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Celebrity. Valerie Harper: Why I Said Yes to 'Dancing with the Stars' "When life asks you to dance, you just have to dance," says the actress, who was diagnosed with brain cancer. By....
- Early Life
- Career
- Personal Life
- Dancing with The Stars 17
- Trivia
Harper was born in Suffern, New York, the daughter of Iva Mildred (née McConnell 1910-1988) and Howard Donald Harper. Her father was a lighting salesman, and her mother was born in Canada and trained as a nurse. She is the middle child of three siblings. She has an older sister, Leah; a younger brother, Merrill (who later took the name "Don") and a...
Broadway Dancer and Improv
Harper began as a dancer and chorus girl on Broadway, 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 la...
Television
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 mov...
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 27 June to 3 August 2008, and at Aren...
Harper married actor Richard Schaal in 1964. They divorced in 1978. Harper later married Tony Cacciotti in 1987; the couple has a daughter by adoption.
On 4 September 2013, Harper was announced as a contestant for the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with professional dancer Tristan MacManus. Harper and MacManus were eliminated 7 October 2013. They placed 10th.
Valerie is the second Dancing with the Stars contestant to die; Florence Henderson died in November 2016.
- 22 August 1939
- Suffern, New York
- 30 August 2019 (aged 80)
- 5 min
Sep 4, 2013 · exclaimed Valerie Harper, 74, when asked why she decided to do "Dancing With the Stars." The former "Mary Tyler Moore Show" star, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier in the year, told ...
- 2 min
- ABC News
Oct 8, 2013 · Oct. 7, 2013, 8:36 PM PDT. By Ree Hines. It's been an emotional journey for Valerie Harper on "Dancing With the Stars" this season, and frankly, fans knew it would be before she ever...
On September 4, 2013, Harper was announced as a contestant for the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Tristan MacManus. They were eliminated from the show on October 7, 2013.
Sep 19, 2013 · A former dancer, she's bounced back by competing on "Dancing With the Stars," and is now the subject of a new documentary hosted by Meredith Vieira, "Valerie's Story," which airs on NBC...
