Valerie Kathryn Harper (born August 22, 1939) is an American actress known for her roles as Rhoda Morgenstern in the 1970s television series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off, Rhoda, and later as Valerie Hogan in Valerie.

Early life

Harper was born in Suffern, New York, the middle child of three siblings. She claims her parents were expecting a boy and after her arrival her first and middle names derived from that year's women's doubles tennis champions, Valerie Scott and Kay Stammers. Her Canadian-born mother, Iva Mildred (née McConnell), was a nurse, and her father, Howard Donald Harper, was a lighting salesman. She is of French, English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. She has an older sister, Leah; a younger brother, Merrill (who later took the name "Don") and a half-sister, Virginia, from her father's second marriage. Harper claims to have based her future character Rhoda Morgenstern on her Italian stepmother, Angela Posillico, and Penny Ann Green (née Joanna Greenberg), with whom she danced in the Broadway musical Wildcat. She was raised Catholic, although at an early age she "quit" the church.

The family moved every two years due to her father's work, attending schools in South Orange, New Jersey; Pasadena, California; Monroe, Michigan; Ashland, Oregon; and Jersey City, New Jersey. When her family returned to Oregon, Harper remained in the New York City area to study ballet. She attended Lincoln High School in Jersey City, graduating from the private Young Professionals School on West 56th Street, where classmates included Sal Mineo, Tuesday Weld, and Carol Lynley.

Career

Broadway dancer and improv

Harper began as a dancer/chorus girl on Broadway in 1959 in the musical Li'l Abner and went on to perform in several Broadway shows, some choreographed by Michael Kidd, including Wildcat (starring Lucille Ball), Take Me Along (starring Jackie Gleason), and Subways Are For Sleeping. In-between she was also cast in Destry Rides Again but was forced to leave rehearsals due to illness. Her roommate, actress Arlene Golonka, introduced her to Second City improvisation theater and to improv performer Dick Schaal, whom Harper later married in 1965. Harper was stepmother to Schaal's daughter, Wendy, an actress. They lived in Greenwich Village. She returned to Broadway in February 2010, playing Tallulah Bankhead in Matthew Lombardo's Looped at the Lyceum Theatre.

Harper appeared in a bit part in the film version of Li'l Abner (1959), playing a Yokumberry Tonic wife. She broke into television on an episode of the soap opera The Doctors ("Zip Guns can Kill"). She was an extra in Love with the Proper Stranger. She toured with Second City with Schaal, Linda Lavin and others, later appearing in sketches on Playboy After Dark. Harper and Schaal moved to Los Angeles in 1968, and co-wrote an episode of Love, American Style.

In 1966, Harper appeared as a member of the cast on the classic ensemble comedy recording, "When You're In Love The Whole World is Jewish," along with her future TV Jewish Mother, Nancy Walker.

Television stardom

While doing theater in Los Angeles in 1970, Harper was spotted by casting agent Ethel Winant, who called her in to audition for the role of Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She co-starred from 1970"1974 and then starred in the spin-off series, Rhoda (CBS 1974-1978) in which her character returned to New York. She won four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern throughout this period. In 2000, Harper reunited with Moore in Mary and Rhoda, a TV movie that brought their iconic characters back together again in later life. The first season of Rhoda was released on DVD on April 21, 2009 by Shout! Factory.

She was nominated for a Golden Globe for "New Star of the Year" for her role in Freebie and The Bean (1974). Harper was a guest star on The Muppet Show in 1976, its first season.

Harper returned to situation comedy in 1986 when she played family matriarch Valerie Hogan on the NBC series Valerie. Following a salary dispute with NBC and production company Lorimar in 1987, Harper was fired from the series at the end of its second season. Harper sued NBC and Lorimar for breach of contract. Her claims against NBC were dismissed, but the jury found that Lorimar had wrongfully fired her and awarded her $1.4 million plus 12.5 percent of the show's profits. The series continued without her with the explanation that her character had died off-screen. 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. NBC canceled The Hogan Family in 1990, but it was picked up by CBS for a final season.

Harper worked almost exclusively in theater and television but also had key supporting roles in such feature films as Freebie and the Bean (1974) and Blame It on Rio (1984). She appeared in various television movies and in guest roles on such series as Melrose Place (1998) and Sex and the City (1999).

Later career

Harper is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and ran for president in the 2001 election, losing to Melissa Gilbert. She served on the Hollywood Board of Directors of SAG.

In 2005 through 2006, Harper portrayed Golda Meir in a US National tour of the one-woman drama Golda's Balcony. A film of this production was released in 2007.

She played Tallulah Bankhead in the world-premiere production of Matthew Lombardo's Looped at the Pasadena Playhouse from June 27 to August 3, 2008, and at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in 2009. The play had a brief run on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre, from February 2010 (previews) through April 2010. She played Claire Bremmer, aunt of Susan Delfino (Teri Hatcher), on ABC's Desperate Housewives in 2011. On September 4, 2013, ABC's Good Morning America announced Harper had been selected as a contestant on the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars. She is partnered with professional dancer Tristan MacManus.

Personal life

Harper and Schaal divorced in 1978. Harper married Tony Cacciotti in 1987; the couple has a daughter by adoption.

In the 1970s/80s, Harper was involved in the Women's Liberation Movement and was an advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment. With Dennis Weaver she co-founded L.I.F.E. in 1983, a charity that fed thousands of needy in Los Angeles.

