Actress Valerie Harper, 'Rhoda Morgenstern,' dead at 80
Actress Valerie Harper attends a screening of 'My Mom And The Girl' at The Hollywood Museum on November 8, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Tara Ziemba/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Actress Valerie Harper, who famously played Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died on Friday at the age of 80.
Harper was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis – a rare, and usually terminal, complication of cancer – in 2013. At the time, Harper was told she had just months to live.
The cost of fighting the disease led Harper’s family to start a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical costs not covered by insurance, which raised more than $66,100.
She has previously beaten lung cancer.
Harper won four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the spin-off series “Rhoda.”
In 1988, Harper won $1.4 million in damages, plus a cut of her show “Valerie’s” profits, after winning a libel suit filed against television company Lorimar. She had sought more money and creative control of the sitcom, for which she was fired.