Valerie Harper, who played Mary Richards' friend Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and got her own spinoff "Rhoda" and starred in "The Hogan Family" but left after a dispute, has died after a long battle with brain cancer at age 80. She made one of her first feature appearances (uncredited) in "Rock, Pretty Baby" as one of the girls at a dance.
I am saddened by her death, she was a multi faceted, talented woman. Millions of t.v. viewers have grown to love this woman. In 1974, I was looking in the stacks of books at Larry Edmond's Bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard. I looked up, and Valerie Harper was standing right alongside me looking for a book herself. Of course, I asked her for and received a very nice autograph. She was very courteous and friendly. I shall miss her, but her works live on.
I was in jr. high 9th grade and the class was treated to a trip into NY to see Story Theatre on Broadway. She played a chicken in one of the skits. Can still see her strutting on stage.
The typical rock and roll film, which flourished from the mid-1950s through the late 1960s had just enough plot to justify the inclusion of the myriad musical acts lined up to appear. In 1956's ROCK, ROCK, ROCK!, a young teenage girl (Tuesday Weld) desperately tries to earn enough money to buy a dress for a school rock and roll dance.
Chuck Berry and the other performers lip-synched to their own recordings in the film. ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! was shot over a period of two weeks at Mikaro Studios in Bronx, NY, on a budget estimated from $80,000 to $125,000. The film also marked the feature film debuts of Connie Francis, Tuesday Weld, and Valerie Harper. Connie Francis did not appear onscreen, but she was given screen credit for dubbing Tuesday Weld's singing voice. Will Price directed the film.
Valerie Harper is likely the girl in the lower right of the group of people applauding at the conclusion of "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent" by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers.
The musical performers in ROCK, ROCK, ROCK! hailed from a number of different record labels, but Chess Records, the label of Berry, as well as The Moonglows and the Flamingos, who also appeared in the film, released the "soundtrack" album. But because Chess was limited to only releasing the songs of its own artists, only the four songs from their acts appeared on the 12-track LP. The balance of the release was filled out by previously released Chess tracks, including Chuck Berry's early hits "Maybelline" and "Roll Over Beethoven," as well as The Moonglows' pop and R'n'B standards "Sincerely" and "See Saw." Universal/Chess released the LP on CD in 2004.
Brad Harris played “Muscleman Luke” in Paramount’s big 1959 musical LIL ABNER. Valerie Harper played Luke’s wife. Reportedly, Harper earned her SAG card by appearing in this movie. It would be 15 years before she appeared in another feature film.
Melvin Frank directed the film. The soundtrack appeared on a Columbia LP and is currently available as a made-on-demand disc from Sony Masterworks Broadway.
Originally, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was to be about a divorced woman. But divorce was still a somewhat taboo television subject in 1970, and CBS was also afraid people would think that Mary Tyler Moore had divorced “Rob Petrie,” her character's husband on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” So Mary's character was changed to a woman with a broken engagement.
Valerie Harper co-starred as Mary’s friend and upstairs neighbor “Rhoda Morgenstern.” She works as a window dresser at the fictional Hemphill's department store. Though insecure about her appearance, she is also outgoing and sardonic, often making wisecracks, frequently at her own expense. Like Mary, she is single. She dates frequently, often joking about her disastrous dates. Rhoda moves to New York City and falls in love after the fourth season, beginning the spinoff series, “Rhoda.”
Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”
Producers almost didn't hire Valerie Harper because while her performance was spot on, they felt she was too pretty to play Mary's frumpy best friend. They later decided to cast her anyway but would dress her in ungainly and unflattering clothing.
Harper was a regular in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” from 1970 to 1974 (Seasons 1 to 4). She made a guest appearance as “Rhoda Gerard” (her married name in “Rhoda”) in a 1975 episode and appeared in the show’s final episode. In all, she appeared in 92 episodes of the series. In the closing credits of the show, there is a shot of Moore and Harper feeding ducks on the bank of a pond in a Minneapolis park. This shot remained in the credits, even after Harper left the show.
