Valerie Harper

Infobox Actor
name = Valerie Harper

---

imagesize = 200px
birthdate = birth date and age|1940|8|22
birthplace = Suffern, New York, United States
spouse = Tony Cacciotti (1987-present)
Richard Schaal (1964-1978)
website = http://www.valerieharper.com
emmyawards = Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series
1975 "Rhoda"
Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series
1971 "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
1972 "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
1973 "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1940) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", and its spin-off, "Rhoda".

Biography

Harper was born in Suffern, New York at Good Samaritan Hospital in Rockland County, New York, to a mixed Catholic/Lutheran family, and reared in Oregon. She began 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. She can be seen as an extra in rock-and roll promo films that featured such artists as "Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers". 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 the landmark CBS 1970 TV sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". She was a series regular from 1970-74, then starred in her own spin-off series "Rhoda" from 1974-78. Both series were ratings hits and she won four Emmy awards and a Golden Globe for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern throughout this period.

She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her role in 1974's "Freebie and The Bean". [ [http://www.thegoldenglobes.com/nominee/harper_valerie.html/ Valerie Harper: TheGoldenGlobes.com] ]

Harper was one of the first people to guest star on "The Muppet Show" in its first season.

Some years later, Harper returned to situation comedy when she played family matriarch Valerie Hogan on the 1986 series "Valerie". However, following a salary dispute with the production company Lorimar in 1987, Harper was fired from the series. She later successfully sued Lorimar for breach of contract, though the series continued without her. In 1987, it was initially renamed "Valerie's Family" and then "The Hogan Family", as Harper was replaced by actress Sandy Duncan who played her sister-in-law Sandy Hogan. The series ended in 1991.

Harper has worked almost exclusively in theatre and television, but did have key supporting roles in Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" in 1979 and Stanley Donen's "Blame It on Rio" (1984) opposite Michael Caine.

She has had roles in TV movies and guest spots on a number of series, including "Sex and the City" in 1999. Also in the 1990s, she advocated hormone replacement therapy for Eli Lilly and 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 SAG. [ [http://www.sag.org/node/5/ Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors] ]

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.

In 2007, Harper portrayed Golda Meir in a national tour of the one-woman Broadway drama "Golda's Balcony". She also released a film version of the show.

In 2008, she will take on the role of Tallulah Bankhead in the world-premiere production of Matthew Lombardo's [http://www.pasadenaplayhouse.org/2008_looped.htm "Looped"] at the Pasadena Playhouse in California.

Filmography

Television

* "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
* " (1972)
* "Thursday's Game" (1974)
* "Rhoda" (1974-1978)
* "The Muppet Show" (1976)
* "Night Terror (film)" (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)
* "" (1990)
* "" (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)
* "That '70s Show episode 74" (2001)
* "Dancing at the Harvest Moon" (2002)

Film

* "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)

Awards

;Emmy Awards
* 1971 Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
* 1972 Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
* 1973 Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
* 1975 Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - "Rhoda"

"Nominations"
* 1978 Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - "Rhoda"
* 1977 Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - "Rhoda"
* 1976 Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series - "Rhoda"
* 1974 Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

;Golden Globe Awards
* 1974 - Winner - Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series - "Rhoda"

"Nominations"
* 1979 Actress In A Supporting Role - "Chapter Two"
* 1975 Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series - "Rhoda"
* 1974 New Star Of The Year - Female - "Freebie and the Bean"
* 1973 Actress In A Supporting Role - Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"
* 1972 Actress In A Supporting Role - Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie - "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"

References

External links

* [http://www.valerieharper.com/ Valerie's Official Site]
* [http://www.RhodaOnline.com/ Rhoda Online]
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* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4296726649037353693&q=innerviews InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Valerie Harper] (TV Interview)