Julie Harris
Julie Harris | |
---|---|
Publicity photo of Julie Harris (1973) | |
Born | Julia Ann Harris December 2, 1925 Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S. |
Died | August 24, 2013 | (aged 87)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1948–2009 |
Spouse(s) |
Jay Julian
(m. 1946; div. 1954)Manning Gurian
(m. 1954; div. 1967)Walter Carroll
(m. 1977; div. 1982) |
Children | 1 |
Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925 – August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary stage work, she received five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play.
Harris debuted on Broadway in 1945, against the wishes of her mother, who wanted her to be a society debutante. Harris was acclaimed for her performance as an isolated 12-year-old girl in the 1950 play The Member of the Wedding, a role she reprised in the 1952 film of the same name, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1951, her range was demonstrated as Sally Bowles in the original production of I Am a Camera, for which she won her first Tony award. She subsequently appeared in the 1955 film version.
Harris gave acclaimed performances in films including The Haunting (1963), and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), in which she played opposite Marlon Brando. A method actor, she won Tony awards for The Lark (1956), Forty Carats (1969), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973), and The Belle of Amherst (1977). She was also a Grammy Award winner and a three time Emmy Award winner.
Harris was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, received the National Medal of Arts in 1994,[1] and the 2002 Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.[2]
Early life and education
Julia Ann Harris was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the daughter of Elsie L. (née Smith), a nurse, and William Pickett Harris, an investment banker and authority on zoology.[3] She had an older brother, William, and a younger brother, Richard.[4] She graduated from Grosse Pointe Country Day School, which later merged with two others to form the University Liggett School. In New York City, she attended The Hewitt School.[5] As a teenager, she also trained at the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp in Colorado with Charlotte Perry, a mentor who encouraged Harris to apply to the Yale School of Drama, which she soon attended for a year.[6] Harris was an early member of Lee Strasberg's Actor's Studio and was able to successfully use the techniques of method acting, which have been found difficult to shine with in female roles.[6]
Career
Stage roles
In 1952, Harris won her first Best Actress Tony Award for originating the role of insouciant Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera, the stage version of Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin (later adapted as the Broadway musical Cabaret (1966) and as the 1972 film, with Liza Minnelli as Sally). Harris repeated her stage role in the film version of I Am a Camera (1955).
Of particular note is her Tony-winning performance in The Belle of Amherst, a one-woman play (written by William Luce and directed by Charles Nelson Reilly) based on the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson. She received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for the audio recording of the play. She first performed the play in 1976 and subsequently appeared in other solo shows, including Luce's Brontë.[7] Other Broadway credits include The Playboy of the Western World, Macbeth, The Member of the Wedding, A Shot in the Dark, Skyscraper, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Forty Carats, The Glass Menagerie, A Doll's House, The Gin Game, and a North American tour in 1992 of Lettice and Lovage in the lead part originated by Maggie Smith on Broadway.
In 1983, Harris became a company member of The Mirror Theater Ltd's Mirror Repertory Company.[8] She became a mentor to the company, having urged Founding Artistic Director Sabra Jones to create the company from 1976 forward, when Jones married John Strasberg. Harris and Jones met at a performance of The Belle of Amherst, a revival of which The Mirror Theater Ltd recently performed in their summer home in Vermont.[9]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Julie_Harris_-_1963.jpg/220px-Julie_Harris_-_1963.jpg)
Harris ties with Angela Lansbury with five Tony Award wins (Audra McDonald has since passed them both, with six wins).[2] However, she holds the record (alongside Chita Rivera) for the most individual Tony Award nominations, with 10. In 1966, Harris won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/2005_Kennedy_Center_honorees.jpg/300px-2005_Kennedy_Center_honorees.jpg)
Film roles
Harris's screen debut was in 1952, repeating her Broadway success as the lonely teenaged girl Frankie in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/James_Dean_-_Julie_Harris.jpg/200px-James_Dean_-_Julie_Harris.jpg)
Director Elia Kazan cast her in East of Eden (1955) opposite James Dean in his first major screen role. She played the ethereal Eleanor Lance in The Haunting (1963), director Robert Wise's screen adaptation of a novel by Shirley Jackson. Another cast member recalled Harris refusing to socialize with the other actors while not on set, later explaining that she had done so as a method of emphasizing the alienation from the other characters experienced by her character in the film. Other notable films Harris appeared in during the 1960s include Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), Harper (with Paul Newman) (1966), and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).
