Katherine Helmond

Katherine Marie Helmond (July 5, 1929 – February 23, 2019) was an American actress. Over an acting career spanning six decades, she was best known for her starring role as Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as Mona Robinson on Who's the Boss? (1984–1992). Helmond also played Doris Sherman on Coach (1995–1997) and Lois Whelan (the mother of Debra Barone) on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2004). She also appeared as a guest on several talk and variety shows.

Helmond had featured roles in a number of films including Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976), Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985), and Garry Marshall's Overboard (1987). She also voiced Lizzie in the Cars film franchise by Disney/Pixar between 2006 and 2017.

Early life

Helmond was born on July 5, 1929, in Galveston, Texas, to Thelma Louise (née Walker) and Patrick Joseph Helmond, a firefighter. Her name on her birth certificate was misspelled as "Catherine". She had a younger sister, Jo Ann, born three years later, who died in infancy. Helmond experienced economic hardship during her childhood: ‘we were very poor...from as early as I can remember I had to work to help support the family. I had to learn to stand on my own two feet’. She was raised by her mother and grandmother, both devout Catholics. Her father left the family and her mother eventually remarried in 1937, to Marshall Phillips. She attended a Catholic primary school and appeared in school plays.