Barbara Harris (actress)
Barbara Harris | |
|---|---|
 Harris in 1967 | |
| Born | Barbara Densmoor Harris[1] July 25, 1935 Evanston, Illinois,U.S. |
| Died | August 21, 2018(aged 83) Scottsdale, Arizona,U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1959–1997 |
| Spouse | |
Barbara Densmoor Harris(July 25, 1935 – August 21, 2018) was an AmericanTony Award-winningBroadwaystage star andAcademy Award-nominated motion picture actress.
Early life[edit]
Harris was born inEvanston, Illinois,the daughter of Natalie (née Densmoor), a pianist, and Oscar Graham Harris, anarboristwho later became a businessman. She was the youngest of four children.[2]In her youth, Harris attendedSenn High Schooland thenWilbur Wright College.She began her stage career as a teenager at the Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Her fellow players includedEdward Asner,Elaine MayandMike Nichols.
She was also a member of theCompass Players,the first ongoingimprovisational theatretroupe in the United States, directed byPaul Sills,to whom she was married at that time.[3]Though the Compass Players closed in disarray, a second theatre directed by Sills calledThe Second Cityopened in Chicago in 1959 and attracted national attention.[3]Despite Sills and Harris having divorced by this time, Sills cast her in this company and brought her to New York to play in aBroadwayedition at theRoyale Theatre,opening on September 26, 1961. For her performance in this, she received her firstTony Awardnomination.[4]
Broadway career[edit]
A life member of theActors Studio,[5]Harris received a Tony nomination in 1962 forOutstanding Featured Actress in a Musicalfor herBroadwaydebut in the original musical revue productionFrom the Second City,which ran at theRoyale Theatrefrom September 26, 1961 to December 9, 1961. The revue also featured the youngAlan ArkinandPaul Sand.Produced by Max Liebman (among others) and directed byPaul Sills,the production presented Harris in such sketches asCaesar's Wife,First Affair,Museum Piece,andThe Bergman Film.[4]
In a 2002 interview with thePhoenix New Times,Harris recalled her ambivalence about even bringing the troupe to New York from Chicago. She said, "When I was at Second City, there was a vote about whether we should take our show to Broadway or not. Andrew Duncan and I voted no. I stayed in New York, but only becauseRichard RodgersandAlan Jay Lernercame and said, 'We want to write a musical for you!' Well, I wasn't big on musical theater. I had seen part ofSouth Pacificin Chicago and I walked out. But it was Richard Rodgers calling! "[6]
While Rodgers and Lerner were busy working on their original musical for her, she won theTheatre World Awardfor her role in playwrightArthur Kopit's dark comedic farce,Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad.She earned a nomination for the 1966 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical forOn a Clear Day You Can See Forever(1965), a Broadway musical created for her byAlan Jay LernerandBurton Lane.She starred as Daisy Gamble, a New Yorker who seeks out the help of a psychiatrist to stop smoking. Underhypnosis,the apparently kooky, brash, and quirky character reveals unexpected hidden depths. During her hypnotic trances, she becomes fascinating to the psychiatrist as she reveals herself as a woman who has lived many past lives, one of them ending tragically. While critics were divided over the merits of the show, they praised Harris's performance. The show opened on October 14, 1965 at theMark Hellinger Theatreand ran for 280 performances, earning a total of threeTonynominations. Harris performed numbers from the show withJohn CullumonThe Bell Telephone Hour( "The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner", broadcast on February 27, 1966). She had previously appeared on Broadway withAnne Bancroftin a 1963 production ofBertolt Brecht'sMother Courage and Her Children,staged byJerome Robbins,at the Martin Beck Theater; the production received five Tony nominations.
