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Katherine Helmond, from 'Who's the Boss?' and 'Soap,' has died at 89

"My beautiful, kind, funny, gracious, compassionate, rock," tweeted Alyssa Milano, who played Helmond's granddaughter on "Who's the Boss?"
Image: Katherine Helmond
Katherine Helmond at ABC's 50th Anniversary Celebration in Hollywood on March 16, 2003.Lee Roth / Star Max via AP Images

Beloved stage and television actress Katherine Helmond, best known for her work on "Who's the Boss?" and "Soap," has died, her representatives said Friday.

She was 89.

Helmond, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease, passed away Saturday in Los Angeles, according to Variety.

“She was the love of my life," her husband, David Christian, said in a statement. "We spent 57 beautiful, wonderful, loving years together, which I will treasure forever."

TV viewers first got to know Helmond as the ditzy but lovable Jessica Tate on the 1970s show "Soap," which ran from fall 1977 until 1981. Helmond was nominated for four Emmys for her work on the show.

A whole new generation of fans watched her perform on "Who's the Boss?" as the outgoing, but often outrageous, mother of star Tony Danza's employer.

"We all lost a national treasure today," Danza tweeted. "No words can measure my love."

Helmond was nominated for two Emmys for her role in the show, which ran from fall 1984 to spring 1992.

"My beautiful, kind, funny, gracious, compassionate, rock," Helmond's "Who's the Boss" granddaughter Alyssa Milano tweeted in tribute. "You were an instrumental part of my life. You taught me to hold my head above the marsh! You taught me to do anything for a laugh! What an example you were!"

Helmond picked up her seventh Emmy nomination in 2002 for her work on "Everybody Loves Raymond," playing the on-screen mom of Patricia Heaton.

"Katherine Helmond was such a class act and incredibly down to earth," Heaton wrote on Twitter of her co-star Friday. "I looked up to her as a role model."

Helmond had said she relished the role of Mona Robinson, the older, sexually-liberated woman she played on "Who's the Boss?"

“I thought Mona was terrific,” the actress once told People magazine about her "Boss" character. “She wasn’t a slut, but suddenly in her life she had the freedom to flirt and date. I hope I projected a positive image to older women."

Before TV, Helmond enjoyed a successful stage career in New York and New England. She was nominated for a 1973 Tony Award for best actress for her role in "The Great God Brown."