Valerie Harper Biography

Fast Facts

• Co-founded the non-profit L․I․F․E․ in 1983 with Dennis Weaver, a charitable organization aimed at feeding the homeless population of Los Angeles
• Announced in early 2013 that she had been diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer and that doctors had given her only months to live
• Although her family moved frequently throughout her childhood, she eventually chose to stay in New York to study ballet before beginning her career on Broadway
• Quote: "I used to get some ego thing out of saying I wasn't a star, just an actress․ Forget it․ I'm a star․ I wanted it, I worked for it and I got it․"
• Worked as a chorus girl on Broadway before landing the role of Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in 1970, a character that would eventually land her own spinoff in 1974
• Continued her career on television with "Valerie" in 1986, but would eventually be fired by pproduction company Lorimar the following year, thus prompting a wrongful termination lawsuit in which she was awarded $1․4 million
• Met Mary Tyler Moore almost a decade prior to being cast on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" after her husband Richard Schaal guest-starred on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" in 1961
• Ran for president of the Screens Actors Guild in 2001, but lost to Melissa Gilbert