Carol Burnett perhaps.
Question your prejudices.

Ellen Burstyn
The Good the Bad and the Ugly is the greatest movie ever made

I REALLY REALLY wonder what Jodie Foster would look like as Annie or Cher or Jessica Lange (these slim women would be very comedic as Annie, XD)
I'd vote for Glen Close.
Oprah would be very fun.
I agree with one of the posters above, any good actress would fit. So obviously Sissy Spacek, Whoopi Goldberg and Sally Field are very good choices.
Can't see Winona in it tho.
I don't intend to be offensive, but I have to defend my opinions.

Viola Davis
Im the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega

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Margaret Thatcher
No, joke aside. I have to agree that I think Kathy Bates was brilliant and I can't imagine anybody else being as good in that role as she was.
If she wouldn't have been available I wonder if Kathy Burke or Miriam Margolyes could have done an American accent they definitely would have looked right, not like Rosie O'Donnell who IMHO is somehow too "sweet"
Tyne Daly already got mentioned, might have been good too.
Definitely not someone as boring as Meryl Streep or someone too good-looking or young

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I thought I was crazy for thinking Sigourney Weaver'd be nice in the role, but then noticed someone else has already even mentioned her in this thread. Ellen Burstyn would've definitely been awesome, as well.
Death to Videodrome! Long live the new flesh!

At a later date, Camryn Mannheim could have done it, not as well as Bates, but she had some Annie Wilkes-like qualities in the movie "Happiness." Look at her scenes with Philip Seymour Hoffman - his squirmy reactions to what she's telling him are a lot like James Caan's to Kathy Bates.

Kathy Bates played Annie great and I don't think the role wouldn't of been good without her.
You're spoiled now

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Although IMHO Kathy Bates played a perfect psycho in Misery, Kathleen Turner would of been a good choice,she played a psycho in Body Heat.Sigourney Weaver would of been a good choice as well, she played the evil boss in Working Girl.
"All we are saying is give peace a chance" John Lennon

Bette Midler!

Robin Williams, just give the man a wig.
"I'm probably lying."

Kate Winslet was what? 16 when this was made. Get serious. Yet another thread with her name thrown in there for a casting possibility.
I like the choice of Roseanne but only because she a pyscho in real life. Sissy Spacek's name also gets brought up in Stephen King adaptations, like for the role of Wendy in The Shining (and of course there's Carrie) so I honestly think she's a little too obvious of a choice. I don't find Angelica Houston attractive at all so I think she would have been a decent choice for Annie Wilkes. Sally Field is one of my favorite actresses but she'd already played a nut job in Sybil so it's all a matter of going against the grain. Kathy Bates was the best choice. Like William Goldman said, they needed an unknown for this role because Annie essentially came out of nowhere and turned out to be some terrifying caricature. What about Diane Wiest?

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It was a joke if anything really. The 'Lesbian Thing' is part of Rosie just like her acting. We just don't need Dyke Annie anytime soon, lol.
"GoodBadI'm the guy with the Gun" - Army of Darkness - Ash (Bruce Campbell)

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Jennifer Tilly played essentially the same character in the movie "Cord." (aka "Hide and Seek")
Although many thought her performance was way too over the top, I liked it.
So I nominate Jennifer Tilly.

Dolly Parton? Really? REALLY?

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Any good actress. There's no need for actress who's been doing similar movies before. A real good actress can be anything. Remember Kathrin Hepburn? And have you seen early Bette Davies movies, all her romantic roles or character that were making men lose their minds - and her horror roles, scary, creepy characters not like Jamie Lee Curtis who played in many horrors, but on the "sane" or "victim" side (wouldn't exclude her though!). So every really good actress can be imagined here.
Kathleen Turner, Sissy Spacek or Sally Field among already listed seem to be the best (though, unlike similar threads on different boards, most of offered actresses would be a good choice!). There is no reason to avoid any actress because she is making another type of roles, she is beautiful, older or younger good makeup, good director and good acting will make everything convincing. So why couldn't it have been done by Michelle Pfeiffer?
I'd add Mare Winningham to the list. It had been a whole decade after "Amber Waves", just finisher "Turner and Hooch" but have you ever seen her in Intruders? One of best female roles I've ever seen. As if you've taken a real farm woman and, just as curiosity, the character's name was Mary Wilkes.
I'm not certain about Geena Davis, but Candice Bergen would fit. Also, though not that famous, I'd add Joanna Gleason to the list. Shelley Duvall would be perfect, but hardly convincing as a person who might carry anybody through the deep snow.
Anybody remembered Louise Fletcher?
And finally the one that could make you believe everything - Jessica Lange. It's hard to understand that she wasn't mentioned already.