Julie Bovasso on AllMovie

American actress Julie Bovasso did the bulk of her professional work, both on stage and screen, in New York. It wasn't necessary for Bovasso to leave for Hollywood for her first important film role as John Travolta's mother in Saturday Night Fever (1977), which was shot for the most part in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ms. Bovasso's earliest national exposure came from her appearance as Rose Corelli Fraser on the late 1950s NBC-TV daytime drama From These Roots. In the decade before her death at 61, Julie Bovasso could be seen in substantial roles in such East Coast-based movies as Willie and Phil (1981), Staying Alive (1980), The Verdict (1982) and Moonstruck (1987).