My friend Debbie wrote me on Friday, in response to my Andre Previn tribute: "To be honest - I don't always read your blog but do enjoy the dead celebrities!" Ha! And then she wrote me a few hours later to tell me the breaking news about the death of Katherine Helmond. Thank you, Debbie!
I remember liking *Soap* a lot when I was a kid, I liked the wacky anarchy of that show. It seemed to send up the clichés of television but was so exuberant, it was never a cliché itself. Katherine Helmond was one of the high points of that show. Here are the opening credits, with Helmond as Jessica Tate. Keep your eyes peeled for Billy Crystal schmearing his bagel.
Let me get this out of the way: I was never a fan of *Who's the Boss?* I may have only seen two or three episodes. Something about that show rubbed me the wrong way.
In my opinion, the apex of Helmond's career was *Brazil.* Oh how I loved that movie and loved her in it. Here's her best scene. It's a little shocking to see Jim Broadbent and Jonathan Pryce looking so young.