Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Mel Harris

 
Actor: Mel Harris
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Jul 12, 1957 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Thriller
  • Career Highlights: Suture, K-9, My Brother's Wife
  • First Major Screen Credit: Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986)

Biography

In an era of Mandy Patinkin and Glenn Close, one shouldn't be surprised that one of the loveliest and classiest leading ladies on TV in the 1980s was named Mel Harris. After several years on the fringes of big success, things began to click all at once for Harris in 1987, beginning with a good part in the Rutger Hauer film Wanted Dead or Alive. More importantly, 1987 was the year Harris landed the role of wife/mother/free-lance writer Hope Murdoch on the popular TV series thirtysomething. Harris' subsequent projects have not been as rewarding: there wasn't much she could do with her leading-lady stint in the Jim Belushi opus K-9 (1989), while such melodramas as Raising Caine (1992) and the made-for-TV Women of Spring Break (1995) were beneath not only her talents, but also those of everyone else involved. Hopefully, Mel Harris enjoyed working on the loopy hospital comedy Suture (1993), if for no other reason than her character name was Renee Descartes. In 1996 Harris co-starred with Jere Burns in the TV sitcom Something So Right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Search unanswered questions...

Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

Wikipedia: Mel Harris
Top
Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
 This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (March 2007) Find sources: (Mel Harris – news, books, scholar)
Mel Harris
Born July 12, 1956 (1956-07-12) (age 53)
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Mel Harris (born July 12, 1956) is an American actress.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Harris was born Mary Ellen Harris in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Mary Michael "Mike", a high school science teacher, and Warren Harris, a university football coach.[1] Harris attended high school in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Harris has been married five times: to David Silbergeld (1978–79), Brian Kilcommons (1980–82), photographer David Hume Kennerly (1983–88) (with whom she has a son), actor Cotter Smith (1988–96) (with whom she has a daughter) and investment banker Michael Toomey. Harris and Toomey were married May 26, 2001, but she filed for divorce on October 3, 2006.

Career

Harris is perhaps best known for her role as Hope Murdoch Steadman on the popular 1980s television show, Thirtysomething (1987–1991). During that time, in 1989, Harper's Bazaar named her one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women". She also had a starring role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet. From 1996 to 1998, she starred with Jere Burns in the NBC sitcom Something So Right.

In addition, Harris has appeared in a number of television programs including The West Wing, Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest, Dawson's Creek, Touched by an Angel and House. She played real-life victim Madge Oberholtzer in the TV mini-series Cross of Fire (1989) and starred in the Scott Turow legal thriller The Burden of Proof in 1992. She had a recurring role on Stargate SG-1 as Oma Desala. She appeared as a contestant on the $100,000 Pyramid game show before she found success as an actress. She appeared as a celebrity on the 1991 version of Pyramid.

Harris guest-starred on Close to Home episode "Maternal Instinct" that aired April 6, 2007 on CBS. She played Beth Murphy, mother of Eric Murphy, who was convicted of killing his father (Beth's husband) and attempting to kill her as well. Harris played Sylvia Capshaw on the MyNetworkTV limited-run serial Saints & Sinners.


References

  1. ^ Mel Harris Biography (1957–)

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mel Harris".  Read more