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IN MEMORIAM: Valerie Harper, 1939-2019

As its season one theme tells us, Rhoda Morgenstern was born in the Bronx, New York in December 1941 (she always felt responsible for World War II). Valerie Harper was born in Suffern, NY in 1939, but she and Rhoda always felt a little bit like the same person, and it was so sad to hear of the passing of the iconic actress today at the age of 80 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. She was a Tony-nominated stage actress and starred in a handful of other series, but she will always be remembered as Rhoda Morgenstern, first on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and then on her spinoff, Rhoda. That role earned her eight straight Emmy nominations and three wins and cemented her as one of TV's greatest characters.

While Mary Richards was pure, pretty and perfect, Rhoda was probably the character the audience identified with much more. She was urban, Jewish, struggled with her weight and her dating life, and yet had a sarcastic and funny sensibility about it all. Mary Tyler Moore used to say that Mary was who you wanted to be and Rhoda was who you probably were. She was one of TV's most relatable characters. Together with Mary, they formed one of the best pairs in TV history. Sometimes they were fighting (as they did in the first episode), but mostly they were the best of friends and doing life together as two single girls in Minneapolis. Rhoda's bluntness and self-deprecating humor had audiences laughing for four years.

She seemed ripe to lead one of TV's first successful spinoffs and did just that with Rhoda. The spinoff had its ups and downs and was never at the level of the parent series. But that's because they had trouble with a lot of the supporting characters. Valerie continued to shine, becoming a fashion icon and proving more than capable of leading a series. Probably no Valerie Harper moment is more iconic than when Rhoda ran through the streets of New York and the subway to get to her wedding on time in one of TV's first big event episodes that was watched by 52 million people.

In her later years, Valerie Harper courageously fought cancer with a positive attitude. She competed on Dancing with the Stars even as she battled cancer. In any interview I ever saw with her from any time in her life, she seemed incredibly down to earth and loving and by all accounts, that's exactly the type of person she was. If you want to take a trip down memory lane with Valerie Harper, there's the classic sitcoms of course but also tons of videos of interviews (sometimes with Mary Tyler Moore) and you'll get the sense that Rhoda was a pretty awesome person on screen and off. She will be missed.

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Comments

  1. TimAugust 31, 2019 at 11:15 AM

    I love this, Ben! Thanks so much. You know what moment I LOVED, possibly more than any other? I'd forgotten it until I recently re-watched "Rhoda" with JonDavid. After Joe proposes on the "Rhoda" spin-off, the next scene shows the Mary Tyler Moore house in Minneapolis and that familiar MTM theme music starts to play. The first thing Rhoda did when she finally got engaged was to call her best friend. It made me cry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. benjamonstertvAugust 31, 2019 at 11:42 PM

    Yes, I loved that too! I'm actually re-watching the show now and have been over the last month or so. It's fun to watch it again!

    ReplyDelete

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