Valerie Harper has starred in well over a dozen TV-movies, appeared on and off Broadway and had roles in a handful of feature films, but it is as Rhoda Morgenstern, Mary Tyler Moore's Bronx-born, no-nonsense, comic sidekick with which the audience most connected and for which she will always be remembered. The Rhoda Morgenstern of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (CBS, 1970-74) was overweight (at least during the first season), man-hungry, and Jewish--the perfect foil for Moore's WASPy apple-pie persona. The audience loved the character so much that CBS gave Harper her own show, "Rhoda" (1974-78). Rhoda married, divorced, and evolved into a woman making a living, and learning her inner emotional drives.
In real life, Valerie Harper was neither Jewish, nor from The Bronx. Rather she was a Catholic from Rockland County, NY, who while still a teen-ager began dancing in the corps de ballet at Radio City Music Hall. (She was NOT a Rockette!) She then was in the chorus of numerous Broadway musicals, including Michael Kidd's "Li'l Abner" (1958) and "Wildcat" (1960), Lucille Ball's Broadway debut. In the early 60s, she landed work with Second City in Toronto and studied comedy and drama to maintain a career when the legs would no longer hold up under the chorus line strains. Along with her then-husband Richard Schaal, she appeared on Broadway in Paul Sills' "Story Theatre" in 1970.
Harper had done virtually no TV when she was cast as Rhoda. Yet, she quickly became one of the biggest stars in the medium, earning four Emmys for her characterization. After "Rhoda", she headlined the NBC sitcom "Valerie" (1986-87) as the mother of three boys coping with a husband who was an airline pilot and out of town frequently. Her next efforts were both short-lived sitcoms: "City" (CBS, 1990) which cast her as a municipal manager; and "The Office" (CBS, 1995) which revolved around a group of clerical workers. Harper has also starred in numerous TV-movies, beginning with the comedy "Thursday's Game" (ABC, 1974), and including the busted pilot "Farrell for the People" (NBC, 1982), in which she was a crusading attorney, and "Strange Voices" (NBC, 1987), as the mother of a schizophrenic.
Harper was the center of controversy in 1987 when she sued Lorimar, the company which produced her TV series, "Valerie". Harper had been in a contract and control dispute, stemming not only from money issues but also to the treatment of her husband and partner, Tony Cacciotti, who was a producer on the show. Harper was fired (and the series continued for four more seasons with Sandy Duncan in the lead). The result of the trial was mixed. Harper has repeatedly claimed victory as she was awarded all money due her, but because the jury awarded her no punitive damages, Lorimar insiders have claimed that the amount Harper won at trial was the same they had offered her in the settlement of her contract. Whoever won, Harper's career was slowed for a spell, but hardly ended because she took on management. More costly were the two failed sitcoms in the 90s.
Harper's work in feature films has been sporadic. She was Consuelo in "Freebie and the Bean" (1974), her first feature in a substantial role. She was Marsha Mason's married friend in "Chapter Two" (1979), a more brazen woman in "The Last Married Couple in America" (1980) and also appeared in "Blame it on Rio" (1984). After an absence of more than two decades, Harper returned to the New York stage in 1995 replacing Linda Lavin in "Death Defying Acts," a trio of plays by Woody Allen, Elaine May and David Mamet. Ironically, Harper had once been Lavin's understudy on Broadway in "Something Different" (1968).