Originally from Trenton, NJ, Judith said she began performing at an early age.
“When I was three years old was when I first developed the love of performance,” she said in the www.bigthink.com interview “My mother helped me memorize 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and I performed it for my father... it was in that moment that I said, 'Oh,my, this is what I want to do.'”
“I was so interested in drama,” Judith said. “I didn't have time for friends, and I had strong feeling, anger, at not having friends. Acting became the great escape. I had this huge emotional life inside of me and no other place to let it out.”
She graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a drama degree, and her acting career began on stage in “Richard III” at the California Shakespeare Festival in 1970. Five years later she reached Broadway, starring in “A Doll's House.”
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Classic TV Beauties 1980s Countdown
JUDITH LIGHT as Angela Bower in "Who's the Boss?"
For an actress who initially turned up her nose at television comedy, Judith made a huge impression with TV audiences as Angela, the high-strung blonde advertising executive, in this gender role reversal sitcom.
“Who's the Boss?” was a breakthrough TV show, depicting the woman as the type A personality, the posh breadwinner of the household, who hired a male housekeeper (Tony Danza).
“'Who's the Boss?' was very important, very cutting edge for the '80s,” Judith told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. “These were people who were not stereotypes. She was successful and he was not afraid to be in the home.
“The show became not about the jobs but the people, and what happened to them over time. Angela became less uptight, more open and free because of Tony.”
Judith had set her sights on film work, not TV.
"It was tremendously valuable for me,” Judith said in a 2010 interview with the website www.bigthink.com. "I was prejudiced. I looked down at the material.
"I thought: 'I only want to do feature films and theater.' But when you are getting guidance from the universe and you listen to it, it changes your life in ways that are magical and it did that for me.”
“Who's the Boss?” was a completely different type of acting for the stage-trained Judith.
"I learned so much by working with Tony Danza. I learned so much about doing things that I said I would never do that made me call myself out of it and learn to listen to what was being shown me."
“Who's the Boss?” was a Top 10 program for four of its eight seasons, and was rated in the Top 25 for all but the first and final season. It was nominated for 10 Emmys and five Golden Globe awards.
Anglea and Tony dated other people, but through eight seasons they developed a strong bond and love for each other, although they never married.
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Judith struggled the next few years and seriously considered quitting acting until she unexpectedly landed a breakthrough role that launched her career: an understudy in a soap.
Judith initially told her agent to call another client, that she wasn't interested in the job.
“'You don't understand, I'm never doing a soap opera. And I'm never doing a sitcom either.' She said, 'Well, you have no money, it's $350 for the day if you get it.' I said, 'I'm there,'”
On “One Life to Live,” Judith played Karen Wolek, a housewife who led a secret life as a prostitute. She won a Daytime Emmy in both 1980 and 1981.
“I'm very honored that people would still remember me from that,” she told interviewer Jim Halterman. “People were here [at the play] this afternoon and they were all like 'Oh My God! We go back to 'One Life to Live.'
“I love that I have that kind of longevity to my career and that people still remember me for that and that they apprecviated that. It was a lot of hard work and it means a lot to me.”
“Who's the Boss” concluded in 1992 and Judith starred in numerous made-for-TV movies. Since 2002, she has had a recurring role as Judge Elizabeth Donnelly in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
She played Claire Meade in “Ugly Betty” for four seasons, earning an Emmy in a Comedy Series in 2007.
Of her various roles, Judith told Entertainment Weekly, “"I loved them all. I've had some incredible roles. If you're talking about 'One Life to Live' or 'Who’s the Boss' or 'Law & Order.' There isn’t one that I wouldn’t love to do again. They were written fantastically and I had a great time doing them all. I would happily go back.
“Every character I've played from the call-girl/housewife Karen Wolek has reflected what is happening to women in today's world.”