According to a 2013 interview with Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman on the TV show "The Doctors," “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” was the first scripted show in TV history ever to use the word "gay" to refer to homosexuality. In the season three episode "My Brother's Keeper", Rhoda tells Phyllis that Phyllis's brother is gay. Actor Robert Moore (no relation to Mary Tyler Moore) appeared in that episode as “Ben,” Phyllis' brother. He also dated Rhoda in that episode, Rhoda's famous "He's gay!" punchline, didn’t bother Moore because he is gay in real life. Moore would go on to direct Valerie Harper in "Rhoda."
Cloris Leachman and Valerie Harper
Valerie Harper received three consecutive Emmy Awards as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1971, 1972, and 1973). In 1972, she tied with Sally Struthers for “All in the Family.” In 1972 and 1973, Harper received Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actress.
Valerie Harper
In 2013, the women of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"--Cloris Leachman, Valerie Harper, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty White, and Georgia Engel--reunited on the TV Land sitcom "Hot In Cleveland," which aired on September 4. Katie Couric interviewed the cast on her show "Katie" as they celebrated acting together for the first time in more than 30 years. It would be their final time on-screen together, as Mary Tyler Moore died in January 2017.
“Freebie” (James Caan) and “Bean” (Alan Arkin) are San Francisco police detectives in the 1974 comedy-drama FREEBIE AND THE BEAN. Valerie Harper plays Bean’s wife, “Consuelo.” As an inside joke, in a scene in a dentist’s office, Alan Arkin reads an issue of "Good Housekeeping" with Mary Tyler Moore on the cover. Richard Rush directed the film, which was scored by his frequent collaborator Dominic Frontiere.
Valerie Harper
Harper was nominated for a Golden Globe Award as “Most Promising Newcomer” for her role in FREEBIE AND THE BEAN, losing to Susan Flannery (who?) for THE TOWERING INFERNO.
In the first spin-off from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Valerie Harper reprised her role as “Rhoda Morgenstern,” in ”Rhoda”. She played a spunky and flamboyantly fashioned young woman seen as unconventional by the standards of her Jewish family from New York. The series opens with the pilot episode featuring Rhoda traveling to New York City, where she was born and raised, for a two-week vacation, staying with her younger sister, “Brenda” (Julie Kavner). While there, she meets “Joe Gerard” (David Groh), a handsome divorcé who owns a wrecking company and has a ten-year-old son, Donny, whom Brenda babysits. Following Brenda's prompting, Rhoda and Joe meet and develop an instant attraction to each other which leads to their dating nightly for the duration of her vacation. After an argument about their feelings for each other, Joe asks Rhoda to stay in New York City, which she does, initially moving in with Brenda.
That first episode of Season 1, entitled "Joe", aired on CBS on Monday, September 9, 1974 at 9:30 PM. and immediately set a record by being the first and only television series ever to achieve a number-one Nielsen rating for its premiere pilot episode, defeating ABC’s “Monday Night Football” in the process. This record continues to stand after over 40 years.
Rhoda and Brenda soon realize that their small studio apartment can't hold them both, so Rhoda moves in with their parents “Ida” (Nancy Walker) and “Martin” (Harold Gould) at their apartment in the Bronx. Ida and Martin are the stereotypical Jewish parents. Ida is overbearing, overprotective, benevolently manipulative, and desperate to ensure her daughters find good husbands. Martin is her dutiful, mild-mannered husband. Ida initially goes to great lengths to baby her daughter. When it becomes apparent Rhoda is sliding into a rut by occupying her childhood bedroom, Ida forces her to move out for her own good.
