A dancer by training, Harper gained renown for her portrayal of Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later on her own spinoff Rhoda. Rhoda Morgenstern was the perfect counterpart to Tyler Moore's Mary Richards. She won four Emmys for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern (three on MTM and one on Rhoda).
Harper would never replicate her Mary Tyler Moore/Rhoda success. During the late 1980's, she starred in NBC's Valerie. Although critically acclaimed, differences with the production company and network would ultimately result in her dismissal from the series and would be replaced by Sandy Duncan and the series would be retooled as The Hogan Family. Although Harper and her husband would collect damages as a result of a lawsuit, Harper would never again be cast in a TV series.
Much of Harper's later career would be focused on stage most notably for her portrayal of Tallulah Bankhead in Looped for which she received a Tony nomination. Harper spent most of the 2010's battling cancer, but did recover sufficiently to return to her roots as a dancer appearing as a contestant on ABC's Dancing With The Stars in 2013. That same year Harper would reunite with MTM co-stars Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White, Cloris Leachman and Georgia Engel in an episode of Hot in Cleveland. Six year later, only White and Leachman are still with us. A sobering thought. R.I.P.
No comments:
Post a Comment