SAG-AFTRA Remembers the Life of Former Board Member Valerie Harper

LOS ANGELES — Valerie Harper, a former SAG-AFTRA Board member best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on Mary Tyler Moore and its spinoff, Rhoda, has died. She was 80.

Harper was active on the Screen Actors Guild National Board, serving from 2000 until SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012. After merger, she served on the interim SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local Board.

Harper also was a member of numerous SAG committees, including the National Executive Committee, the Hollywood Holiday Host Committee, the National Disciplinary Review Committee, the National Global Rule One Task Force and the National Women’s Committee, among others. She co-chaired the National Military Personnel and Families Support Task Force as well as the National Agent Relations Committee and served on the SAG Foundation Board.

Born Aug. 22, 1939 in Suffern, N.Y., she started her career onstage as a dancer and later as an actor on Broadway. Although her fame stemmed from her television roles, she continued to do theater work throughout her career.

In 1970, she won the part of Rhoda Morgenstern on Mary Tyler Moore, and played the character for the show’s first four years, continuing on the spinoff Rhoda, which aired until 1978. Harper won four Emmys and a Golden Globe for her work on the two series.

She appeared on dozens of other television shows, including Valerie, Touched by an Angel, Melrose Place, Sex and the City, That ’70s Show and The Simpsons. She also appeared in a number of films, including The Last Married Couple in America, Blame it on Rio and The Town That Came A-Courtin’.

Harper was an activist who sought to make the world a better place. In addition to her union service, she championed women’s rights and helped feed Los Angeles’ underprivileged through a charity she co-founded.

SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris remembered Harper’s commitment to serving members.

“Valerie Harper was a wonderful actor who made us laugh and cry and laugh again. She cared very much about the membership and we appreciate her service to the union. Our deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends. May she rest in peace.”

Harper is survived by husband Tony Cacciotti and daughter Cristina Cacciotti.

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.