The cast of “Rhoda” (clockwise from upper left): Harold Gould, Nancy Walker, Julie Kavner, Valerie Harper, and David Groh
As the weeks go by, the relationship between Joe and Rhoda quickly blossoms. By the sixth episode, "Pop Goes the Question", an insecure Rhoda asks Joe where their relationship is heading. His response is to invite Rhoda to move in with him. After some careful thought, and consultation with her sister and father, Rhoda accepts Joe's invitation, but within minutes of moving in decides that rather than living together out of wedlock she prefers to be married. Rhoda attempts to convince Joe that they are very compatible and would be a happily married couple. After some hesitation, Joe agrees and a wedding is planned.
Eight weeks into the series on Monday, October 28, 1974, Rhoda and Joe were married in a special hour-long episode which broke several television records. Heavily publicized, it became the highest-rated television episode of the 1970s, a record it held until the miniseries “Roots” claimed that title in 1977. Additionally, on the night of its airing it had become the second most-watched television episode of all time, surpassed only by the birth of Little Ricky on “I Love Lucy” in 1953. It was watched by more than 52 million Americans, over half of the U.S. viewing audience. At the conclusion of the episode, “Monday Night Football” host Howard Cosell joked on the air that he had not been invited to the wedding, and welcomed viewers back to the game.
The wedding episode featured guest appearances by many of the main characters from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” including “Mary Richards” (Mary Tyler Moore), “Lou Grant” (Edward Asner), “Murray Slaughter” (Gavin MacLeod), “Georgette Franklin” (Georgia Engel), and “Phyllis Lindstrom” (Cloris Leachman). The only major characters who didn't attend were “Ted Baxter” (Ted Knight) and “Sue Ann Nivens” (Betty White).
Valerie Harper in “Rhoda”
In its first season, “Rhoda” became the sixth-most-watched show on television, besting both “Monday Night Football” and NBC’s “Monday Night at the Movies,” neither of which made it into the top 30 shows. Valerie Harper won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Comedy for her performance as Rhoda Morgenstern. The show also won a Golden Globe as Best TV Show-Musical or Comedy.
In its second season (1975-76), “Rhoda” continued to focus on Rhoda and Joe's new married life, as well as Rhoda’s work life as a window dresser. CBS moved the show to the 8 PM slot on Monday night, leading off a two-hour comedy block that featured “Phyllis,” another “Mary Tyler Moore” spin-off show starring Cloris Leachman; “All In the Family;” and “Maude.” Against weak dramatic competition on ABC (“Barbary Coast”) and NBC (“The Invisible Man”), “Rhoda” maintained its high ratings, coming in as the #7 show for the year. Harper was nominated for both Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. She lost the Emmy to Mary Tyler Moore and the Golden Globe to Cloris Leachman.
David Groh and Valerie Harper in “Rhoda”
In the first episode of the third season (1976-77), during a particularly dramatic scene, Joe leaves Rhoda and the two remain separated for the entire season, with David Groh appearing in only nine of the season's episodes. A few weeks later, they mutually agree to see a marriage counselor where Joe reveals to a stunned Rhoda that he had never wanted to be married, and that he married her only because she had pressured him into it after he had invited her to live with him.
Audiences were equally stunned and deserted the program in droves. Although the producers believed the plot development was essential, the fan response to Rhoda and Joe's separation was overwhelmingly negative and hostile. CBS was inundated with thousands of angry letters protesting the plot development. “Rhoda’s” plummeting ratings killed CBS’s entire Monday night schedule. “Phyllis” and “Maude,” which a year earlier had been the #6 and #4-rated shows in all of television, dropped out of the top 30 shows.
At mid-season, CBS moved “Rhoda” to Sunday night, where it faired just as poorly against ABC’s #7-rated “The Six Million Dollar Man.” For the season, “Rhoda” dropped to #32 in the ratings. Valerie Harper still received an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, losing to Bea Arthur for “Maude.”
In the fourth season (1977-78), Rhoda's divorce was finalized and she resumed full-time use of her maiden name "Morgenstern." From this point on, neither her ex-husband, Joe Gerard, nor Rhoda's friend from the previous season, Sally Gallagher, are ever referred to, nor are their names ever mentioned again. Remaining in its 8 PM Sunday slot, “Rhoda” came in third behind ABC’s “How the West Was Won” (#11), and NBC’s “Project U.F.O.” (#19), but still managed to claw its way back into the top 30 shows at #25. Harper received her final Emmy nomination for the show, losing to Jean Stapleton for “All In the Family.”
