Katherine Helmond

Katherine Marie Helmond (born July 5, 1928, Galveston, Texas)^[1] is an American film, theater and television actress, who played Emily Dickinson on Meeting of Minds, as well as such fictional characters as Jessica Tate on Soap, Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss?, Doris Sherman on Coach, and Lois Whelan on Everybody Loves Raymond.

Katherine Marie Helmond was born in Galveston, Texas and raised by her mother, Thelma Malone, and her grandmother; both were Roman Catholics. Helmond attended a Catholic primary school^[3] and appeared in numerous school plays. After her stage debut in As You Like It she worked in New York during the 1950s/60s. She operated a summer theatre in the Catskills for three seasons and also taught acting in university theatre programs. She made her TV debut in 1962 but had to wait another 10 years until her breakthrough came in the 1970s. At that time she was busy on TV as well as on stage and earned a Tony nomination for her performance on Broadway in Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown (1973).^{[citation needed]}

Helmond appeared in Alfred Hitchcock in Family Plot (1976). Also on the big screen she appeared in Brazil (1985) as Jonathan Pryce's mother. In 1983 she studied at the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop and then directed four episodes of TV-series "Benson" as well as one of "Who's the Boss?" (1984). She also picked up Emmy nominations for her role as Mona Robinson, a liberated grandmother in Who's the Boss, and as Lois Whelan in Everybody Loves Raymond. Helmond has continued working and was acclaimed for her performance onstage in The Vagina Monologues.

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