
Rosanne Katon
Acting
Biography
Rosanne Katon is an American model, actress, comedian and activist. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its September 1978 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Mario Casilli. Katon was born in New York City to a Jamaican-born father and an African-American mother. 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 in the title role, and guest appearances on Jason of Star Command, What's Happening!!, Good Times and That's My Mama, which starred Clifton Davis. 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. However, the shapely actress was often typecast in sex kitten roles in R-Rated comedies such as The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), Chesty Anderson, U.S. Navy (1976), American Raspberry (1976), Lunch Wagon (1981), Zapped! (1982) and Bachelor Party (1984). This was solidified by her appearance as the September 1978 Playboy centerfold. 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'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 (1977), the cult horror film Motel Hell (1980), Body and Soul (1981), City Girl (1984) and Harem (1985), opposite Nastassja Kinski and Ben Kingsley. 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 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 Playboy pictorial "Funny Girls," which covered female comedians.
Known For

After the death of his wife, Danny enlists his best friend and his brother-in-law to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle.
Full House

St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series starred Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd and William Daniels as teaching doctors at a lightly-regarded Boston hospital who gave interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions.
St. Elsewhere

Mrs. Edna Garrett, housemother and dietitian at the Eastland School, teaches a group of girls in her charge how to solve those problems that every teenager has to face.
The Facts of Life

Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City.
Starsky & Hutch

The misadventures of a cantankerous junk dealer and his frustrated son.
Sanford and Son

Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer. Good Times is a spin-off of Maude, which is itself a spin-off of All in the Family along with The Jeffersons. The series is set in Chicago. The first two seasons were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. In the fall of 1975, the show moved to Metromedia Square, where Norman Lear's own production company was housed.
Good Times

Lighthearted look at the adventures of two Highway Patrol officers in Los Angeles. The main characters are Jon Baker and Frank Poncherello, two motorcycle officers always on the street to save lives.
CHiPs

Buddies Raj, Rerun and Dwayne come of age in 1970s Los Angeles. The trio have a penchant for mischief and trying to find ways of getting rich quick. Almost always the trio's schemes wind up getting them into trouble and it's up to Raj's mother Mabel to get them out of it. Also, half of the time, the guys get into trouble because of Raj's bratty sister Dee.
What's Happening!!

On the eve of his wedding to his longtime girlfriend, unassuming nice guy Rick is dragged out for a night of debauchery by his friends.
Bachelor Party

In a futuristic society where reaching the age of 30 is a death sentence, a rebellious law enforcement agent goes on the run in search of Sanctuary.
Logan's Run

Clifton Curtis has got it made—he runs a successful business he inherited from his late father and he's lucky with the the ladies—but he still lives with his Mama. She rules the roost and dispenses advice to everyone who'll listen—no one at Oscar's Barbershop is spared from Mama's wisdom. And they wouldn't have it any other way.
That's My Mama
An anthology series, aired in late 1988 as part of the 'ABC Monday Mystery Movie' lineup. The crime drama is a revival of the original 1973–79 series of the same name, using previous scripts for all five two-hour episodes.
Police Story

Grady is an spin-off of the sitcom, Sanford and Son. In this series, Fred Sanford's widower friend Grady moves out of Watts and moves in with his daughter and her family in Westwood. Executive producer Norman Lear served as a consultant to the show. Redd Foxx made a special guest appearance as Fred Sanford in the second episode. The series never found a solid audience, and was canceled after just ten episodes. Whitman Mayo returned to Sanford and Son and would go on to star in the revival series The Sanford Arms.
Grady

Peyton and Barney are fun loving high school students working on a science project with white mice. When one of the mice begins to move food toward itself with out touching it, Barney finds he has accidently discovered a formula for telekinetic powers. Now, how much trouble can a high school boy who can move things with just his mind get into?
Zapped!

Farmer Vincent Smith and his sister Ida run a motel attached to a farm where they capture unsuspecting travelers, bury them alive, fatten them up and then harvest their bodies as ingredients for his famous brand of "smoked meats."
Motel Hell

A band of female pirates go undercover at a prison camp on a coffee plantation to rescue their leader's sister.
The Muthers

A famous director wants to make a film about true love, the kind his grandparents experienced when they lived together for 60 years. For this project, he holds auditions in a commercial real estate office. He asks the actors and actresses he meets to tell him about their conception of Love, with results that differ from those he expected...
Casting

Criminals hijack an airplane carrying five beauty contest finalists, but unknowingly they've also kidnapped a government agent carrying a dangerous virus that is to be used in bacterial warfare.
The Night They Took Miss Beautiful

Clyde Williams and Billy Foster are a couple of blue-collar workers in Atlanta who have promised to raise funds for their fraternal order, the Brothers and Sisters of Shaka. However, their method for raising the money involves travelling to New Orleans and rigging a boxing match.
Let's Do It Again

Diane is a sophisticated trainee on the New York Stock Exchange who is suddenly kidnapped and held captive in a North African desert hideaway by Selim, an Arab mogul.