VALERIE HARPER
Name: Valerie Harper
Born: 22 August 1940 Suffern, New York, USA
Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1940, 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.
Harper was born in Suffern at Good Samaritan Hospital in Rockland County, New
York, to a mixed Catholic/Lutheran family, and reared in Oregon. Because of her
role on the The Mary Tyler Moore Show, however, it is often assumed she is
Jewish and was reared in New York City. Conversely, her former roommate, Arlene
Golonka (Mayberry R.F.D.), is presumed to be Christian, though she is Jewish.
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. She can been 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 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. Her costar was David Groh (1939-2008).
He was written out of the series in the third season through divorce.
She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her
role in 1974's Freebie and The Bean.
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 The Hogan Family in 1987 after Harper abruptly left the series (following
a dispute with the producers) and was replaced by Sandy Duncan, who played her
sister-in-law.
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.
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 played Golda Meir in the traveling Broadway show, Golda's
Balcony, and also released a film version of the show.
Name: Valerie Harper
Born: 22 August 1940 Suffern, New York, USA
Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1940, 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.
Harper was born in Suffern at Good Samaritan Hospital in Rockland County, New
York, to a mixed Catholic/Lutheran family, and reared in Oregon. Because of her
role on the The Mary Tyler Moore Show, however, it is often assumed she is
Jewish and was reared in New York City. Conversely, her former roommate, Arlene
Golonka (Mayberry R.F.D.), is presumed to be Christian, though she is Jewish.
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. She can been 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 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. Her costar was David Groh (1939-2008).
He was written out of the series in the third season through divorce.
She was also nominated for a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her
role in 1974's Freebie and The Bean.
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 The Hogan Family in 1987 after Harper abruptly left the series (following
a dispute with the producers) and was replaced by Sandy Duncan, who played her
sister-in-law.
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.
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 played Golda Meir in the traveling Broadway show, Golda's
Balcony, and also released a film version of the show.