Valerie Harper
August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019
Valerie Harper was an American Emmy Award actress best known for her television role as the feisty Rhoda Morgenstern and best friend of Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Who didn’t love Rhoda? In 2001 I got a phone call from my good friend, writer Catherine Whitney. She was working on a new project, co-writing a book with Harper. It needed illustrations and she wanted to know if I was interested. The book was called, “Today I Am a Ma’am: And Other Musing on Life, Beauty, and Growing Older.” I remember my first response was, “I don’t know if I am woman enough to do the drawings.” So I offered to do one illustration and see if Valerie liked it and we’d go from there. She liked what I did! The project turned into one of the best jobs I ever had. How could it not? I was working for Rhoda! The book was charming and funny and each illustration just worked. As an illustrator you can’t ask for more. Catherine told me, at one point during the job, that Valerie was loving what I was doing. One evening my wife, Brenda, and I came home and there was a message on the answering machine. It was Valerie!! I still get caught up in celebrity. Valerie Harper is leaving a message on our machine!?! Eventually we did speak and it was like I was talking to an old friend. The climax came soon after the project was over. We were in New York City and Catherine got us tickets for Valerie’s show on Broadway, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.” After the show we met Valerie in her dressing room. She was as wonderful as I expected she’d be. At one point she got a phone call from her husband, Tony. The first thing she said to him was, “Tony, you’ll never guess who is sitting here in my dressing room!” I just looked around and said, “Who? Who?” We left the theatre with Valerie. I’ve been on the side of autograph seekers waiting for the celebrity to exit. I had never been on the side of the celebrity exiting the theatre. That was pretty cool. Valerie was a joy. I was a big fan of hers since the first time I met her on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Years later, working for her and meeting her. Excellent!
Valerie Harper
August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019
Valerie Harper was an American Emmy Award actress best known for her television role as the feisty Rhoda Morgenstern and best friend of Mary Richards on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Who didn’t love Rhoda? In 2001 I got a phone call from my good friend, writer Catherine Whitney. She was working on a new project, co-writing a book with Harper. It needed illustrations and she wanted to know if I was interested. The book was called, “Today I Am a Ma’am: And Other Musing on Life, Beauty, and Growing Older.” I remember my first response was, “I don’t know if I am woman enough to do the drawings.” So I offered to do one illustration and see if Valerie liked it and we’d go from there. She liked what I did! The project turned into one of the best jobs I ever had. How could it not? I was working for Rhoda! The book was charming and funny and each illustration just worked. As an illustrator you can’t ask for more. Catherine told me, at one point during the job, that Valerie was loving what I was doing. One evening my wife, Brenda, and I came home and there was a message on the answering machine. It was Valerie!! I still get caught up in celebrity. Valerie Harper is leaving a message on our machine!?! Eventually we did speak and it was like I was talking to an old friend. The climax came soon after the project was over. We were in New York City and Catherine got us tickets for Valerie’s show on Broadway, “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.” After the show we met Valerie in her dressing room. She was as wonderful as I expected she’d be. At one point she got a phone call from her husband, Tony. The first thing she said to him was, “Tony, you’ll never guess who is sitting here in my dressing room!” I just looked around and said, “Who? Who?” We left the theatre with Valerie. I’ve been on the side of autograph seekers waiting for the celebrity to exit. I had never been on the side of the celebrity exiting the theatre. That was pretty cool. Valerie was a joy. I was a big fan of hers since the first time I met her on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Years later, working for her and meeting her. Excellent!