- Born
- Died
- Birth nameBarbara Densmoor Harris
- Height5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)
- Barbara Harris began acting while still a teenager in Chicago, playing small parts in the Playwrights Theatre Club (whose other players included such youngsters as Edward Asner, Mike Nichols and Elaine May). She was also in "The Compass Players", the first ongoing improvisational theater troupe in America, directed by her then-husband Paul Sills (who founded the theater based on principles created by his mother, Viola Spolin , the author of "Improvisation for the Theatre"). A more polished version of the Compass, called "The Second City", was an enormous hit in Chicago and was moved to Broadway, where she was nominated for a Tony. She starred in a series of notable stage productions, including "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"; "Oh Dad Poor Dad"; "The Apple Tree" (Tony Award, 1967) and "Mother Courage". Her film credits include major roles in A Thousand Clowns (1965), Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), The War Between Men and Women (1972), Nashville (1975), Freaky Friday (1976), Family Plot (1976), Plaza Suite (1971), Movie Movie (1978), The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), The North Avenue Irregulars (1979), Second-Hand Hearts (1980), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and TV appearances included episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and Middle Ages (1992).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jeffrey Sweet <dgsweet@aol.com>
- SpousePaul Sills(June 21, 1955 - 1958) (divorced)
- Along with Elaine May, she is generally acknowledged to be one of the pioneering women in the field of improvisational theatre. Scenes she created with Alan Arkin, Severn Darden, Paul Sand and other celebrated members of the Second City and Compass companies are studied as masterpieces of the form. Most famous scenes: "Museum Piece" (with Arkin) and "First Affair" (with Darden).
- Was seriously considered for the role of Neely O'Hara in the film Valley of the Dolls (1967). The character Neely O'Hara was based on Judy Garland, who herself was the original lead actress in the film but was replaced at the last minute by Susan Hayward due to Garland's drug and alcohol habit. The role of Neely O'Hara was later won by Academy Award winner Patty Duke.
- Won Broadway's 1967 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "The Apple Tree". This followed two previous Tony nominations: in 1962, as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for "From the Second City", and, in 1966, as Best Actress (Musical) for "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever".
- Her mother, Natalie (Densmoor), was an accomplished pianist, and her father, Oscar Graham Harris, was a tree surgeon who later became a businessman. Her father was from Texas and her mother from Wisconsin.
- Following her death, she was buried in Markesan, Wisconsin's memorial cemetery.
- Performers should be judged only by their work on-stage -- too much is made of their personal lives.
- [2002 interview, regarding her abandonment of Broadway stardom] "Who wants to be up on the stage all the time? It isn't easy. You have to be awfully invested in the fame aspect, and I really never was. What I cared about was the discipline of acting, whether I did well or not.
- I'm much more interested in what's behind acting, which is the inquiry into the human condition. Everyone gets acting mixed up with the desire to be famous, but some of us really just stumbled into the fame part, while we were really just interested in the process of acting.
- [on living in Scottsdale, AZ, in 2002] I'm teaching acting classes. I had been based in New York, and maybe I should have stayed. I mean, I like it here, but it's very conservative, isn't it? I was talking to this man the other night, and he was ranting about people who come here from the East and wreck the state by voting Democrat. Hey, how would you vote on Prop 202 [an Indian gaming referendum] The commercials are hysterical! All that carrying on about how Indians are being greedy, but the commercials never once tell you anything about the proposition itself. So you end up having to read the '[Arizona] Republic' or some other piece of nonsense. But since I'm one of those nasty Easterners, I'll probably vote straight Democrat. It's just how it goes. I didn't want to vote for Bill Clinton, but I had to -- even though I figured he was white trash.
- I don't usually mention that I have been in movies, because I'm afraid people will say, 'Well, I don't watch black-and-white films.' Most people don't know who I am.
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