In September 1978, the show underwent additional changes for its fifth season. Rhoda sported a new longer frizzy-permed hairstyle, which she kept pulled back in a small ponytail for part of the season. Ida and Martin Morgenstern go through a separation of their own; Martin then goes to Florida to find himself. He returns after several episodes, but Ida wants to be wooed back, leading to dating and other romantic rituals between the two.
“Rhoda”, along with the Norman Lear sitcom “Good Times,” was moved by CBS to Saturday nights, with “Rhoda” airing at 8:00 P.M. and “Good Times” being shown at 8:30 P.M. Competing against NBC's popular police series “CHiPs”, the ratings for both programs declined drastically. “Rhoda” was canceled by CBS in December 1978—midway through its fifth season—with four episodes remaining unaired, though these episodes later aired in syndication. It ended its final year ranked at #95 out of 114 shows. In all, the series produced 110 episodes. Collectively, “Rhoda” garnered a total of 17 Emmy nominations and 7 Golden Globe nominations, winning two of each award.
The semi-autobiographical plot of 1979’s “Chapter Two” was inspired by the relationship between Neil Simon and Marsha Mason. Like the lead characters, “George Schneider” and “Jennie Malone,” Simon was a widower and Mason was divorced when they met and married after a brief courtship. The play opened on Broadway on December 4, 1977, at the Imperial Theatre, transferring to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on January 16, 1979. It ran for a total of 857 performances until December 8, 1979. Simon originally wrote "Chapter Two" with Judd Hirsch in mind for the lead role of George Schneider. Hirsch withdrew from a television pilot in order to play the part on Broadway. Anita Gillette played Jennie.
The film version of CHAPTER TWO differed from the stage play by shifting the focus from George to Jennie. The film also accentuated the romance of the story and “softened” the comedy. The character name of “Jennie Malone” in the play was changed to “Jennie MacLaine” for the movie. Similarly, the profession of George Schneider was changed from being a playwright in the play to being a novelist in this film. In an interview with the 28 December 1979 Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Mason indicated that James Caan chose to portray George as a “hack novelist,” eliminating some of the intellectual traits that were part of the stage character.
The film also marked a reunion for other members of the creative team. Director Robert Moore had worked with Simon on two previous feature films, as well as four Broadway productions. Actors James Caan and Marsha Mason previously co-starred in CINDERELLA LIBERTY (1973). Mason had appeared in three of Simon’s other works: the play “The Good Doctor” (New York, 27 November 1973) and the motion pictures, THE GOODBYE GIRL and THE CHEAP DETECTIVE. Valerie Harper played Jennie MacLaine’s best friend, “Faye Medwick,” in the film. Robert Moore had acted with Harper on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and had subsequently directed 27 episodes of Harper’s sitcom “Rhoda.”
In a rare situation, the film’s scheduled release in major cities on 20 June 1980 was cancelled and moved up to 22 February 1980, after the filmmakers realized that the rough-cut edit required less post-production work than originally anticipated. Initial engagements were scheduled for December 1979 in Los Angeles, CA, and New York City for Academy Awards qualification. The film received one nomination—Marsha Mason for Best Actress. Valerie Harper received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress In a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. She lost to Meryl Streep for KRAMER VS. KRAMER.
Production costs were estimated between $9 and $10 million. A 16 June 1980 Village Voice column considered the film a hit with approximately $18 million in film rentals, but noted that the picture was not a breakout success in the way that THE GOODBYE GIRL was because it failed to reach audiences less familiar with Neil Simon. Marvin Hamlisch's score for the film has not had a release.
