VALERIE HARPER
Inside the final days of the brave TV legend.
Valerie Harper and her former Mary Tyler Moore Show castmates Ed Asner and Cloris Leachman had a ball sharing old memories at the Sedona International Film Festival six months ago. In the middle of the side-splitting laughs, Valerie, 78, had a chance to update everyone on her brave battle against a rare form of brain cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 2013. “I was supposed to live for three months, maybe six months, because of what I had. But the doctors started with these interesting new types of medication, and they worked well — and they continue to work!” she beamed.
Sadly, though, Closer has learned that Valerie has recently suffered a setback, and it seems there’s no way she can bounce back like she’s done before. Husband Tony Cacciotti has reportedly brought the beloved Rhoda star home from a hospital stay in late July, and she has been surrounded by him and their daughter Cristina, 34, in her final days. Their goal is to keep her as happy as possible, but the cancer has taken its toll.
LAUGHTER & TEARS
W hen Closer spoke to Valerie at a film festival in LA last October, the actress’ spirits were high. “I really am feeling good,” she assured, though she did caution, “I have not beaten cancer. I am still grappling with it.” That said, her trademark fighting spirit was fully intact. “You don’t give in to it,” she insisted about her refusal to stop living life to the fullest.
That meant embracing every moment with her husband, who she playfully quipped was “very smart and cute.” He’s also stood by her every step of the way. “Tony is always with her. They have been a team ever since they met,” Gavin MacLeod, Valerie’s longtime friend and Mary Tyler Moore Show co-star, tells Closer. The actor remains in awe of how his friend was
able to keep such an upbeat attitude through her toughest days. “Valerie has been an inspiration. She never lets anything get her down,” he marvels. “‘Never give up’ is her mantra, and she’s always had the joy of living. It permeates everything she does.”
The four-time Emmy-winning actress’ career, after all, started with her kicking up her heels as a dancer and chorus girl in New York City. A casting agent spotted her doing a play in LA, and that led to her being cast as the tough but lovable Rhoda Morgenstern in Mary Tyler Moore’s groundbreaking 1970 sitcom.
Valerie triumphantly returned to her hoofer roots in 2013, when she was cast on Dancing With the Stars, just months after her leptomeningeal carcinomatosis diagnosis. She threw herself into her routines with abandon, determined to show everyone that life was meant for living.
“Val’s a fighter,” a source tells Closer, adding that the actress wouldn’t want any pity as her time winds down. As Valerie once said when asked how she’d want to be remembered, her message was clear. “She tried her best,” Val said with her trademark laugh. “She was in the game! She stepped up to the plate, all that stuff, because I’m a participator.”
— Reporting by Ilyssa Panitz
“If I can
give a message to people, it’s ‘don’t miss your life while you’re here.’ ”
— Valerie