Darlene Cates character in the movie is Bonnie Grape, mother of Gilbert and Arnie, played by Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Leonardo got a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Arnie.
Darlene Cates and Gilbert Grape are on my mind due to a comment yesterday from the Anonymous entity known as Skinny Lament.
Skinny Lament commented that What's Eating Gilbert Grape is the only modern film treatment of morbid obesity. Skinny Lament said he/she was haunted by Gilbert's choice to burn his mother rather suffer the degradation of her rescue.
That made it sound like Gilbert had killed his mother. What actually happened is Bonnie Grape, after years of being unable, managed to make it up the stairs to her bedroom. Where she died. The police told Gilbert they'd need a crane and the National Guard to get Bonnie's body out of the house. So, Gilbert turned the house into a funeral pyre, burning it down.
Skinny Lament also said that Darlene Grape "died from obesity issues some years later."
No. Darlene Cates is still among the living, residing somewhere on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas.
Darlene Cates grew up in the Texas Panhandle town of Dumas, north of Amarillo. When she was 14 she met her future husband, lied to him about her age, marrying him a year later, when he was 25 and she was 15. Darlene has 3 kids, a girl and two boys and 4 grandchildren.
Darlene Cates spent years being a lonely, depressed recluse. Then she got on an anti-depressant and began to return to the world. Soon her story became news with a 1985 appearance on Sally Jessy Raphael. Screenwriter Peter Hodges saw Darlene on the Sally Jessy Raphael show and offered her the role of Bonnie Grape.
In 1981 Darlene had gastroplasty (stomach stapled), at which point she weighed 410 pounds. She lost 100 pounds. Then started to put the weight back on, til she ballooned up to 550 pounds. Which is about the size she was in What's Eating Gilbert Grape.
Darlene Cate's eating disorder began in her early years when she sought comfort in food. Eating too much, along with a thyroid condition and a slow metabolism, brought big weight gains. And then in 1986 she suffered a pelvic infection which kept her bedridden for 2 years, leading to gaining another 150 pounds.
Darlene Cates has done her part in fighting the Obesity Epidemic. She has conducted school seminars on weight and self-esteem.
After the success of What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Darlene Cates went on to star in TV roles on Picket Fences and Touched by an Angel.
Below is a movie trailer for What's Eating Gilbert Grape....
