Rosanna Huffman (August 12, 1938 – May 20, 2016) was an American actress and

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

artist. Huffman's film credits as a voice actress included ''

Oliver & Company ''Oliver & Company'' is a 1988 American Animated film, animated musical film, musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is inspired by the Charles Dickens novel ''Oliver Twist''. I ...

'' in 1988, ''

The Fabulous Baker Boys ''The Fabulous Baker Boys'' is a 1989 American romantic comedy drama musical film written and directed by Steve Kloves. The film follows a piano act consisting of two brothers, who hire an attractive female singer to help revive their waning ...

'' in 1989, '' FernGully: The Last Rainforest'' in 1992, and ''

Babe Babe may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People * Babe (nickname), a list of people * Jerome Babe (1837–1893), American inventor and miner * Thomas Babe (1941–2000), Ame ...

'' in 1995. She also appeared in recurring roles in ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', ''

Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the Metropolitan Police Department staff ...

'', and '' Murder One''. Huffman was the widow of

Richard Levinson Richard Leighton Levinson (August 7, 1934 – March 12, 1987) was an American screenwriter and producer who often worked in collaboration with William Link. Life and career Levinson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the Univ ...

, the co-creator of ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originall ...

'' and ''

'', who died of a heart attack in 1987. Huffman was born to Doras and Christine Huffman on August 12, 1938, in Timblin, Pennsylvania, a small coal mining town. She moved to New York in the 1960s and was quickly cast in a lead role in the 1965 Broadway production of '' Half a Sixpence''. She met

while attending a party. The couple married in 1969 and moved to Los Angeles, where Huffman soon won a lead role in a musical comedy, ''Jane Heights''. Later, during the 1970s, she guest-starred in two episodes of ''

'', including the episode "Suitable for Framing" (1971) in which she was cast as the partner of a murderous art critic portrayed by

Ross Martin Ross Martin (born Martin Rosenblatt, March 22, 1920 – July 3, 1981) was an American radio, voice, stage, film, and television actor. Martin was best known for portraying Artemus Gordon on the CBS Western series '' The Wild Wild West'', which ...

. Huffman also appeared in seven episodes of ''

'', another series created by Levinson over the course of a decade. Additionally, she was cast in a recurring role on ''

'', playing the former wife of

Joe Spano Joseph Peter Spano (born July 7, 1946) is an American actor known best for his roles as Lt. Henry Goldblume on ''Hill Street Blues'' and FBI Special Agent Tobias C. Fornell on '' NCIS''. He also voiced the Chuck E. Cheese (at the time Chuck E. ...

's character, Lt. Henry Goldblume. Her other television credits, spanning from the 1960s to the 2000s, include the series ''

The Big Valley ''The Big Valley'' is an American Western television series that originally aired from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969 on ABC. The series is set on the fictional Barkley Ranch in Stockton, California, from 1884 to 1888. The one-hour epis ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible'', ''

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City ...

'', ''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is an American television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ow ...

'', ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective fiction, detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, Califor ...

'', ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

'', ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the social shift in the United Stat ...

'', ''

Cagney & Lacey ''Cagney & Lacey'' is an American police procedural drama television series that aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988. The show is about two New York City police detectives who lead very dif ...

'', ''

Tucker's Witch ''Tucker's Witch'' is a detective comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 6 to November 10, 1982, and again sporadically from March 31 to June 2, 1983. It stars Tim Matheson and Catherine Hicks as a charming married couple, Rick ...

'', and '' ER''. Huffman died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

at her home in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, on May 20, 2016, at age 77.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Huffman, Rosanna 1938 births 2016 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Actresses from Santa Monica, California Actresses from Pennsylvania Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Deaths from pancreatic cancer in California