Born July 25. 1935 In Evanston, Illinois, the youngest of four children, Barbara Harris was the daughter of a pianist mother and an arborist father who later became a businessman. She began her stage career as a teenager at the Playwrights Theater in Chicago. Her fellow players included Paul Sills, Ed Asner, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May.
Harris was married to Chicago’s Second City improvisational comedy club founder Sills from 1955 through 1958. She received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut in 1961’s From the Second City. In 1962, she won a Drama Desk award for her off-Broadway performance in Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Bad. She was back on Broadway in 1963’s Mother Courage and Her Children. During this period, she was also seen in roles in such TV series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Naked City.
The actress made her film debut in 1965’s A Thousand Clowns in the role played in the 1962 Broadway play by Sandy Dennis. She was back on Broadway in 1966 where she received a second Tony nomination for the musical On a Clear Day You See Forever co-starring John Cullum. The following year she won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for The Apple Tree co-starring Alan Alda. Between the two shows, she reprised her stage role in the film version of Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Bad in support of Rosalind Russell in Jo Van Fleet’s stage role.
Harris directed the 1969 Broadway flop, The Penny Wars, which closed after jst three days. It was her last Broadway assignment. Turning her attention back to films, she co-starred with Walter Matthau, Lee Grant, and Maureen Stapleton in 1971’ s Plaza Suite and later received an Oscar nomination for the same year’s Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me in support of Dustin Hoffman.
The actress’s profile got bigger with 1972’s The War Between Men and Women in which she starred opposite Jack Lemmon. She was a standout in the large cast of 1975’s Nashville. The following year she was a double threat, first as one of the four stars of Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, Family Plot, then as the mother who switches bodies with daughter Jodie Foster in the first film version of Freaky Friday. She was third billed of eight stars in 1978’s Movie Movie who were led by George C. Scott and his wife, Trish Van Devere.
Harris had her last starring role in 1979’s The Seduction of Joe Tynan as the wife of her former Broadway co-star, Alan Alda, in which she was billed between him and rising star Meryl Streep as Ada’s mistress. A few supporting roles would come her way later in such films as Peggy Sue Got Married, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Grosse Point Blank but her Hollywood career was basically over. She retired from acting after that and turned to teaching.
Interviewed while teaching acting in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2002, Harris said she didn’t miss acting on stage. She said loved rehearsing but got bored once the performance was set. She said she didn’t like having to do the same thing night after night.
Barbara Harris died in Scottsdale on August 21, 2018. She was 83.
ESSENTIAL FILMS
A THOUSAND CLOWNS (1965), directed by Fred Coe
Jason Robards, Gene Saks, Barry Gordon, and William Daniels reprised their Broadway roles in this unconventional comedy about a middle-aged iconoclast, played by Robards, avoiding employment at all costs. A surprise Oscar nominee for Best Picture, the only two cast members with major roles who were not in the play were Martin Balsam who won as Oscar as Robards’ uptight brother, and Harris in her film debut in the role for which Sandy Dennis won a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play. For me, the best performances were by Gordon as Robards’ son and Harris as Robards’ new girlfriend.
NASHVILLE (1975), directed by Robert Altman
Ten years after her film debut and four years after her surprise Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me, Harris had her best screen role ever as the would-be country singer who sings her heart out on the film’s iconic last song, “It Don’t Worry Me” written by Keih Carradine who won an Oscar for his other song from the film, “I’m Easy”. The acting in the film is terrific with career best performances from Oscar nominees Lily Tomlin and Ronee Blakley as well as Henry Gibson, Carradine, and Harris among others.
FAMILY PLOT (1976), directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Fifteen years after making her TV debut in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Harris co-starred along with Karen Black, Bruce Dern, and William Devine in the master of suspense’s last film. Black, who has top billing, has the smallest role of the film’s four stars but was the biggest name in the film at the time. Both Black and Harris had been together in 1975’s Nashville but Harris is by far the stronger actress in the two films having learned to stymy her improvisational urges while Black continued to overact to Hitchcock’s constant dismay. Dern was cast in place of Al Pacino who wanted too much money.
FREAKY FRIDAY (1976), directed by Richard Fleischer
The film that started the body switching movie trend of the mid-1970s, this was based on a book by Mary Rodgers, Richard Rodgers’ daughter. Harris received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy for her performance as the mother in this and as the medium in this and Family Plot, which the Globes considered a comedy even though it really wasn’t. Jodie Foster was also nominated for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy for playing the daughter in this but was surprisingly not nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the same year’s Taxi Driver.
THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN (1979), directed by Jerry Schatzberg
Many though Harris was the best thing about this film in which she had her last starring role as the faithful wife of the title character, a liberal politician played by Alan Alda who wrote the script while still starring in the long-running TV series, M*A*S*H. Third-billed Meryl Streep received awards recognition for this, Woody Allen’s Manhattan, and Kramer vs. Kramer for which she won an Oscar, all in the same year. Melvyn Douglas was cited for his work in this film as well as Hal Ashby’s Being There for which he won his second Oscar. Rip Torn also has a strong supporting role.
BARBARA HARRIS AND OSCAR
Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Say Those Terrible Things About Me (1971) – Nominated – Best Supporting Actress