In the comedy THE LAST MARRIED COUPLE IN AMERICA, “Mari” (Natalie Wood) and “Jeff Thomson” (George Segal) are a happily married couple living in Los Angeles. He is a successful architect, she is a sculptor, and they have three small children. Mari and Jeff believe their friends are equally content, until every couple they know starts getting divorced. Then they start worrying about their own marriage. Valerie Harper plays “Barbara,” an aggressive divorcee in the film.
This was the last fully completed film of actress Natalie Wood whose performance in her final film, BRAINSTORM (1983), was incomplete. The movie is sometimes considered a 1980s update of the earlier Paul Mazursky comedy BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (1969), in which Wood co-starred. Gilbert Cates directed the 1980 film, which had an unreleased score by Charles Fox.
Two best friends, "Matthew Hollis" (Michael Caine) and "Victor Lyons" (Joseph Bologna), and their daughters (Demi Moore and Michelle Johnson) holiday in Rio de Janeiro, only for one to fall for the other's daughter. You can BLAME IT ON RIO in this risqué 1984 comedy. Valerie Harper plays Matthew’s wife, “Karen Hollis,” who announces that she is going alone to Club Med in Bahia, Brazil, instead of traveling with her husband to Rio.
Valerie Harper, Michelle Johnson, Demi Moore, Joseph Bologna, and Michael Caine in BLAME IT ON RIO
Stanley Donen produced and directed the film. Varese Sarabande released the soundtrack LP, which was mainly songs, but had a few orchestral tracks from Ken Wannberg. It has not been re-issued on CD.
The sitcom “Valerie” revolved around “Valerie Hogan” (Valerie Harper), who lived in Oak Park, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and struggled with everyday problems raising her three sons during her airline pilot husband “Michael's” (Josh Taylor) long absences due to his demanding work schedule. She contended with the regular uproar caused by girl-crazy and sometimes narcissistic 16-year-old “David” (Jason Bateman) and his 12-year-old fraternal twin brothers, irresponsible and jockish “Willie” (Danny Ponce), and brainy “Mark” (Jeremy Licht)—whose spotless academic and behavioral record at school came to be pierced by occasional bursts of rebellion.
The show’s theme song, "Together Through the Years," was performed by Roberta Flack and composed by Charles Fox. The lyrics were written by Stephen Geyer. Thirteen years earlier, Fox had written the music to Roberta's Grammy winning #1 hit "Killing Me Softly With His Song".
NBC debuted the show as a Spring replacement series for “TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes.” Even against the CBS competition of “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” (the #28-rated show of the season), “Valerie” came in at #24 for the season and was renewed.
In season two (1986-87), Harper and producer/husband Tony Cacciotti had increasing creative control over the show, and the candy-coated tinges of storytelling were completely replaced by realistic humor. After a modest start in the ratings that was countered by critical praise, “Valerie” began to show growth in the Nielsens by the end of the season. Its most significant ratings jump occurred after it moved to Mondays at 8:30 in March 1987, following ALF. Although finishing the year in only the #39 position in the ratings, NBC renewed the series for a third season in May.
In light of the show's success, Harper and Cacciotti approached their producers and NBC about per-episode salary increases and a larger cut of future syndication revenue. When all of the couple's requests were refused, Harper and Cacciotti walked out on “Valerie.” Harper had prior history in this situation, as she staged a walk out in 1975 following the first season of her hit series “Rhoda,” which successfully resulted in a pay increase.
The couple continued to negotiate with Miller-Boyett Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures and NBC during the next few months as the behind-the-scenes struggle became well publicized. NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff, who was unhappy with the feud, publicly stated that he would replace Harper with another actress if the fighting did not cease. Tartikoff suggested Sandy Duncan as a replacement to Miller and Boyett, who both sided with the network chief in this possible casting decision. Duncan had recently signed a contract with NBC for a starring vehicle, and Tartikoff felt that this would be the best opportunity for her to make use of it.
The announcement was unprecedented at the time. There was never a show that had a lead actor or actress fired from a show named after him or her, with the series continuing with a different star. Harper and Cacciotti felt Tartikoff was trying to spite them with this attempt of a threat and criticized his notion that marquee stars of a television series were dispensable.
