Katherine Helmond of TV’s ‘Who’s the Boss?’ dies at 89
ACTRESS Katherine Helmond, a seven-time Emmy Award nominee who played lusty matriarchs on the hit television sitcoms “Soap” and “Who’s the Boss” from the 1970s into the 1990s, died last month at the age of 89, her talent agency said on Friday.
Helmond, who also delivered a memorable turn as a vain woman obsessed with plastic surgery in director Terry Gilliam’s dystopian film “Brazil” (1985), died Feb 23 at her Los Angeles home due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
“My beautiful, kind, funny, gracious, compassionate, rock,” Alysssa Milano, who starred alongside Helmond in “Who’s the Boss,” said on Twitter. “You were an instrumental part of my life. You taught me to hold my head above the marsh! You taught me to do anything for a laugh! What an example you were!”
Helmond was in her 40s and had already been nominated for a Tony Award for her work on Broadway before landing a starring role on “Soap,” a prime-time parody of daytime soap operas that ran on the ABC network for four seasons from 1977 to 1981.
She then starred on “Who’s the Boss?” on ABC with Milano, Tony Danza and Judith Light from 1984 to 1992, followed by recurring roles on sitcoms “Coach” starring Craig T. Nelson from 1995 to 1997 and “Everybody Loves Raymond” with Ray Romano from 1996 to 2004.
“Katherine Helmond was a remarkable human being and an extraordinary artiste; generous, gracious, charming and profoundly funny,” Light said in a statement. “She taught me so much about life and inspired me indelibly by watching her work. Katherine was a gift to our business and to the world, and will be deeply missed.”
On “Who’s the Boss?” Helmond played Mona Robinson, the man-crazy mother to Light’s character, an ad executive who hires retired baseball player Danza as her housekeeper.
Helmond won two Golden Globe awards in 1981 for “Soap” and in 1989 for “Who’s the Boss?” She never won an Emmy but was nominated four times for “Soap,” twice for “Who’s the Boss?” and once for “Everybody Loves Raymond.” — Reuters