Valerie Harper

March 06, 2010

Valerie Harper is an American actress, best known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda (a spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Valerie. Harper began as a dancer/chorus girl on Broadway in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She began with the musical Li'l Abner and went on to perform in several Broadway shows for Michael Kidd. She co-starred from 1970-1974 on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, then starred in the spin-off series, Rhoda, (CBS 1974-1978). She won four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern throughout this period. In 2000, Harper reunited with Mary Tyler Moore in Mary and Rhoda, a TV movie that brought their iconic characters back together again in later life. Some years later, Harper returned to situation comedy when she played family matriarch Valerie Hogan on the 1986 series Valerie. Harper has worked almost exclusively in theater and television, but did have key supporting roles in Neil Simon's Chapter Two in 1979 and Stanley Donen's Blame It on Rio (1984) opposite Michael Caine. She has had roles in TV movies and guest spots on a number of series, including Melrose Place in 1998 and Sex and the City in 1999. She played Tallulah Bankhead in the world-premiere production of Matthew Lombardo's Looped at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in a June 27 to August 3, 2008 run, and at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, in 2009. The play opened in preview on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on February 19, 2010. Learn more here.

On February 26, 2010, Valerie Harper was a guest on The Joy Behar Show and when asked about the freedom to marry, stated:

"...it`s a civil matter. We can`t take a group of citizens and say you`re going to be treated differently."

She went on to challenge the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy and other anti-gay discriminatory practices.

Freedom to Marry saltues Valerie Harper as a Voice for Equality.

If Ms. Harper's support inspires you, get involved by taking the Freedom to Marry Pledge!