| Katherine Helmond  AKA Katherine Marie Helmond
Born: 5-Jul-1928
Birthplace: Galveston, TX
Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Jessica Tate on Soap Katherine Helmond is an ancient actress best remembered for quirky character roles. She played the ditzy Jessica Tate on the '70s sitcom Soap with Billy Crystal, and the free-spirited Mona on Who's the Boss? with Tony Danza. She also had recurring roles on the sitcoms Coach and Everybody Loves Raymond.
Biographies never mention Helmond's father, reporting only that she was raised by her mother and grandmother. As a child, she attended Catholic school, and appeared in numerous school plays and pageants. "Though I was extremely shy, the nuns didn't ask: 'Do you want to participate?' They just assigned you a role. And I found that when I played an elephant I just blossomed."
She worked in local theater while still in high school, "hammering and sawing the scenery, cleaning the bathrooms and pulling the curtain." She made her professional stage debut in "As You Like It," and worked for many years as a successful stage actress before she began working in front of cameras instead of audiences.
Her first film was the shocking heroin drama Believe in Me with Michael Sarrazin and Jacqueline Bisset, and her second film was the classic thriller The Hospital with George C. Scott. In her best film, Terry Gilliam's Brazil, she played Jonathan Pryce's mother, addicted to plastic surgery and meddling in his humdrum life.
Though she has a special gift for delivering lines with sexual innuendo, Helmond attended the conservative Bob Jones University. Friends and co-workers say she never drinks alcohol, never smoked, and rarely uses R-rated language unless it is in the script.
In assorted schlocky TV-movies, she played gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, and the mothers of axe-murderer Lizzie Borden and singer Rosemary Clooney. Mother: Thelma Malone
Husband: George N. Martin (actor, b. 1929, m. 1957, div.)
Husband: David Christian (artist-designer, m. 1962)
University: Bob Jones University
Irish Ancestry Maternal
TELEVISION
Everybody Loves Raymond Lois (1996-2004)
Coach Doris Sherman (1995-97)
Who's the Boss? Mona Robinson (1984-92)
Soap Jessica Tate (1977-81)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
A Grandpa for Christmas (24-Nov-2007)
Cars (14-Mar-2006) [VOICE]
Beethoven's 5th (2-Dec-2003)
Mr. St. Nick (16-Nov-2002)
How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Tale (20-Dec-2000)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (22-May-1998)
Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (21-May-1995)
Inside Monkey Zetterland (12-Sep-1992)
The Perfect Tribute (21-Apr-1991)
Lady in White (22-Apr-1988)
Overboard (16-Dec-1987)
Brazil (20-Feb-1985)
Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (8-Dec-1982)
World War III (31-Jan-1982)
Time Bandits (13-Jul-1981)
Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker (21-Sep-1979)
Getting Married (17-May-1978)
Baby Blue Marine (5-May-1976)
Family Plot (9-Apr-1976)
The Hindenberg (25-Dec-1975)
Cage Without a Key (14-Mar-1975)
The Legend of Lizzie Borden (10-Feb-1975)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (31-Jan-1974)
The Hospital (14-Dec-1971)
Official Website:
http://www.katherinehelmond.com/
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