Harris gave another well-received performance inThe Apple Tree,another Broadway musical created for her, this time by the team of composerJerry Bockand lyricistSheldon Harnick.The show, in which Harris co-starred withAlan AldaandLarry Blydenand was directed by Mike Nichols, opened at theShubert Theateron October 5, 1966 and closed on November 25, 1967. The show was based on three tales byMark Twain,Frank R. Stockton,andJules Feifferand Harris starred in all three. She played Eve in Twain'sThe Diary of Adam and Eve,a melodramatically campy temptress inThe Lady, or the Tiger?,and two roles inJules Feiffer'sPassionella.She was the forlorn, soot-stained nasal-congested chimney-sweep who wants only to be "a beautiful glamorous movie star, for its own sake", and, by virtue of an instantaneous costume-change, the huge-bosomed, gold-gowned, blonde bombshell of a movie star she always dreamed she'd be. Richard Watts Jr. of theNew York Postwrote "[t]here are many high triumphs of the imagination in the vastly original musical comedy... [b]ut it is Miss Harris who provides it with the extra touch of magic."Walter Kerrcalled her "the square root of noisy sex" and "sweetness carried well into infinity". Harris captured the 1967Tonyfor Best Actress in a Musical as well asCue Magazine's "Entertainer of the Year" award. Of her friend and colleagueMike Nichols,she said in 2002, "Mike Nichols was a toughie. He could be very kind, but if you weren't first-rate, watch out. He'd let you know."[6]
After reading scripts forDavid Merrick,Harris directed a Broadway production ofThe Penny WarsbyElliott Bakerin 1969 starringKim Hunter,George Voskovec,andKristoffer Tabori.She stopped appearing on stage afterThe Apple Tree,except for the off-Broadway first American production of Brecht and Weill'sMahagonnyin 1970, in which she played the role of Jenny, originally created byLotte Lenya.In the 2002 interview, Harris said, "Who wants to be up on the stage all the time? It isn't easy. You have to be awfully invested in the fame aspect, and I really never was. What I cared about was the discipline of acting, whether I did well or not."[6]
Hollywood career[edit]
Early film and television work[edit]
From 1961 through 1964, she appeared as a guest star on such popular television series asAlfred Hitchcock Presents,Naked City,ChanningandThe Defenders.In 1965, she made an auspiciousfeature filmdebut as social worker Sandra Markowitz in the screen version ofA Thousand Clowns.She co-starred oppositeJason RobardsJr., who played the freewheeling, eternally optimistic guardian of his teenage nephew, the custody of whom is threatened by authorities' dim view of his bohemian lifestyle.The New York Timescritic wrote on December 9, 1965 that the movie "has the new and sensational Barbara Harris playing the appropriately light-headed girl". Harris and Robards wonGolden Globe Awardnominations. She then appeared in the screen version ofArthur Kopit's darkly comicOh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad(1967) withRosalind Russellas the monstrous mother ofRobert Morsewho takes the stuffed corpse of her dead husband along on trips. Reviewing the latter film forThe New York Timeson February 16, 1967, critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "Barbara Harris from the original play cast is as wacky as she was on the stage — casual and direct and totally blasé about the boisterous business of sex. Her tussle to accomplish her purpose, with the corpse falling out into the room every time she is about to score a field goal, is still the funniest scene."
InNeil Simon'sPlaza Suite(1971) withWalter Matthau,the British entertainment magazineTime Outcalled the "delightful" Harris' gifts "wasted". She had only slightly better opportunities inThe War Between Men and Women(1972) withJack Lemmon.
She earned an Oscar nomination for the 1971 film (which co-starredDustin Hoffman)Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?,about a rich, successful, womanizing pop songwriter suffering a debilitating but oddly liberating mental crisis. The script was byHerb Gardner,who also wroteA Thousand Clowns.