Another noteworthy film appearance was the World War II drama The Hiding Place (1975).
Television roles
Harris was nominated for 11 Primetime Emmy Awards for her television work, winning three. She starred as Nora Helmer opposite Christopher Plummer in A Doll's House (1959), a 90-minute television adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play. She made more appearances in leading roles on the Hallmark program than any other actress, also appearing in two different adaptations of the play Little Moon of Alban,[10] her performance in the 1958 TV movie of the same name earning her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
Her second Emmy win came for her role as Queen Victoria in the 1961 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Laurence Housman's Victoria Regina. She received further Emmy nominations for a range of roles including Anastasia (1967), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1976) — where she reprised her Tony-winning role as Mary Todd Lincoln from the 1973 play of the same name — and The Woman He Loved (1988). She won her third Emmy award in 2000 for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her voice role of Susan B. Anthony in Not for Ourselves Alone.
In 1980, Harris guest starred in the series Knots Landing as country singer Lilimae Clements, the eccentric and protective mother of Valene Ewing (Joan Van Ark); she returned to the series as a regular character from 1981–1987. The role earned Harris a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and two Soap Opera Digest Award nominations.
Audio and voiceover work
Harris made two recordings of narrations of E.B. White's children's book Stuart Little for the Pathways of Sound record label: the last six chapters for a single LP record in 1965,[11] and the entire book for a two-record set in 1979.[12][13]
Harris also did extensive voiceover work for documentary maker Ken Burns: the voices of Emily Warren Roebling in Brooklyn Bridge (1981), Ann Lee in The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984), and most notably Southern diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut for Burns' 1990 series The Civil War.
Later years
On December 5, 2005, Harris was named a Kennedy Center Honoree. At a White House ceremony, President George W. Bush remarked, "It's hard to imagine the American stage without the face, the voice, and the limitless talent of Julie Harris. She has found happiness in her life's work, and we thank her for sharing that happiness with the whole world."[14]
In the summer of 2008, she appeared on stage again in Chatham, Massachusetts as "Nanny" in a Monomoy Theater production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.[15]
Harris continued to work until 2009, well into her eighties, narrating five historical documentaries by Christopher Seufert and Mooncusser Films, as well as being active as a director on the board of the independent Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater.[16]
Personal life
Harris lived in West Chatham, Cape Cod, for many years until her death.[17] Three times divorced, she had one son, Peter Gurian. A breast cancer survivor,[5] she suffered a severe fall requiring surgery in 1999, a stroke in 2001, and a second stroke in 2010.[18]
Harris died on August 24, 2013, of congestive heart failure at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts.[14][19] Ben Brantley, theater critic for The New York Times, considered her "the actress who towered most luminously ... rather like a Statue of Liberty for Broadway."[20] Alec Baldwin, with whom she appeared in Knots Landing, praised her in a tribute in the Huffington Post: "Her voice was like rainfall. Her eyes connected directly to and channeled the depths of her powerful and tender heart. Her talent, a gift from God."[21] Harris was cremated after her death.[22]
On August 28, 2013, Broadway theaters dimmed their lights for one minute in honor of Harris.[23]
Filmography
Stage
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1945 | It's a Gift | Atlanta | |
1946 | Henry IV, Part 2 | ||
Oedipus Rex | |||
1946–1947 | The Playboy of the Western World | Nelly | |
