Valerie Harper

[SoonerQueen]

Actress Valerie Harper Diagnosed With Terminal Brain Cancer | Fox News Insider

So sad, Valerie Harper has terminal brain cancer and only has months to live. She was one of my fav tv actresses.

[SoonerDave]

Actress Valerie Harper Diagnosed With Terminal Brain Cancer | Fox News Insider

So sad, Valerie Harper has terminal brain cancer and only has months to live. She was one of my fav tv actresses.

Yeah, I read that today, too, and it is very sad.

I always thought she kinda got the raw end of the deal after the Rhoda series ended. Years later, she had a show on NBC where she played, IIRC, a suburban mom with a couple of kids, decent show, funny enough to watch regularly, then after the first or second season some sort of contract dispute arose, and out of the blue, the studio (or the production company, not sure which) kicked her out and brought in Sandy Duncan to take over as an "aunt" or whatever. And it wasn't the same. Never heard much from Valerie Harper afterwords.

Obviously no way of knowing all the ins and outs of that, but from what little I remember reading about that incident, it was at least perceived that she was given a bit of the bum's rush, but who knows what happened in reality.

All academic now, I suppose.

[RadicalModerate]

How many "Cultural Icons" have achieved the status of being cross-referenced in a context such as this?
(not many)
I always thought the Rhoda character was more interesting than the Mary character on the show.
(valerie harper was a better actress, i hope she will be blessed as she was a blessing to others.)

[okc_coder]

I always liked her, sad to hear this news.

[Larry OKC]

Soonerdave: gleaned from wiki…

For its first and second seasons the show was known as Valerie. Then because of a salary dispute, when Ms. Harper left the show, her character was killed off and Sandy Duncan was brought in as the husband's sister to help take care of the kids (since he was a pilot and often away from home). The title switched to Valerie's Family. By the end of the 3rd season, the title once again changed, becoming The Hogan Family. NBC later cancelled the show but CBS picked it up.

Her contract dispute ended up with Ms. harper being awarded over a million dollars

She was recently on one of the national morning news programs and Mary Tyler Moore was a call-in guest. She seemed genuinely surprised and pleased by the call. Sad news for Ms. Harper. Wish her the best.