In late July 1987, it appeared that a suitable new payment agreement was reached by all parties involved. Harper returned to shoot the third-season premiere in early August. However, shortly after the episode was completed, news came that Harper and Cacciotti were holding out again. As a result, the cast shot scenes around Harper for the next few episodes. After the couple failed to be on the set for three consecutive episodes, Lorimar decided they had enough, and fired Harper. The Valerie Hogan character was written out of the show by having the character die in a car accident. NBC explained that the series would take on difficult conflicts facing the family during the grieving process. To make good on their promise, Miller-Boyett and Tartikoff brought in Sandy Duncan as the series' new lead. The third-season premiere was hastily rewritten and shot to feature the shocking change in the storyline, and the show was renamed “Valerie’s Family.”
Harper took both NBC and Lorimar to court for breach of contract. Both in the press and in court, Miller and Boyett made claims that Harper became difficult to work with, citing combativeness towards much of the staff and breakdowns of sorts, suggesting that salary demands were just surface issues with the actress. The producers insisted that Harper approached them on one occasion and exclaimed that the series was "being taken away" from her, since the show was putting slightly more emphasis on Jason Bateman's character of David Hogan at that time. (The producers admittedly wanted to capitalize on the heartthrob status Bateman had been receiving for the last few years, via his roles on “Silver Spoons” and “It's Your Move”.) Miller and Boyett also claimed that Harper and Cacciotti were displeased over the possibility that writing would shift to the more slapstick stories that had been a secondary component of their sitcoms at Paramount. Harper and Cacciotti denied these episodes of behavior and accused Miller and Boyett of lying, resulting in a counter libel suit against Harper.
Though the NBC case was dismissed, Harper and Cacciotti won their trial against Lorimar on September 16, 1988, and were awarded a grand total of $1.82 million in damages which they both later donated to various charities.
“Valerie’s Family” was #20 in the ratings during that transitional third season. Renamed “The Hogan Family” in 1988, the show continued for three more seasons, being rated at #22, #32, and #85 in its final season, after changing networks to CBS (1990-91).
The cast of “Valerie” (clockwise from upper right): Josh Taylor, Danny Ponce, Valerie Harper, Jeremy Licht, and Jason Bateman
“City” was a sitcom that aired on CBS in 1990. The series was a new starring vehicle for Valerie Harper, which went into development not long after she and husband Tony Cacciotti won their lawsuit against Lorimar-Telepictures over her dismissal from her NBC sitcom “Valerie.” “City” was created by Paul Haggis, and like Harper's previous series, was also executive produced by Cacciotti.
Harper portrayed “Liz Gianni,” the city manager of an unnamed American city. In her line of work came dealings with the all-too-realistic but sometimes lighthearted issues of the modern-day city, from budget cuts to bureaucratic and political corruption, and the socioeconomic travails of inner-city life. Despite the turmoil that often ensued because of these problems, Liz focused on them with much exuberance, with a little kookiness thrown in.
At work, Liz oversaw a multi-ethnic staff of crazies and eccentrics. “Roger Barnett” (Todd Susman) was the assistant city manager who spends most of his time betting on sports and trying to sell a worn-out racehorse he owns. “Anna-Maria Batista” (Liz Torres) is the tough Cuban purchasing agent whose most obvious character trait was pronouncing "yep" as "jep". “Wanda Jenkins” (Tyra Ferrell) was the sarcastic black secretary, who often discussed how she didn't want her young son to turn out like his father, a composer of classical music who actually made very little money.
Upon its January 29, 1990, premiere, “City” immediately cracked the Nielsen Top 10. From January until April, the show aired in the plum time slot of Mondays at 8:30, between freshman hit “Major Dad” and sophomore hit “Murphy Brown.” The show kept up its high performance through February sweeps, but the early success did not last long. Audiences diminished over the next few months, and although the series was still pulling respectable numbers at the end of its inaugural season that April, CBS then pulled the show for May sweeps, during which time the series was cancelled after 13 episodes.
