Katherine Helmond

Katherine Marie Helmond (born July 5, 1929) is an American film, theater and television actress and director. In her five decades of television acting, she is known for her starring role as the ditzy matriarch, Jessica Tate, on the ABC prime time soap opera sitcom, Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as feisty mother, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). She also played Doris Sherman on Coach and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond. She has also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows. 2Career After her stage debut in As You Like It, she began working in New York in 1955. She later ran a summer theatre in the Catskills for three seasons and taught acting in university theatre programs. She made her television debut in 1962, but would not achieve fame until the 1970s. She also acted on stage, earning a Tony nomination for her performance on Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown (1973). Other Broadway productions include Private Lives',' Don Juan and Mixed Emotion