I danced in choruses from about 1959 to 1967, in 'Take Me Along,' 'Wildcat,' and 'Subways Are for Sleeping.'
— Valerie Harper
Pearl Buck was my mother's favorite author.
I was a dancer, but I was always a little overweight. I'd say, 'Hello, I'm Valerie Harper, and I'm overweight.' I'd say it quickly before they could... I always got called chubby. My nose was too wide; my hair was too kinky.
Anything I can give women to help them feel better about themselves, that's what I want to do.
Life has sweetness to it and a beauty and a power that I wanted to celebrate.
Don't accept or be crippled by the media hype that aging is bad or shameful.
It can be frightening. I think, 'I don't want to go.' But I give myself room to grieve.
On 'Rhoda,' they wanted my husband, Joe, to wear a pajama top when we were doing love scenes. They finally let him take it off as long as the audience saw him get into bed wearing pajama bottoms so they didn't think he was completely naked underneath.
I know there are a whole bunch of 'Rhoda' rooters out there.
I'm basically an actress, not a comedienne, and if something comes along that appeals to me, I'll do it.
The disease I have is quite a rare cancer, and it is located in a limited area - a very widespread area, but narrow. So a lot can happen if the cancer starts getting really aggressive, pressing on parts of the brain and causing me to lose either my speech or my ability to think, etc.
I really developed an early love for ballet. Like most dancers, I am still 'first' a dancer. I'm very proud of it. Once you are a dancer, the physicality never leaves you, nor does the strength. Hopefully, it keeps you like an athlete.
I don't know a great deal about Alzheimer's - just what it does.
I've always felt very strongly about human rights for blacks, women, and gays. Our Constitution is about equality for all - that's got to mean something to all of us.
I love sitting at home. I love laying in bed watching television.
Death is out there for all of us.
I am a cancer patient, and I continue to fight with the hope that a cure may be just around the corner. I am grateful to my family, friends, loved ones, and to fans that I am in their thoughts and prayers. That support gives me great hope.
I loved working in the theater.
My stepmother Angela is an Italian from New York City. I based Rhoda on her and a Jewish friend named Penny Ann Green. People often said that Rhoda seemed to be Italian. That was the Angela seeping through.
That's very unusual for an actor, to have gainful employment that they are secure in, that they know is going to be there year after year.
Stop working so hard at being interesting and focus on what's outside yourself. There are universes out there that need to be explored. And, an interested person is extremely interesting.
Women and young girls are constantly judging themselves by standards that aren't real.
I think I have too little to hide to be interesting.
We don't know what's around the corner.
I think drama and comedy are pretty much all the same, and the issue is whether or not you have a sense of humor.
I don't see anything degrading about marriage or homemaking, but my husband and I pool the money we earn, along with the jobs around the house.
I really got the 'Rhoda' flavor from studying my stepmother, Angela, who's Italian, not Jewish. There's really so little difference between the speech patterns and family attitudes of Jews and Italians in the New York area, anyway.
Daddy was a salesman and away a lot, always working. My mom took me to the movies on Thursday nights because it was dish night, when they gave you a free dish along with your movie ticket.
The first Broadway play I ever saw was 'The Bad Seed' by Maxwell Anderson and with Patty McCormack. 'The Bad Seed' was from an extraordinary novel by William March.
My husband is the best caregiver in the world.
I think you just take each day and get the best out of it and do what you can and have fun.
I don't wake up saying, 'Oh, I'm going to die.' It's a waste of time. It really is.
Keep your chin up, and don't go to the funeral - mine or yours or your loved one's - until the day of the funeral because then you miss the life that you have left.
All of us are going to die. Every single one of us. So, while you're alive, be alive.
My mother was a Book of the Month Club devotee. I remember she always looked forward to Pearl Buck's books.
Rhoda Morgenstern gave a wonderful impetus and propulsion to my career.
When you age, you can do all kinds of roles. You don't have to look great. You can be the mom, the aunt. You can have a small part. You're an actor.
At an ERA fundraiser years ago, one of my favorite buttons was the one that said, 'Every mother is a working mother.'
Magazines airbrush everything. If you think it's an illusion, then it probably is.
I've had a good run; what more can I ask for?
When I wake up in the morning, I don't say, 'Oh, I have cancer. I say 'Another day. How you feeling? Good? Good.'
'Incurable' is a tough word. So is 'terminal.'
I am pretty heavy into causes. I'm an active Democrat, I boycott grapes, and I work for prison reform.
I really look at my life as blessed.
The movie that really 'did it for me' was 'All About Eve.' The backstage feeling, the authenticity, the passion those people had for their lives in the theater. I must say, the movie 'All About Eve,' what a great movie! 'All About Eve' had a profound effect on my life.
I'm now the poster child for not believing everything I'm told.
Whatever happens, who cares.
I have had acupuncture regularly, and I engage in visualization, which is actually an actor's tool, visualizing myself kicking out the cancer, making up scenarios.
I have had a magnificent run.
We have a lot of fear around death, and I thought maybe I can help somebody... I want people to be less scared.
