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Revision as of 02:55, 17 January 2011 by Ejfetters (talk | contribs) (→External links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Rosemary Harris | |
|---|---|
 Harris at the 2007 Spiderman 3 premiere in Queens, New York | |
| Born | Rosemary Ann Harris |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1948–present |
| Spouse(s) | Ellis Rabb (1959-1967) John Ehle (1967-present) |
Rosemary Ann Harris (born 19 September 1927) is an English actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Early life
Harris was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, England, the daughter of Enid Maude Frances (née Campion) and Stafford Berkley Harris. Her grandmother was Romanian. Her father was in the Royal Air Force and as a result, Harris' family lived in India during her childhood. She attended convent schools, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1951 to 1952.
Career
Early in her acting career, she gained experience in English repertory theatre (in 1948, she acted in Kiss and Tell at Eastbourne with Tilsa Page and John Clark) before training at RADA. She first appeared in New York in 1951 in Moss Hart's Climate of Eden, and then returned to England for her West End debut in The Seven Year Itch which ran for a year at the Aldwich. She then entered a classical acting period in productions with the Bristol Old Vic and then the Old Vic.
Her first film followed, Beau Brummel with Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor, and then a touring season with The Old Vic brought her back to Broadway in Tyrone Guthrie's production of Troilus and Cressida. She met Ellis Rabb who had plans to start his own producing company on Broadway. By 1959, the Association of Producing Artist (APA) was established, and she and Rabb were married in December of that year. Over the next two years their energies were combined into making the APA a ten-year success.
In 1962, she returned to England and Chichester Festival Theatre during its opening season when the director was Laurence Olivier, and in 1964, when she was Ophelia to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet, the inaugural production of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain.
Returning to New York, she worked further with the APA, and then was cast as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, a performance that garnered her a Tony Award in 1966. Rabb directed her one last time as Natasha in War and Peace in 1967, the same year they agreed to divorce. A little while later, Harris married the American writer John Ehle. They settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where their daughter, Jennifer, was born in 1969. Jennifer Ehle followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a noted film, television and Broadway actress. Ehle and Harris played the young and elderly incarnations, respectively, of the same character in István Szabó's movie Sunshine, about a Hungarian-Jewish family as well as playing the young and old Calypso in the adaptation of The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley. She appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom. In 2007, she received the North Carolina Award for fine arts. Her husband, John Ehle, won the same award in 1972 for literature.
In 2002, she appeared as Aunt May Parker in the first movie adaptation of Spider-Man, reprising the role in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).
Awards
- Academy Award Nomination, Tom & Viv.
- Theatre World award, The Climate of Eden, 1953.
- Tony award, best actress in a play, The Lion in Winter, 1966.
- Drama Desk award, outstanding actress in a play, Old Times, 1972.
- Drama Desk award, outstanding actress in a play, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Merchant of Venice, 1973.
- Drama Desk award, outstanding actress in a play, The Royal Family, 1976.
- Drama Desk award, best actress in a play, Pack of Lies, 1985.
- Emmy Award, outstanding lead actress in a limited series, 1976, Notorious Woman (Masterpiece Theatre, PBS).
- nomination for the Emmy Award, outstanding lead actress in a limited series, 1978, Holocaust (NBC).
- Golden Globe Award, best television actress—drama, 1979, Holocaust (1978, NBC).
- Golden Satellite Award, best performance by an actress in a supporting role, drama, Sunshine, 2001 (shared with her daughter, Jennifer Ehle).
- NBR Award, National Board of Review, best supporting actress, 1994, Tom & Viv.
- Obie award, performance, All Over, 2002.
Many other nominations for theatre, film and television awards.
Work
Stage
- The Royal Family - Fanny Cavendish
- Oscar and the Lady in Pink - George Street Playhouse
- Oscar and the Lady in Pink - Solo performance Old Globe Theatre, San Diego]
- Wit & Wisdom - Arclight Theatre
- Waiting in the Wings - May Davenport
- A Delicate Balance - Agnes
- An Inspector Calls - Sybil Birling
- Lost in Yonkers - Grandma Kurnitz
- Hay Fever - Judith Bliss
- Pack of Lies - Barbara Jackson
- Heartbreak House - Hesione Hushabye
- The Royal Family - Julie Cavendish
- A Streetcar Named Desire - Blanche Du Bois
- The Merchant of Venice - Portia
- Old Times - Anna
- War and Peace - Natasha
- You Can't Take It With You - Alice Sycamore
- The Wild Duck - Gina (alternate)
- We, Comrades Three - Young Woman (Alternate)
- Right You Are If You Think You Are - Signora Ponza (Alternate)
- The School for Scandal - Lady Teazle, Epilogue
- The Lion in Winter - Eleanor
- You Can't Take It With You - Alice Sycamore
- Uncle Vanya 1963, Chichester Festival Theatre
- The Tumbler - Lennie
- The Disenchanted - Jere Halliday
- Interlock - Hilde
- Troilus and Cressida - Cressida
- The Climate of Eden
Filmography
- Oddsac (2010)
- Is Anybody There? (2009)
- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
- Spider-Man 3 (2007)
- Being Julia (2004)
- Spider-Man 2 (2004)
- Spider-Man (2002) (as May Parker in this and two sequels)
- Blow Dry (2001)
- The Gift (2000)
- Sunshine (1999)
- Hamlet (1996)
- Looking for Richard (1996)
- Death of a Salesman (1996)
- Tom & Viv (1994)
- The Bridge (1992)
- The Delinquents (1989)
- Crossing Delancey (1988)
- The Chisholms (1979 and 1980) as Minerva Chisholm
- The Boys from Brazil (1978)
- Holocaust (1978)
- Notorious Woman (BBC)
- A Flea in Her Ear (1968)
- Beau Brummel (1954)
References
- Rosemary Harris Film Reference bio
- Rosemary Harris Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ^ Rosemary Harris and the Picture: Madonna of the Slaughtered Jews
- http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/shows/wit-and-wisdom_20415/
- North Carolina Award profile
External links
- Rosemary Harris at IMDb
- Rosemary Harris at the Internet Broadway Database
- Please use a more specific IOBDB template. See the template documentation for available templates.
- Presenting Rosemary Harris website: articles and images
- Rosemary Harris - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
- 1927 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
- American Theatre Hall of Fame inductees
- Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (television) winners
- Emmy Award winners
- English film actors
- English stage actors
- English television actors
- English voice actors
- English people of Romanian descent
- Obie Award recipients
- People from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
- Royal National Theatre Company members
- Tony Award winners
- Drama Desk Award winners
- People from Ashby-de-la-Zouch