About Valerie Harper
Valerie Kathryn Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019) was an American actress. She began her career as a dancer on Broadway, making her debut as a replacement in the musical Li'l Abner. She played Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) and its spin-off Rhoda (1974–1978). For her work on Mary Tyler Moore, she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series three times, and later received the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for Rhoda. Her film appearances include supporting roles in Freebie and the Bean (1974) and Chapter Two (1979), both of which garnered her Golden Globe Award nominations. From 1986 to 1987, Harper appeared as Valerie Hogan on the sitcom Valerie, from which she was fired after two seasons. Her character was killed off, and the show was retitled Valerie's Family and eventually The Hogan Family. Actress Sandy Duncan was cast in a new role that served as a replacement for Harper's character. Harper returned to stage work in her later career, appearing in several Broadway productions. In 2010, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Tallulah Bankhead in the play Looped. But after her arrival her first and middle names were derived from tennis players Valerie Scott and Kay Stammers who were victorious doubles partners at a tournament Harper's father was attending the day she was born. When Harper was in first grade, the family relocated again to California, living in Altadena and Pasadena before briefly residing in Monroe, Michigan. She performed several characters in a comedy LP record, When You're in Love the Whole World is Jewish (1965), which included the popular novelty single, The Ballad of Irving, a recitation by TV announcer Frank Gallop. She won four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for her work as Rhoda Morgenstern.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.