In the made-for-television movie PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE FATAL FASHION, Valerie Harper co-starred as “Dyan Draper,” editor of a well-known fashion magazine, who is infamous for writing columns that destroy other people's careers. She also drives her employees to near-madness with her orders. “Lauren Jeffreys” (Diana Muldaur), editor of another magazine, meets with Dyan and tries unsuccessfully to stop Dyan from writing about her in her next column.
Christian I. Nyby II directed the film, which aired on NBC on 24 September 1991. Dick DeBenedictis provided the unreleased score.
(clockwise from upper left) Raymond Burr, Diana Muldaur, and Valerie Harper in PERRY MASON: THE CASE OF THE FATAL FASHION
“The Office” was a sitcom starring Valerie Harper that aired on CBS as a replacement series during the 1994–95 television season. The series, billed as an office comedy version of the British series “Upstairs, Downstairs,” centered on the camaraderie of executives and their secretaries of a busy corporate office at a design-packaging company.
“Rita Stone” (Valerie Harper) is a divorcée and 19-year veteran of a secretarial pool at the executive office of a package design company in Chicago called Package Inc. She is outspoken and mainly the glue that holds things together at the company, seeing that everything gets done on time, mediating disputes and trying to be a good listener to both job-related and personal problems.
While Rita is responsible for the company's inept CEO, “Frank” (Dakin Matthews), she also manages three other secretaries: “Beth” (Debra Jo Rupp), a flustered mother of four who works for the company's only female executive, “Natalie” (Lisa Darr); “Mae” (Andrea Abbate), a free-spirited, thrice-divorced former temp who works for the firm's temperamental artist (Gary Dourdan); and “Deborah” (Kristin Dattilo-Hayward), a naive MBA student who works for a sleazy salesman (Kevin Conroy).
CBS debuted the series on Saturday, 11 March 1995, at 9 PM, as a spring replacement for the series “The 5 Mrs. Buchanans,” which was moved to the 9:30 PM slot. Both ABC and NBC were offering movies at that hour. “The Office” never caught on, and was cancelled after five episodes had aired.
Twenty-three years after “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” left the air, Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper reunited in the television film MARY AND RHODA. After years of not seeing each other, the recently widowed “Mary Richards” and recently divorced “Rhoda Morgenstern” are reunited and find that though their lives veered off in vastly different directions, they have more in common than they ever realized. Mary and Rhoda struggle together to find jobs in a world that doesn't recognize the potential of women of "a certain age" and both try to understand their rebellious daughters (Rose and Meredith), who are forging their own identities without the help of their mothers.
The film was intended as a pilot for a revival series. Although the movie was the most-watched program the night of 7 February 2000, fans and critics were disappointed. Plans for a series were scrapped. Barnet Kellman directed the film, which was scored by David Kitay.
Here is the first part of the film. You should watch the opening credits.
Tovah Feldshuh played Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in the one-woman show GOLDA’S BALCONY, a play written by William Gibson (author of "The Miracle Worker”) and directed by Scott Schwartz. Running from October 15, 2003 to January 2, 2005 at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York, the show sold out over 500 performances, becoming the longest-running, one-woman show in Broadway history.
Valerie Harper took over the role for the National Touring Company of the show. The actress recreates 100 years of Jewish history, playing 45 different characters (including Ben-Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Holocaust survivors, Israeli soldiers and, of course, Golda Meir herself. (Although most famous for playing Jewish characters, Harper herself was not Jewish.) Director Jeremy Kagan (THE BIG FIX, THE STING II) directed a taping of the show with Harper, which had a limited theatrical release in October 2007.
Recently, Tovah Feldshuh has participated in a re-filming of the show, in high-definition multi-camera video, by original director Scott Schwartz. This new film has been playing several dozen Jewish film festivals around the U.S.A. since February 2019.
