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Rosemary Harris

 
American Theater Guide: Rosemary [Ann] Harris

Harris, Rosemary [Ann] (b. 1930), actress. The beautiful, stately English‐born actress, who has artfully combined elegance and warmth, made her American debut in The Climate of Eden (1952) and returned to New York as a member of the Old Vic to play Shakespeare's Cressida in 1956. Among her subsequent American appearances were several important roles with the Association of Producing Artists, including Alice in You Can't Take It with You and Lady Teazle. Her many memorable performances included Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1966), hassled actress Julie Cavendish in The Royal Family (1975), flamboyant Hesione Hushabye in Heartbreak House (1983), the worried wife Barbara Jackson in Pack of Lies (1985), dizzy West End star Judith Bliss in Hay Fever (1985), the guilty Mrs. Birling in An Inspector Calls (1994), the questioning wife Agnes in A Delicate Balance (1996), and the retired actress May Davenport in Waiting in the Wings (1999). Harris has also appeared in leading roles with numerous important American regional theatres.

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Actor: Rosemary Harris
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  • Born: Sep 19, 1930 in Ashby, Suffolk, England
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s, '70s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Theater
  • Career Highlights: Holocaust, Sunshine, My Life So Far
  • First Major Screen Credit: The Shiralee (1957)

Biography

Known for her stage work and solid supporting performances in film and television, Rosemary Harris has earned particular praise for her ability to skillfully portray formidable characters, despite a petite frame and delicate features that would normally belie such a strong aura of authority. Harris grew up in India and did not plan on pursuing a career in acting -- in fact, her original career choice was nursing. She would, however, change course and begin acting studies at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. By 1951, Harris made her U.S. stage debut with great success in a Broadway production of Moss Hart's Climate of Eden, and returned to England to participate in the British premiere of The Seven Year Itch.

Harris continued to act -- both on-stage, on the small screen, and in the film world -- throughout the '50s and '60s, starring opposite some of the industry's most prominent figures, including Richard Burton, Jason Robards, Rex Harrison, Laurence Olivier, and Peter O'Toole. After winning a British Tony award in 1966, Harris impressed critics and audiences with her portrayal of a Jewish doctor's wife in the multi-Emmy award-winning television production of Holocaust in 1978, and again in 1979, when she played the matriarch of an 1844 Virginian pioneer family in The Chisholms. Holocaust wasn't Harris' introduction to the Emmys -- one of the actress' most celebrated performances was for her role in the 1975 Masterpiece Theatre production of The Notorious Woman, a portrait of flamboyant novelist George Sand.

Harris' 1954 film debut as the unrequited love interest of Stewart Granger in Beau Brummell was met exceedingly well; in fact, the actress was offered a variety of long-term roles from Hollywood, but she turned them down to pursue theater. Ten years later, however, Harris would return to the big screen for her supporting role in the thriller The Boys From Brazil (1978), and later co-starred in TV's The Ploughman's Lunch, a 1983 political drama. After performing at her typical standard in film and television, as well as traveling across continents for her theater career, Harris gave a volatile performance as renowned author T.S. Eliot's mother-in-law in Tom & Viv (1994) -- earning her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This, however, was only after earning critical praise for a series of mid-'90s theater roles, including those of a diabetic's mother in the 1991 tearjerker Steel Magnolias, an imposing grandmother in Lost in Yonkers (1992), and a troubled wife in An Inspector Calls (1994). After Harris' Oscar recognition, Kenneth Branagh felt it only appropriate to cast her as the Player Queen opposite Charlton Heston's Player King in Hamlet (1996). In 2002, Harris portrayed Peter Parker's aunt in Spider-Man, and reprised the role in Spider-Man 2 (2004). ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Rosemary Harris
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Rosemary Harris

The Tribeca Film Festival, April 2007
Born September 19, 1927 (1927-09-19) (age 82)
Ashby, Suffolk, England
Years active 1954-present
Spouse(s) Ellis Rabb (1959-1967)
John Ehle (1967-present)

Rosemary Ann Harris (born September 19, 1927) is an English actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.[1]

Contents

Early life

Harris was born in Ashby, Suffolk, England, the daughter of Enid Maude Frances (née Campion) and Stafford Berkley Harris.[2] Her grandmother was Romanian.[3] Her father was in the Royal Air Force and as a result, Harris' family lived in India during her childhood.[3] 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 Laurence Olivier's Chichester Festival Theatre, and in 1964 again, when she was Ophelia to Peter O'Tooles's Hamlet, for the inaugural production of the new 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. And a little while later, Harris married again to the American writer John Ehle. They settled in the countryside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and it was there that their daughter, Jennifer, was born. 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.