Harris and two master directors[edit]
In 1975, Harris appeared in one of her signature film roles inRobert Altman's masterpieceNashville,playing Albuquerque, a ditzy, scantily clad country singing hopeful who may be far more opportunistic and calculating than she would first appear. Accounts of the film's chaotic and inspired production, particularly in Jan Stuart's bookThe Nashville Chronicles: The Making of Robert Altman's Masterpiece,indicate a clash between actress and director. Harris earned a Golden Globe nomination (one of 11 for the film); as Oscar-nominated co-starLily Tomlinput it, "I was the hugest of Barbara Harris fans; I thought she was so stunning and original." Although the two were set to reunite with Altman in a sequel, that film was never made.
The following year,Alfred Hitchcockcast her inFamily Plotas a bogus spiritualist who searches for a missing heir and a family fortune with her cab driver boyfriend. Among a cast that includedBruce Dern,Karen BlackandWilliam Devane,Hitchcock was particularly delighted by Harris' quirkiness, skill and intelligence. She received praise from critics as well as a Golden Globe nomination for the film, which was based on the novelThe Rainbird PatternbyVictor Canning,and which marked a reunion of Hitchcock withErnest Lehman,who had created the original screenplay forNorth by Northwest.In her 2002Phoenix New Timesinterview, she admitted that she "turned down Alfred Hitchcock when he first asked me to be in one of his movies". After agreeing to star inFamily Plot,she recalled that "Hitchcock was a wonderful man."[6]The film was Hitchcock's last and inasmuch as Harris appears by herself in its final shot (in which she winks at the audience), she has the distinction of being the actor who, so to speak, ended Alfred Hitchcock's long and illustrious career.
Later career and vanishing act[edit]
Harris continued to appear in films of the 1970s-80s, includingFreaky Friday(1976) with a youngJodie Foster,Movie Moviefor directorStanley Donen,andThe North Avenue Irregulars(1979) withEdward HerrmannandCloris Leachman.She co-starred inThe Seduction of Joe Tynan(1979) with one of her former Broadway leading men,Alan Alda(who also wrote the screenplay), a tale of a liberal Washington Senator caught in an affair with a younger woman, played byMeryl Streep.
In 1981, she starred inSecond-Hand Heartsfor esteemed directorHal Ashbyas "Dinette Dusty", a recently widowed waitress and would-be singer who marries a boozy carwash worker named "Loyal", played byRobert Blake,to get back her children from their paternal grandparents. The film, based on a highly sought-after "road movie" screenplay byCharles Eastman,was a critical and box office disaster that tarnished the careers of all concerned. CriticVincent Canbyin his negativeThe New York Timesreview on May 8, 1981 opined, "[t]he film's one bright spot is Barbara Harris, who plays Dinette as sincerely as possible under awful conditions. She looks great even when she's supposed to be tacky, and is genuinely funny as she tries to make sense out of Loyal's muddled philosophizing, which, of course, the screenplay requires her to match." Harris was offscreen until 1986 when she played the mother ofKathleen TurnerinPeggy Sue Got Married.Her last films wereDirty Rotten Scoundrels(1988) andGrosse Pointe Blank(1997).
Harris retired from acting and began teaching. When asked in 2002 if she would resume her acting career, she said, "Well, if someone handed me something fantastic for $10 million, I'd work again. But I haven't worked in a long time as an actor. I don't miss it. I think the only thing that drew me to acting in the first place was the group of people I was working with:Ed Asner,Paul Sills,Mike Nichols,Elaine May.And all I really wanted to do back then was rehearsal. I was in it for the process, and I really resented having to go out and do a performance for an audience, because the process stopped; it had to freeze and be the same every night. It wasn't as interesting. "[6]
In 2005, she briefly resurfaced, guest starring as The Queen and as Spunky Brandburn onAnne Manx on Amazonia,an audio drama by the Radio Repertory Company of America, which aired onXM Satellite Radio.