1947 | Alice in Wonderland | White Rabbit | |
1948 | Macbeth | Witch | |
Sundown Beach | Ida Mae | ||
1948–1949 | The Young and Fair | Nancy Gear | |
1949 | Magnolia Alley | Angel Tuttle | |
Montserrat | Felisa | ||
1950–1951 | The Member of the Wedding | Frankie Addams | |
1951–1952 | I Am a Camera | Sally Bowles | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1954 | Mademoiselle Colombe | Colombe | |
1955–1956 | The Lark | Joan | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1957–1958 | The Country Wife | Mrs. Margery Pinchwife | |
1959–1960 | The Warm Peninsula | Ruth Arnold | |
1960 | Little Moon of Alban | Bridgid Mary Mangan | |
1961–1962 | A Shot in the Dark | Josefa Lantenay | |
1963–1964 | Marathon '33 | June | Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1964–1965 | Ready When You Are, C.B.! | Annie | |
1965–1966 | Skyscraper | Georgina | Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical |
1968–1970 | Forty Carats | Ann Stanley | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (1969) |
1971 | And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little | Anna Reardon | |
1972 | Voices | Claire | |
1972–1973 | The Last of Mrs. Lincoln | Mary Todd Lincoln | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1973–1974 | The au Pair Man | Mrs. Rogers | Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1974–1975 | In Praise of Love | Lydia Cruttwell | |
1976 | The Belle of Amherst | Emily Dickinson | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play Grammy Award: Best Spoken Word Recording |
1979 | Break a Leg | Gertie Kessel | |
1980–1981 | Mixed Couples | Clarice | |
1991 | Lucifer's Child | Isak Dinesen | Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
1994–1995 | The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield | |
1997 | The Gin Game | Fonsia Dorsey | Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play |
Films
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1952 | The Member of the Wedding | Frances "Frankie" Addams | Film debut Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress |
1955 | East of Eden | Abra Bacon | |
I Am a Camera | Sally Bowles | Nominated — BAFTA Film Award: Best Foreign Actress | |
1957 | The Truth About Women | Helen Cooper | |
1958 | Sally's Irish Rogue | Sally Hamil | |
1962 | Requiem for a Heavyweight | Grace Miller | |
1963 | The Haunting | Eleanor "Nell" Lance | |
1964 | Hamlet | Ophelia | |
1966 | Harper | Betty Fraley | |
You're a Big Boy Now | Miss Nora Thing | ||
1967 | Reflections in a Golden Eye | Alison Langdon | |
1968 | The Split | Gladys | |
Journey to Midnight | Leona Gillings | "The Indian Spirit Guide" | |
1970 | The People Next Door | Gerrie Mason | |
1975 | The Hiding Place | Betsie Ten Bloom | |
1976 | Voyage of the Damned | Alice Fienchild | |
1979 | The Bell Jar | Mrs. Greenwood | |
1983 | Brontë | Charlotte Brontë | |
1985 | Crimewave | Uncredited | |
1986 | Nutcracker: The Motion Picture | Clara (voice) | |
1988 | Gorillas in the Mist | Roz Carr | |
1992 | Housesitter | Edna Davis | |
1993 | The Dark Half | Reggie Delesseps | |
1996 | Carried Away | Joseph's Mother | |
1997 | Bad Manners | Professor Harper | |
1998 | Passage to Paradise | Martha McGraw | |
The First of May | Carlotta | ||
2006 | The Way Back Home | Jo McMillen | |
2008 | The Golden Boys | Melodeon Player | |
2009 | The Lightkeepers | Mrs. Deacon | Final film role |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1948–1949 | Actors Studio | 4 episodes | |
1951 | Starlight Theatre | Bernice | Episode: "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" |
1951–1953 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | 2 episodes | |
1955 | The United States Steel Hour | Shevawn | Episode: "A Wind from the South" Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie |
1956 | The Good Fairy | Lu | TV movie |
1957 | The Lark | Joan of Arc | TV movie |
1958 | Little Moon of Alban | Bridgid Mary Mangan | TV movie Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie |
Johnny Belinda | Belinda | TV movie | |
1959 | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer | TV movie |