In 2007, she received the North Carolina Award for fine arts.[4] Her husband, John, won the same award in 1972 for literature.[5]

Harris is in all likelihood, best known to younger, more recent audiences for her part as May Parker, the aunt of the title character in the Spider-Man films.

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 [Oct 8 - Dec 13, 2009] - Fanny Cavendish [Broadway-Revival]
  • Oscar and the Lady in Pink [Jan 15 - Feb 10, 2008] - George Street Playhouse
  • Oscar and the Lady in Pink [Sep, 2007]- Solo performance Old Globe Theatre, San Diego]
  • Waiting in the Wings [Dec 16, 1999 - May 28, 2000]- May Davenport [Broadway-Original Play]
  • A Delicate Balance [Apr 21, 1996 - Sep 29, 1996]- Agnes [Broadway-Revival]
  • An Inspector Calls [Apr 27, 1994 - May 28, 1995]- Sybil Birling [Broadway-Rivival]
  • Lost in Yonkers [Feb 21, 1991 - Jan 3, 1993]- Grandma Kurnitz [Broadway-Original]
  • Hay Fever [Dec 12, 1985 - Mar 29, 1986 ]- Judith Bliss [Broadway-Revival]
  • Pack of Lies [Feb 11, 1985 - May 25, 1985 ] - Barbara Jackson[Broadway-Original]
  • Heartbreak House [Dec 7, 1983 - Feb 5, 1984 ]- Hesione Hushabye [Broadway- Revival]
  • The Royal Family [Dec 30, 1975 - Jul 18, 1976 ]- Julie Cavendish [Broadway-Revival]
  • A Streetcar Named Desire [Apr 26, 1973 - Jul 29, 1973 ]- Blanche Du Bois [Broadway-Revival]
  • The Merchant of Venice [Mar 1, 1973 - Apr 7, 1973 ]- Portia [Broadway-Revival]
  • Old Times [Nov 16, 1971 - Feb 26, 1972 ]- Anna [Broadway-Original]
  • War and Peace [Mar 21, 1967 - Jun 17, 1967 ]- Natasha [Broadway-Original]
  • You Can't Take It With You [Feb 10, 1967 - Feb 1967 ]- Alice Sycamore [Broadway-Revival]
  • The Wild Duck [Jan 11, 1967 - Jun 17, 1967 ] - Gina (alternate)[Broadway-Revival]
  • We, Comrades Three [Dec 20, 1966 - Dec 1966 ] -Young Woman (Alternate) [Broadway-Original]
  • Right You Are If You Think You Are [Nov 22, 1966 - Dec 1966 ] -Signora Ponza (Alternate) [Broadway-Revival]
  • The School for Scandal [Nov 21, 1966 - Jan 1967 ]- Lady Teazle, Epilogue [Broadway-Revival]
  • The Lion in Winter [Mar 3, 1966 - May 21, 1966 ]- Eleanor [Broadway-Original]
  • You Can't Take It With You [Nov 23, 1965 - Jun 18, 1966 ]- Alice Sycamore[Broadway-Revival]
  • Uncle Vanya 1963, Chichester Festival Theatre
  • The Tumbler [Feb 24, 1960 - Feb 27, 1960 ]- Lennie [Broadway-Original]
  • The Disenchanted [Dec 3, 1958 - May 16, 1959 ]- Jere Halliday [Broadway-Original]
  • Interlock [Feb 6, 1958 - Feb 8, 1958] - Hilde [Broadway- Original]
  • Troilus and Cressida [Dec 26, 1956 - Jan 12, 1957 ]- Cressida [Broadway-Revival]
  • The Climate of Eden [Nov 13, 1952 - Nov 22, 1952 - Mabel [Broadway-Original]

Filmography

References

External links


 
 
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American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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 "Rosemary Harris" Read more