Valerie Harper
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| Valerie Harper | |
 Valerie Harper |
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| Born | August 22, 1939 (age 67) Suffern, New York, United States |
| Notable roles | Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda |
| Emmy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series 1975 Rhoda Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series 1973 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1972 The Mary Tyler Moore Show 1971 The Mary Tyler Moore Show |
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Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1939 in Suffern, New York) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern-Gerard on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and its spinoff, Rhoda.
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[edit] Biography
Harper was born in Suffern at Good Samaritan Hospital in Rockland County, New York, to a mixed Catholic/Protestant family, and raised in Oregon. She started out as a dancer/chorus girl on Broadway in the late 1950s and early 1960s in such shows such as Take Me Along and Subways Are For Sleeping, as well as Wildcat, in which she performed with Lucille Ball. In 2001 she returned to the Broadway stage to replace Linda Lavin in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife.
She also appeared in bit parts in several films beginning with Li'l Abner (1959), when she was a teenager. During the late 1960s, however, Harper worked somewhat less, though she appeared in Carl Reiner's play Something Different in 1968. She also wrote an episode of Love, American Style with her then-husband, actor/writer, Richard Schaal, whose daughter, actress Wendy Schaal (who voices "Francine Smith" on American Dad), was her stepdaughter.
Things changed when Harper got the role of the wise-cracking yet vulnerable uber-Jewish New Yorker, Rhoda Morgenstern, on two landmark CBS TV sitcoms of the 1970s: The Mary Tyler Moore Show (regular from 1970-74) and its spin-off Rhoda (1974-78), in which she played the title role. She won four Emmy awards and a Golden Globe for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern on both series.
She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her role in 1974's Freebie and The Bean.[1]
Harper was one of the first people to guest star on The Muppet Show in its first season.
She also played family matriarch Valerie Hogan on the 1986 sitcom Valerie. It was renamed Valerie's Family in 1987 after Harper abruptly left the series (following a dispute with the producers) and was replaced by Sandy Duncan.
Harper has worked almost exclusively in theatre and television, and has also had roles in made-for-TV-movies and guest spots on a number of series, including Sex and the City. In the 1990s, she advocated hormone replacement therapy for the Eli Lilly company.
Harper is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, and ran for president in the 2001 election, losing to Melissa Gilbert. She currently serves on the national board of directors of S.A.G.[2]
A 2000 project, Mary and Rhoda, was planned as a reunion series for Harper and her friend and longtime co-star, Mary Tyler Moore, but the project instead appeared as a made-for-TV movie on the ABC network.
[edit] TV Work
- The Mary Tyler Moore Show (cast member from 1970-1974)
- Columbo: The Most Crucial Game (1972)
- Thursday's Game (1974)
- Rhoda (1974-1978)
- The Muppet Show (1976)
- Night Terror (1977)
- Fun and Games (1980)
- The Shadow Box (1980)
- The Day the Loving Stopped (1981)
- Farrell for the People (1982)
- Don't Go to Sleep (1982)
- An Invasion of Privacy (1983)
- The Execution (1985)
- Valerie (cast member from 1986-1987)
- Strange Voices (1987)
- Drop-Out Mother (1988)
- The People Across the Lake (1988)
- City (1990) (canceled after 6 months)
- Stolen: One Husband (1990)
- Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991)
- A Friend to Die For (1994)
- The Office (1995) (canceled after 2 months)
- The Great Mom Swap (1995)
- Dog's Best Friend (1997) (voice only)
- Mary and Rhoda (2000)
- Dancing at the Harvest Moon (2002)
[edit] Filmography
- Rock, Rock, Rock (1956)
- Li'l Abner (1959)
- With a Feminine Touch (1969)
- Freebie and the Bean (1974)
- Chapter Two (1979)
- The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
- Blame It on Rio (1984)
- I Want Him Back! (1995)
[edit] Awards
[edit] Emmy Award Nominations
For Emmy awards won, see the Infobox. Emmy nominations were:
- 1978 - Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Rhoda
- 1977 - Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Rhoda
- 1976 - Nominated - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - Rhoda
- 1974 - Nominated - Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Comedy - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[edit] Golden Globe Awards
- 1979 - Nominated - Actress In A Supporting Role - Chapter Two
- 1975 - Nominated - Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series - Rhoda
- 1974 - WINNER - Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series - Rhoda
- 1974 - Nominated - New Star Of The Year - Female - Freebie and the Bean
- 1973 - Nominated - Actress In A Supporting Role - Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
- 1972 - Nominated - Actress In A Supporting Role - Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