1960 | NBC Sunday Showcase | Francesca | Episode: "Turn the Key Deftly" |
1960–1961 | DuPont Show of the Month | Mattie Silver/Julia | 2 episodes Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress |
1961 | Play of the Week | Episode: "He Who Gets Slapped" | |
The Heiress | Catherine Sloper | TV movie | |
The Power and the Glory | Maria (Priest's Mistress) | TV movie | |
Victoria Regina | Queen Victoria | TV movie Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie | |
1963 | Pygmalion | Eliza Dolittle | TV movie |
1964 | Little Moon of Alban | Brigid Mary Mangan | TV movie |
Kraft Suspense Theatre | Lucy Bram | Episode: "The Roborioz Ring" | |
1965 | The Holy Terror | Florence Nightingale | TV movie Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Actors and Performers |
Rawhide | Emma Teall | Episode: "The Calf Women" | |
Laredo | Annamay | Episode: "Rendezvous at Arillo" | |
1966 | Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Isobel Cain/Vicky Cain | Episode: "Nightmare" |
1967 | Anastasia | Anastasia | TV movie Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie |
1967–1968 | Tarzan | Charity Jones | 4 episodes |
1968 | Garrison's Gorillas | Therese Donet | Episode: "Run from Death" |
Run for Your Life | Lucrece Lawrence | Episode: "The Rape of Lucrece" | |
Daniel Boone | Faith | Episode: "Faith's Way" | |
Bonanza | Sarah Carter | Episode: "A Dream to Dream" | |
Journey to the Unknown | Leona Gillings | Episode: "The Indian Spirit Guide" | |
The Big Valley | Jennie Hall | Episode: "A Stranger Everywhere" | |
1969–1970 | The Name of the Game | Verna Ward/Ruth 'Doc' Harmon | 2 episodes |
1970 | House on Greenapple Road | Leona Miller | TV movie |
How Awful About Allan | Katherine | TV movie | |
1971 | The Virginian | Jenny | Episode: "Wolf Track" |
1972 | Home for the Holidays | Elizabeth Hall Morgan | TV movie |
1973 | Thicker than Water | Nellie Paine | 9 episodes |
Medical Center | Helen | Episode: "The Guilty" | |
Columbo | Karen Fielding | Episode: "Any Old Port in a Storm" | |
Hawkins | Janet Hubbard | Episode: "Die, Darling, Die" | |
The Evil Touch | Aunt Carrie/Jenny | 2 episodes | |
1974 | The Greatest Gift | Elizabeth Holvak | TV movie |
1975 | Long Way Home | TV movie | |
The Family Holvak | 10 episodes | ||
Match Game | Herself (panelist) | 6 total episodes (1 for syndication) | |
1976 | The Last of Mrs. Lincoln | Mary Todd Lincoln | TV movie Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie |
The Belle of Amherst | Emily Dickinson | TV movie | |
1978 | Stubby Pringle's Christmas | Georgia Henderson | TV movie |
1979 | Backstairs at the White House | Mrs. Helen 'Nellie' Taft | Miniseries |
Tales of the Unexpected | Mrs. Bixby/Mrs. Foster | 2 episodes | |
The Gift | Anne Devlin | TV movie | |
1980–1987 | Knots Landing | Lilimae Clements | 165 episodes Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1982) Nominated — Soap Opera Digest Award: Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role: Prime Time (1986, 1988) |
1986 | Annihilator | Girl | TV movie |
Family Ties | Margaret | Episode: "The Freshman and the Senior" | |
1987 | The Love Boat | Irene Culver | Episode: "Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?" |
1988 | The Woman He Loved | Alice | TV movie Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie |
Too Good to Be True | Margaret Berent | TV movie | |
The Christmas Wife | Iris | TV movie Nominated — CableACE Award: Actress in a Movie or Miniseries | |
1989 | Single Women Married Men | Lucille Frankyl | TV movie |
1990 | The Civil War | Mary Chestnut (voice) | Miniseries; 9 episodes |
1993 | Vanished Without a Trace | Odessa Ray | TV movie |
When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn | Alice Hearn | TV movie | |
1994 | Scarlett | Eleanor Butler | Miniseries |
One Christmas | Sook | TV movie | |
1995 | Secrets | Caroline Phelan | TV movie |
Lucifer's Child | Isak Dinesen | TV movie | |
1996 | Little Surprises | Ethel | TV short |
The Christmas Tree | Sister Anthony | TV movie | |
1997 | Ellen Foster | Leonora Nelson | TV movie Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie |
1998 | The Outer Limits | Hera | Episode: "Lithia" |
