Valerie Harper
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Valerie Harper (born August 22, 1940) in Suffern, New York is an American television actress.
Harper started out as a dancer/chorus girl on Broadway in the late 1950's and early 1960's in such shows such as Take Me Along, Wildcat, and Subways Are for Sleeping. She also appeared in bit parts in several films. But, during the late 1960's, she barely worked, except for appearing in Carl Reiner's play Something Different in 1968 and writing an episode of Love, American Style with her husband, actor/writer Richard Schaal.
But Harper is best known for her portrayal of the wise-cracking yet vulnerable Rhoda Morgenstern on two CBS television sitcoms of the 1970s: The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Rhoda, in which she played the title role. Harper won four Emmy awards and a Golden Globe for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern on both series. She also picked up a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year for her role in 1974's Freebie and The Bean.
She also played family matriarch Valerie Hogan on the 1980s sitcom Valerie. It was renamed Valerie's Family in 1987 and later The Hogan Family after Harper left the series (following a dispute with the producers) and was replaced by Sandy Duncan.
Harper has worked almost exclusively in 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.
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)
- 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)
- Mary and Rhoda (2000)
- Dancing at the Harvest Moon (2002)
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)