In 2009, Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer. She announced on March 6, 2013 that tests from a January hospital stay revealed she has leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare condition in which cancer cells spread into the meninges, the membranes surrounding the brain. She said her doctors have given her as little as three months' life expectancy. Although the disease is incurable, her doctors said they were treating her with chemotherapy in an effort to slow its progress.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Rock Rock Rock!	Dancer at Prom (uncredited)
1959	Li'l Abner	Luke's Wife (uncredited)
1963	Trash Program	Wife (voice, uncredited)	Short film
1969	With a Feminine Touch
1974	Freebie and the Bean	Bean's Wife
1979	Chapter Two	Faye Medwick
1980	'	Barbara
1984	Blame It on Rio	Karen Hollis
2007	Golda's Balcony	Golda Meir
2011	Shiver	Audrey Alden
2011	Certainty	Kathryn

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970"1977	'	Rhoda Morgenstern	90 episodes (1970-74)as a series regular; two appearances as a guest star (1975-77)
1971	Story Theatre		TV series
1971	Love, American Style	Barbara Watkins	Episode: "Love and the Housekeeper"
1972	Columbo	Eve Babcock	Episode: "The Most Crucial Game"
1973	'		TV movie
1974	Thursday's Game	Ann Menzente	TV movie
1974"1978	Rhoda	Rhoda Morgenstern Gerard	110 episodes
1976	The Muppet Show	Herself	Episode 10, Season 1
1977	Night Drive Night Terror (original title)	Carol Turner	TV movie
1980	Fun and Games	Carol Hefferman	TV movie
1980	'	Maggie	TV movie
1981	The Day the Loving Stopped	Norma Danner	TV movie
1982	Farrell for the People	Elizabeth "Liz" Farrell	TV movie
1982	Don't Go to Sleep	Laura	TV movie
1983	'	Kate Bianchi	TV movie
1985	'	Hannah Epstein	TV movie
1986	'	Laurel Peters	Episode: "Egypt: Part 1" Episode: "Egypt: Part 2"
1986	'		1 episode
1986"1987	Valerie	Valerie Hogan	32 episodes
1987	Strange Voices	Lynn Glover	TV movie
1988	Drop-Out Mother	Nora Cromwell	TV movie
1988	'	Rachel Yoman	TV movie
1990	Stolen: One Husband	Katherine Slade	TV movie
1990	City	Liz Gianni	13 episodes
1991	Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion	Dyan Draper	TV movie
1993	'		TV movie
1994	Missing Persons	Ellen Hartig	3 episodes
1994	'	Mrs. Delvecchio	TV movie
1995	'	Rita Stone	6 episodes
1995	'	Grace	TV movie
1996	Touched by an Angel	Kate Prescott	Episode: "Flesh and Blood"
1996	Promised Land	Molly Arnold	Episode: "The Magic Gate"
1997	Dog's Best Friend	Chicken (voice)	TV movie
1998	Generator Gawl	Various	TV series
1998	Melrose Place	Mia Mancini	Episode: "Mama Mia" Episode: "Last Train to Baghdad"
1998	Sorcerous Stabber Orphen	Townspeople (voice)	Episode: "The Sword of Baltanders"
1999	Touched by an Angel	Kate Prescott	Episode: "Full Circle"
1999	Sex and the City	Wallis Wysel	Episode: "Shortcomings"
2000	Mary and Rhoda	Rhoda Morgenstern Gerard Rousseau	TV movie
2000	Beggars and Choosers		Episode: "Be Careful What You Wish For"
2000	As Told by Ginger	Maryellen (voice)	Episode: "The Wedding Frame"
2001	That '70s Show	Paula	Episode: "Eric's Naughty No-no"
2001	Family Law	Julia	Episode: "Clemency"
2001	Three Sisters	Merle Keats	Episode: "The In-Laws" Episode: "Three Thanksgivings, One Turkey'
2002	Dancing at the Harvest Moon	Claire	TV movie
2003	Less Than Perfect	Judith	Episode: "Claude's Alternative Thanksgiving"
2004	Less Than Perfect	Judith	Episode: "Mom's the Word"
2005	Committed	Lily Solomon	Episode: "The Mother Episode"
2009	'Til Death	Barbara	Episode: "The Courtship of Eddie's Parents"
2011	Desperate Housewives	Claire Bremmer	Episode: "Where Do I Belong?"
2011	My Future Boyfriend	Bobbi Moreau	TV movie
2011	Fixing Pete	Mrs. Friedlander	TV movie
2011	Drop Dead Diva	Judge Leslie Singer	Episode: "Bride-a-Palooza"
2012	Drop Dead Diva	Judge Leslie Singer	Episode: "Freak Show"
2013	The Simpsons	Department of Standardized Testing Proctor	Episode: "A Test Before Trying"

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959"1960	Take Me Along	Lady Entertainer, Townswoman
1960"1961	Wildcat	Dancer
1961"1962	Subways Are for Sleeping	Dancer
1967"1968	Something Different	Beth Nemerov	Replacement
1970"1971	Paul Sills' Story Theatre	Various
1971	Ovid's Metamorphoses	Ensemble
1995	Death Defying Acts
1998-1999	All Under Heaven
2001"2002	'	Marjorie	Replacement
2008"2010	Looped	Tallulah Bankhead

Awards and nominations

Harper is a one-time Tony nominee, eight-time Emmy nominee (four wins) and a six-time Golden Globe nominee (one win).

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1971	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1972	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1972	Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress " Television	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1973	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1973	Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress - Television	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1974	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1974	Golden Globe	New Female Star of the Year	Freebie and the Bean
1974	Golden Globe	Best Actress in a TV Comedy Series	Rhoda
1975	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Rhoda
1975	Golden Globe	Best Actress in a TV Comedy Series	Rhoda
1976	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Rhoda
1977	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Rhoda
1978	Primetime Emmy	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Rhoda
1979	Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture	Chapter Two
2010	Tony Awards	Best Actress in a Play	Looped

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