Death[edit]
Harris died oflung cancerinScottsdale, Arizona,on August 21, 2018, aged 83.[7]She is buried at Markesan Memorial Cemetery inMarkesan, Wisconsin,where her mother and grandparents are buried.[8]
Filmography[edit]
Television[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Beth | Season 7 Episode 6: "Beta Delta Gamma" |
| 1962 | As Caesar Sees It | Self | TV comedy featuring insights ofSid Caesar |
| 1962 | Naked City | Helga Royd | Season 4 Episode 3: "Daughter Am I in My Father's House" |
| 1963 | Chronicle | Episode: "The French, They Are So French" | |
| 1963 | Channing | Sophie Kannakos | Season 1 Episode 4: "No Wild Games for Sophie" |
| 1963 | What's Going on Here? | WNEW-produced TV comedy film | |
| 1964 | The Defenders | Margit Wolsung | Season 3 Episode 14: "Claire Cheval Died in Boston" |
| 1964 | The Doctors and the Nurses | Anna Faye | Season 2 Episode 31: "White on White" |
| 1964 | The Doctors and the Nurses | Elaine Radnitz | Season 3 Episode 10: "So Some Girls Play the Cello" |
| 1964 | The Garry Moore Show | Self | |
| 1964 | The Jack Paar Show | Self | |
| 1966 | The Bell Telephone Hour | Self - singer | "The Lyrics ofAlan Jay Lerner"w/Florence Henderson,Edward Villella,Patricia McBride,John CullumandStanley Holloway |
| 1967 | The Merv Griffin Show | Self | |
| 1971 | Stand Up and Cheer | Self | |
| 1977 | A Doonesbury Special | Joanie Caucus | Voice only (animated) |
| 1989 | Days of Our Lives | Susan Faraday | 5 episodes (Season 1 Episodes 16, 17, 19, 21, 22) |
| 1992 | Middle Ages | Jean | Season 1 Episode 4: "Night Moves" |
Theater[edit]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | From the Second City | Broadway debut Nominated -Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical | |
| 1962 | Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad | Rosalie | Won-Obie AwardforBest Actress |
| 1963 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Yvette Pottier | |
| 1965 | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever | Daisy Gamble | Nominated -Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1966 | The Apple Tree | Eve -The Diary of Adam and Eve Passionella -Passionella Princess Barbara -The Lady, or the Tiger? |
Won-Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
| 1970 | Mahagonny | Jenny | Off-Broadway production |
References[edit]
- ^
Birth Registration:
"Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1949"
(accessed 23 July 2023)
Barbara Densmore Harris birth 25 Jul 1935 in Illinois, United States. - ^"Barbara Harris is a private person".Greeley Daily Tribune.January 7, 1977.
- ^abHart, Hugh."The Return Of Barbara"Chicago Tribune,April 21, 1991
- ^ab"'From the Second City' Broadway"Playbill(vault), retrieved June 16, 2018
- ^Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980".A Player's Place: The Story of The Actors Studio.New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p.278.ISBN978-0-02-542650-4.
- ^abcdeRobert L. Pela,"Barbara Harris Knew Bill Clinton Was White Trash"Archived2014-02-21 at theWayback Machine,Phoenix New Times,October 24, 2002
- ^O'Donnell, Maureen (August 21, 2018)."Actress Barbara Harris dies; Second City alum became toast of Broadway, movies".Chicago Sun-Times.Archived fromthe originalon August 21, 2018.RetrievedAugust 21,2018.
- ^"Obituaries".Portage Daily Register.September 4, 2018.
External links[edit]
- Barbara HarrisatIMDb
- Barbara Harrisat theInternet Broadway Database
- Barbara Harrisat theInternet Off-Broadway Database
- Barbara Harrisat theBritish Film Institute
- Barbara Harrisdiscography atDiscogs
- Barbara HarrisatRotten Tomatoes
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1935 births
- 2018 deaths
- American film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American musical theatre actresses
- American women singers
- American television actresses
- Actresses from Chicago
- Actresses from Evanston, Illinois
- Deaths from lung cancer in Arizona
- Drama Desk Award winners
- Tony Award winners
- Wilbur Wright College alumni
- 20th-century American actresses