Barbara Harris
Biography
Barbara Harris was an American actress who came out of Chicago improvisational theater and won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical The Apple Tree. Born in Evanston, Illinois, she started in Chicago theater as a teenager and was a member of the Compass Players and Second City. Her Broadway debut in From the Second City brought a Tony nomination, and she earned another for On a Clear Day You Can See Forever before her Tony win. On film, she made her debut in A Thousand Clowns (1965), received an Academy Award nomination for Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), and appeared in Nashville (1975), Family Plot (1976), Freaky Friday (1976), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). She was a four-time Golden Globe nominee. Harris retired from acting and taught, and she died in 2018.
83years old at death
- Born Evanston
- Died Scottsdale
- Star sign: LeoThe sign runs July 23 to August 22
- Barbara Densmoor Harris (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 14
- Career span
- 32 years1965 to 1997
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A role that slipped away
Harris turned down Alfred Hitchcock the first time he asked her to appear in one of his films, then took the role of a bogus spiritualist in Family Plot, his last movie, and appears alone in its final shot.
First role
As a teenager, Harris started her stage career at the Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Edward Asner, Elaine May and Mike Nichols were among the other players there.
Behind the camera
Harris read scripts for David Merrick, then in 1969 directed a Broadway production of Elliott Baker's The Penny Wars. Kim Hunter, George Voskovec and Kristoffer Tabori starred.
Beyond film
After The Apple Tree, Harris stopped appearing on stage, except for the 1970 off-Broadway first American production of Brecht and Weill's Mahagonny, where she played Jenny, a role originally created by Lotte Lenya.
A change of course
Harris retired from acting and began teaching. In 2002, when asked if she would act again, she said she had not worked as an actor in a long time and did not miss it.
Barbara Harris movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Melville Shavelson directed two of these films. Nine actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Karen Black's page
Jason Robards's page
Sorrell Booke's page
Patsy Kelly's page
Ruth Buzzi's page
Ruth McDevitt's page
All films by Melville Shavelson
Also two films together3 more actors
- Gabriel DellThe Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975) and Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
- Nicholas ColasantoFamily Plot (1976) and The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975)
- Lisa GerritsenMixed Company (1974) and The War Between Men and Women (1972)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Awards
Two awards and honors from 1962 to 1967, one of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Awards | |||
| 1967 | Best Actress in a Musical | Won | |
| Other honors | |||
| 1962 | Theatre World Award | Won | |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.