1999 | Love Is Strange | Sylvia McClain | TV movie |
Not for Ourselves Alone | Susan B. Anthony (voice) | TV documentary Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance |
References
- ^ "Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts". National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
- ^ a b "Tony Awards Facts & Trivia". Tony Awards. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ^ "Julie Harris profile at". FilmReference.com. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ 1940 United States Federal Census
- ^ a b Mula, Rose Madeline. "Julie Harris – Too Good to be True?". Senior Women Web. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ a b Weber, Bruce (August 24, 2013). "Julie Harris, Celebrated Actress of Range and Intensity, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ^ "William Luce's Bronte – Press". Samuel French, Inc. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ^ Gussow, Mel (March 11, 1984). "Theater: Mirror Rep, in a Revival of 'Rain'". Retrieved December 9, 2018 – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Rodgers, D. (2016, September 14). Dickinson Brought to Life by Schaffel. Hardwick Gazette
- ^ Paller, Rebecca (January 16, 2009). "Julie Harris... A Bit of Magic on a Cold Winter's Day". Paley Center for Media. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Burkey, Mary (2013). Audiobooks for Youth: A Practical Guide to Sound Literature. Chicago, Illinois: American Library Association. p. 8. ISBN 978-0838911570.
- ^ Kresh, Paul (February 18, 1979). "The Children's World of E.B. White on Discs". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company.
- ^ "PRH Audio: Stuart Little by E.B. White, read by Julie Harris". soundcloud.com.
- ^ a b Weil, Martin (August 24, 2013). "Tony-Winning Actress Julie Harris Dies at 87". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Nash Holdings LLC. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ^ Rizzo, Frank (August 28, 2008). "Julie Harris Returns To Stage". Hartford Courant. Hartford, Connecticut: Tribune Company. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ "WHAT Board". Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Rose, Judy (November 4, 2012). "Michigan House Envy: Windmill Pointe palace offers medieval charm". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Jon Caswell (July–August 2007). "The Belle of Aphasia". Stroke Connection. nxtbook.com. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Kennedy, Mark (August 24, 2013). "Julie Harris, Broadway Star, Dies at 87". Associated Press. Archived from the original on August 25, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (August 25, 2013). "Luminous Julie Harris, Close Up and Afar". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
- ^ Baldwin, Alec (August 30, 2013). "A Public Farewell to Julie Harris". Huffington Post. New York City: Huffington Post Media Group. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
- ^ Wilson, Scott (August 19, 2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed". McFarland. Retrieved December 9, 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Snetiker, Marc (August 27, 2013). "Broadway Theaters to Dim Lights in Honor of Stage Legend Julie Harris". Broadway.com. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
Further reading
- Young, Jordan R. (1989). Acting Solo: The Art of One-Person Shows. Beverly Hills: Past Times Publishing Co. Intro by Julie Harris.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- 1925 births
- 2013 deaths
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Actresses from Massachusetts
- Actresses from Michigan
- Actresses from New York City
- American film actresses
- American musical theatre actresses
- American television actresses
- Breast cancer survivors
- Donaldson Award winners
- Grammy Award winners
- Method actors
- Hewitt School alumni
- Kennedy Center honorees
- People from Chatham, Massachusetts
- People from Grosse Pointe, Michigan
- People from Manhattan
- Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
- Tony Award winners
- United States National Medal of Arts recipients
- Yale School of Drama alumni