Rosanne Katon (born February 5, 1954) is an American model,

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, comedian and activist. She was ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for its September 1978 issue. Her

centerfold The centerfold or centrefold of a magazine is the inner pages of the middle sheet, usually containing a portrait, such as a pin-up or a nude. The term can also refer to the model featured in the portrait. In saddle-stitched magazines (as opp ...

was photographed by

Mario Casilli Mario Anthony Casilli (January 22, 1931 – April 25, 2002) was an American photographer. Among other photos, he worked for Playboy magazine between 1957 and 1996 and his first photoshoot there was of Jacquelyn Prescott, as Playmate of the Month ...

Background

Katon was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n-born father and an African-American mother.

Career

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Katon worked steadily in Hollywood, including a stint on '' Grady,'' the short-lived spin-off of the hit situation comedy '' Sanford and Son'' that starred

Whitman Mayo Whitman Blount Mayo Jr. (November 15, 1930 – May 22, 2001) was an American actor, best known for his role as Grady Wilson on the 1970s television sitcom ''Sanford and Son''. Biography Early years Whitman Blount Mayo, Jr. was born in New Yor ...

in the title role, and guest appearances on ''

Jason of Star Command ''Jason of Star Command'' is a 1978-1979 live action television series by Filmation. The series revolves around the exploits of space adventurer Jason (Craig Littler) and his colleagues, including Professor E.J. Parsafoot (Charlie Dell) and the ...

'', ''

What's Happening!! ''What's Happening!!'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from August 5, 1976, until April 28, 1979, premiering as a summer series. Due to other shows being cancelled across the network, and good ratings and reviews from ...

'', '' Good Times'' and ''

That's My Mama ''That's My Mama'' is an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the ABC network from September 4, 1974 until December 24, 1975. There are 39 episodes of this series. ''That's My Mama'' was never a ratings success, having al ...

'', which starred

Clifton Davis Clifton Duncan Davis (born October 4, 1945) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, minister, and author. Davis wrote The Jackson 5's No. 2 hit " Never Can Say Goodbye" in 1971. He appeared on Broadway in the musicals '' Two Gentlemen of Vero ...

. She then had leading roles in two Cirio Santiago action films, both released in 1976, '' Ebony, Ivory & Jade,'' in which she received top billing, and '' The Muthers'', in which she acted alongside former ''Playboy'' centerfold

Jean Bell Jean Bell (born Annie Lee Morgan on November 23, 1944) is a former ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month, and one of the first African American women to feature in this role. She later had a career as an actress in movies, most prominently in ''TNT J ...

. However, the shapely actress was often

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

sex kitten A sex kitten is a woman who exhibits a sexually provocative lifestyle or an abundant sexual aggression. The term originated around 1956 in articles in the British and American press and was originally used to describe French actress Brigitte Bardot ...

roles in R-Rated comedies such as '' The Swinging Cheerleaders'' (1974); '' Chesty Anderson, U.S. Navy'' (1976); ''American Raspberry'' (1976); ''

Lunch Wagon ''Lunch Wagon'' (also known as ''Lunch Wagon Girls'') is a 1981 sex comedy starring Pamela Jean Bryant, Rosanne Katon, and Candy Moore. The film was directed by Ernest Pintoff and written by Marshall Harvey and Terrie Frankel and Leon Philli ...

'' (1981); ''

Zapped! ''Zapped!'' is a 1982 American teen sex comedy film directed by Robert J. Rosenthal and co-written with Bruce Rubin. The film stars Scott Baio as a high school student who acquires telekinetic powers. Plot At Ralph Waldo Emerson High School, b ...

'' (1982) and ''

Bachelor Party A bachelor party (in the United States and sometimes in Canada), also known as a stag weekend, stag do or stag party (in the United Kingdom, Commonwealth countries, and Ireland), or a buck's night (in Australia), is a party held/arranged by th ...

'' (1984). This was solidified by her appearance as the September 1978

. She had a recurring role opposite Denzel Washington on the medical drama '' St. Elsewhere'' and her appearance in two award-winning UCLA student films,

Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American film director, writer and producer. Dash received her MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion. The L.A. Rebellion refers ...

's ''Illusions'', released in 1982, in which she portrayed a singer doubling for a white actress in 1940s Hollywood (whether she did her own singing in the role was not known as of mid December 2012), and S. Torriano Berry's ''Rich'', in which she portrays the title character's supportive girlfriend. Her other film credits included the TV movie ''

The Night They Took Miss Beautiful ''The Night They Took Miss Beautiful'' is a 1977 American made-for-television drama film appearing on the NBC network that was produced by Don Kirshner. The film features a large number of stars in a story about "skyjacking beauty queens" on a Cons ...

'' (1977), the cult horror film ''

Motel Hell ''Motel Hell'' is a 1980 American comedy horror film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, and Nina Axelrod. The plot follows farmer, butcher, motel manager, and meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith, who traps travele ...

'' (1980), '' Body and Soul'' (1981), '' City Girl'' (1984) and ''

Harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

'' (1985), opposite

Nastassja Kinski Nastassja Aglaia Kinski (; , ; born 24 January 1961) is a German actress and former model who has appeared in more than 60 films in Europe and the United States. Her worldwide breakthrough was with ''Stay as You Are'' (1978). She then came to gl ...

and

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

. Katon was selected as Miss Golden Globes for the 1981 awards show. The honor and the task of presenting the statuettes during the ceremony goes to an up-and-coming actress. Katon was the first African American to be selected, since the custom started in 1962. Additionally, Katon has had several stage credits, including a Broadway lead role in ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hym ...

'' and a featured role in the parody of women in prison movies, ''Women Behind Bars.'' At one point, Katon segued into the world of stand-up comedy, and during that period in her career, she appeared in the June 1991 ''

'' pictorial "Funny Girls", which covered female comedians.

Humanitarian work

In 1984, Katon married Richard M. Walden, who is the president and chief executive officer of

Operation USA Operation USA (also known as OpUSA, Operation California, or OpCal) is a non profit humanitarian organization supporting health, education and relief programs at home and abroad in order to help children and families recover and thrive in the wak ...

, an international organization that supplies relief to

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

areas in need such as Rwanda,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and, more recently,

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

-ravaged Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia; and to Hurricane Katrina-ravaged areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. Rosanne is an active participant with Operation USA and also serves on its Advisory Board. The relief group is based in California.

Personal life

The Waldens have two children, including a son who is

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and an expert cellist. The family is featured in the 2007 documentary '' Autism: The Musical'' which won the 2007 Emmy for Best TV Documentary Special (HBO).

References

External links