Valerie Harper

American actress (1939-2019)

Valerie Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019)[1] was an American movie and television actress. She was best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and starring in the sitcom Valerie. She also did stage acting. She began her career as a dancer and chorus girl on Broadway in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Valerie Harper
Harper at a 2007 SAG Foundation brunch
Born(1939-08-22)August 22, 1939
DiedAugust 30, 2019(2019-08-30) (aged 80)
OccupationActress
Years active1956–2019
Spouse(s)Richard Schaal (1964-1978)
Tony Cacciotti (1987-2019)
Websitewww.valerieharper.com

Personal life change

Harper was born in Suffern, New York. She was Wendy Schaal's former step-mother. She was married to Richard Schaal from 1964 until they divorced in 1978. She married Tony Cacciotti in 1987.

Illness change

On March 11, 2013, Harper announced that she had an incurable brain tumor. Doctors said that she had less than three months to live. [2] Although the disease is incurable, her doctors said they were treating her with chemotherapy in an effort to slow its progress.[2] On July 30, 2015, Harper was hospitalized in Maine after falling unconscious. Later on the 30th she was taken via medevac to a larger hospital for further treatment.[3][4][5] She was later released.[6]

Harper died on the morning of August 30, 2019 from meningitis caused by brain cancer, in Los Angeles a week after her 80th birthday.[7][8]

References change

  1. Archive of American Television oral history, February 26, 2009
  2. 2.0 2.1 Dodd, Johnny; Tauber, Michelle (March 6, 2013). "Valerie Harper's Rare Cancer Explained". People. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
  3. Daley, Megan (July 30, 2015). "Valerie Harper's hospitalization prior to a Maine performance a 'precaution,' says the theater". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  4. "Valerie Harper In a Coma, Sources Say". Entertainment Weekly.com. July 30, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  5. "Valerie Harper released from hospital". USA TODAY.
  6. "Valerie Harper not in coma, looking forward to returning to Ogunquit Playhouse". 31 July 2015.
  7. Saperstein, Pat. "Valerie Harper, Rhoda on ‘Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ Dies at 80" Variety, August 30, 2019
  8. Blair, Elizabeth (August 30, 2019). "Valerie Harper, Who Played Beloved TV Sidekick Rhoda, Dies At 80". NPR. Retrieved August 30, 2019.

Other websites change

  Media related to Valerie Harper at Wikimedia Commons