People.com reports that actress Barbara Harris passed away on Tuesday morning at the age of 83.
- Comedic actress Barbara Harris died of lung cancer early Tuesday morning. She was 83 years old.
- Disney fans will recognized her from the 1976 version of Freaky Friday where she starred opposite Jodie Foster. Harris is also known for Nashville and Peggy Sue Got Married.
- After 3 decades in the industry, Harris decided to retire from acting and focus on teaching instead. According the article on People.com, she was asked if she missed her acting career. Harris responded, “Well, if someone handed me something fantastic for 10 million dollars, I’d work again. But I haven’t worked in a long time as an actor. I don’t miss it. I think the only thing that drew me to acting in the first place was the group of people I was working with: Ed Asner, Paul Sills, Mike Nichols, Elaine May.”
- “And all I really wanted to do back then was rehearsal. I was in it for the process, and I really resented having to go out and do a performance for an audience, because the process stopped; it had to freeze and be the same every night. It wasn’t as interesting.”
- Harris was a founding member of The Second City in Chicago. They honored her in a series of Tweets yesterday:
It all began with Barbara Harris.
When lights came up for the very first time at The Second City on opening night in 1959, it was Barbara in the spotlight, a place she truly belonged. pic.twitter.com/QPhClv3uhP
— The Second City (@TheSecondCity) August 21, 2018
What her friends are saying:
- Charna Halpern: “My friend and an amazing famous actress Barbara Harris passed away early this morning. My favorite memories of her were her sense of humor and how she made me laugh. If you haven’t seen her movies-watch Family Plot and A Thousand Clowns. Those are two of my favorites. I’ll miss her. Hopefully her friends, Del and Severn will meet her and help her in her passing.”
- Ed Asner:“Goodnight sweet lady. You were a force. I will miss your calls.”