate about her work, the Emmy and Academy Award winner said she just sees herself as a "working actor."

"It's always about the work for me. It's about the work and the accolades are wonderful and all of this is really exciting … it's the work that gets us there and it's the work that we all love to do."