Debra Jo Rupp is a very well-liked American character actor best remembered for her lovely performances as Alice Knight-Buffay in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of the classic NBC TV series “Friends” and as Kitty Forman in the Fox throwback comedy “That ’70s Show.”
She also received support for her role as Mae in the 1990 film “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” starring Kathleen Turner, as well as for her part as Katie, Jerry Seinfeld’s booking agent on the television series “Seinfeld.”
Debra Jo Rupp’s Date of Birth
The parents of Debra Jo Rupp, who was born on 24 February 1951 in Glendale, California, raised her and her two sisters as Southern Christians in Boxford, Massachusetts.
Debra Jo Rupp’s Education
She studied at the Masconomet Regional High School in Boxford, where she received her diploma in 1969. Debra’s parents were strongly combated to her studying acting, despite her desire.
She was thus transferred to New York to study at the University of Rochester, New York since the college at the time did not provide any theatrical teaching.
Fortunately, a dramatics department was established at the institution during her first year. She participated actively in on-campus theatrical events as a Drama House member and attended acting courses. Drama House is a small theater organization.
With a B.A. in hand, Debra graduated in 1974 and, on the advice of her professors, proceeded to New York right away to begin her acting career.
Debra Jo Rupp’s Career
She played Helen, a cheating husband’s wife, in Sharon Tipsword’s one-act comedy “Second Verse” at a Nat Horne Theater drama festival in 1980.
It took her six years to get her first television job, which she got in the daytime soap “All My Children” in 1980 as the topless dancer Shelia.
In the 1985 production of “The Middle Ages,” directed by A. R. Gurney and presented by the Olympia Dukakis-founded Whole Theater Company in Montclair, New Jersey, Debra played the role of a young bride.
Walter Goodman of the New York Times gave her performance of an unloved young wife in Arthur Laurents’ “The Time of the Cuckoo” a very positive review.
Other memorable performances from this period include Cynthia Heimel’s “A Girl’s Guide to Chaos,” which earned her praise from famed caricaturist Al Hirschfield, and Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” a two-character drama.
Debra committed herself to acting during the 1980s, working both on stage and in television productions. In the comedy “Big,” starring Tom Hanks, she finally scored her first part in a major motion picture. She was cast as Miss Patterson, Josh Baskins’ shy secretary.
Upon her return to New York City in 1990, Debra appeared as “Mae” with Kathleen Turner in the Eugene O’Neill Theatre’s Broadway production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
Early in the 1990s, she appeared in a variety of TV episodes, some of the more popular ones being “Davis Rules with Randy Quaid,” “Phenom,” “Family Matters,” “Blossom,” and “L.A. Law.”
The Jeff Foxworthy Show, The Invaders, a Seinfeld episode, and the stage production Broken Bones at Hollywood’s “Met Theater” all contributed to 1995’s busy schedule.
Debra Jo Rupp gained worldwide recognition for her three seasons as Alice Knight in the television series “Friends,” but it was her part as the feisty Kitty Forman in the hit comedy series “That ’70s Show” that brought her the most popularity.
She appeared in the eleventh episode of the Emmy Award-winning television miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon,” which was produced by Tom Hanks and directed by Sally Fields.
Debra, a talented performer, provided Mrs. Helperman’s voice for the Disney animated series “Teacher’s Pet” in 2000 and for the 2004 film version.
Her stand-up comedy act in Susan Kraker and Pi Ware’s 2004 short film “The Act” won attention. The movie was a recognized entry at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win other awards at international film festivals.
In the short feature film “Lucky 13” the same year, Debra played Brad Hunt’s annoying mother.
She plays Dotty Otley in Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off” (2004) and a funny mother in “Ring Round the Moon” (2006), both of which were set in Massachusetts.
In June 2007, Judith Ivey’s Second Stage Theatre production of “The Butcher of Baraboo,” starring Debra as Valerie, was presented to New Yorkers.
In August of the same year, she performed in a revival of the Paul Osborn play “Morning’s at Seven” at the “Berkshire Theatre Festival.”
Rupp made an appearance in an episode of the well-known criminal thriller “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” after “That ’70s Show” finished in 2006.
She appeared in two films—”Kickin It Old Skool” and “Jackson”—as well as the daytime drama “As the World Turns” in 2007 and 2008.
She played a variety of roles, which showed her flexibility. In 2008, she performed in the plays “A Flea in Her Ear” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Massachusetts.
She performed Ruth in the romantic comedy “She Wants Me” in 2012, and she also featured as “Dr. Ruth Westheimer” in “Dr. Ruth – All the Way” for the Barrington Stage Company.
Debra featured in Bekah Brunstetter’s play “The Cake” in 2017, which was about a North Carolina Southern Baptist baker who must prepare a cake for a agent niece’s wedding.
As her niece marries another woman, Della, the traditional character played by Rupp, must overcome her anxieties.