Actress Barbara Harris, 83, dies in Scottsdale
Barbara Harris, a Broadway star in the ’60s and a big-screen leading lady the following decade, has died in Scottsdale, where she resided for several years. The actress, who died Tuesday, was 83.
News of her death first was reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Harris, who boasted an endearingly daffy comic persona, became a star on the stage. She made her Broadway debut in 1961’s “From the Second City,” which drew its name from the famed improvisational troupe of which she was a member.
She originated the role of a young woman with a past life in the 1965 musical “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” She earned a Tony nomination, but Barbra Streisand played the role in the 1970 film. Harris ultimately won the Tony 1966 for “The Apple Tree.”
Her film debut came with 1965’s “A Thousand Clowns,” which earned her the first of three Golden Globe nominations. She earned an Oscar nomination opposite Dustin Hoffman in 1972’s “Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?”
As the decade continued, her film career blossomed. She played the wife of a Phoenix Suns’ coach in 1974’s “Mixed Company.” She earned great acclaim as a country singer in Robert Altman’s “Nashville” (1975), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, “Family Plot” (1976).
For children of the ’70s, she earned cinematic immortality as a mother who magically switches places with her daughter (Jodie Foster) in the original “Freaky Friday” (1976). She worked with Disney again, starring in the 1979 comedy “The North Avenue Irregulars.”
In the ’80s, she moved into supporting roles. Her credits include “Peggy Sue Got Married” (1986), “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” (1988) and 1997’s “Grosse Pointe Blanke,” her last screen credit.
In a 2002 interview with Robrt Pela for the Phoenix New Times, she revealed that she had relocated to Scottsdale and was teaching acting classes.
“Well, if someone handed me something fantastic for 10 million dollars, I’d work again,” she told Pela. “But I haven’t worked in a long time as an actor. I don’t miss it.”
But movie fans surely missed her.