美国国家公共电台 NPR Valerie Harper, Who Played Beloved TV Sidekick Rhoda, Dies At 80

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

One of TV's most beloved sidekicks has died. Valerie Harper, best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," died this morning in Los Angeles. She was 80 years old. NPR's Elizabeth Blair has this remembrance.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE¹: Blunt, insecure, self-deprecating and stylish² - Rhoda Morgenstern was the friend you wish you had yourself.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")

VALERIE HARPER: (As Rhoda) You know that award thing we're going to on Saturday?

MARY TYLER MOORE: (As Mary) Yeah.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) I'm not going.

(LAUGHTER)

HARPER: (As Rhoda) Mary, what I mean to say is right now, I can think of better ways to spend Saturday than watching you win an award, you know?

MOORE: (As Mary) I'm not going to win.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) You're not.

MOORE: (As Mary) No, probably not.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) In that case, I'll go with you.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: Valerie Harper told NPR in 2010 that Rhoda was the perfect foil for the buttoned-up Mary Richards.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

HARPER: Rhoda had this wonderful quality of saying the unsayable. Things that Mary Richards would not say because she's too much of a lady or, you know, it's not polite, Rhoda, the New Yorker from the Bronx, would just say it straight out.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")

HARPER: (As Rhoda) Tell me. What else are you taking that's nicer than what I got?

MOORE: (As Mary) Shall we go?

HARPER: (As Rhoda) I bet your bathing suits are cuter than mine, too.

MOORE: (As Mary) Oh, Rhoda, they are not.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) Bikinis, right?

MOORE: (As Mary) Yes.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) Mine look like sweatsuits with short pants.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: They were one of TV's great comedy teams, says Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson.

ROBERT THOMPSON: I mean, we had Lucy and Ethel. They were kind of the Romulus and Remus of TV girlfriends, and we'd get a lot thereafter - Laverne and Shirley and Cagney and Lacey. But Rhoda and Mary were - I don't know. When they were on stage together, even though they weren't dancing, it was kind of like watching Astaire and Rogers. They just worked perfectly³ together.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW")

MOORE: (As Mary) In spite of everything, you're really a pretty hard person to dislike.

HARPER: (As Rhoda) I know what you mean. I'm having a hard time hating you too.

MOORE: (As Mary) We'll both have to work on it.

(LAUGHTER)

BLAIR: In her memoir⁴, Valerie Harper talked about how she obsessed⁵ over how to define Rhoda. She helped give her that hippy, chic⁶ look with colorful scarves and flowing skirts and pants. She wrote that she also tried to soften⁷ her edge. As Rhoda, Valerie Harper won three Emmys in a row in the early 1970s, and then the sidekick stepped into the spotlight⁸. Rhoda Morgenstern got her own show and another Emmy.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "RHODA")

HARPER: (As Rhoda) My name is Rhoda Morgenstern. I was born in the Bronx, N.Y., in December, 1941. I've always felt responsible for World War II. The first thing I remember liking⁹ that liked me back was food.

BLAIR: Valerie Harper was born in Suffern, N.Y. Her father was a lighting¹⁰ salesman. Her mother was a nurse. Harper's first love was ballet. Her first job - a dancer with Radio City Music Hall when she was a teenager. In the late 1950s, she was a chorus girl in Broadway musicals. To hone her comedy chops, she did improv with Second City, where she met her first husband, Dick Schaal. She later married actor and TV producer Tony Cacciotti. After years of doing sitcoms¹¹, Harper took on some serious roles. She co-wrote and starred in a one-woman play about Nobel Prize winner Pearl Buck¹². She portrayed¹³ the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in another solo show, "Golda's Balcony."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GOLDA'S BALCONY")

HARPER: (As Golda) Citizens of Israel, the Israel Defense¹⁴ Forces, our sons, have entered the fight.

BLAIR: But Valerie Harper will be remembered most for her impeccable comic timing¹⁵ - a skill she put to very good use when she played the glamorous¹⁶, hard-living actress Tallulah Bankhead in the play "Looped."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HARPER: (As Tallulah) And so, Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded¹⁷ rectum...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Rector.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Rector.

HARPER: (As Tallulah) Well, now, that's what I said.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) No, you said rectum.

HARPER: (As Tallulah) Oh.

(LAUGHTER)

HARPER: (As Tallulah) Well, that gives it quite a different meaning.

BLAIR: Valerie Harper was nominated for a Tony Award for "Looped" in 2010. She told NPR before taking the role, she had some reservations about repeating some of Tallulah Bankhead's salty language.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

HARPER: But I got around it. And when we - and we presented her as she was in life. The F-bomb was all over. And every time I did a show, I'd say, don't bring the kiddies to see Rhoda.

BLAIR: In 2009, Valerie Harper had a cancerous tumor¹⁸ removed from her lung. In early 2013, she was told the cancer had spread to areas surrounding the brain and that she probably wouldn't make it through the spring. In typical Harper fashion, she remained upbeat in interviews like this one, on the syndicated TV talk show "The Doctors."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE DOCTORS")

HARPER: And more than anything, I'm living in the moment. I really want Americans and all of us to be less afraid of death and know that it's a passage but that - don't go to the funeral before the day of the funeral. While you're living, live.

(APPLAUSE)

BLAIR: Long after "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Valerie Harper talked about how grateful and lucky she felt for landing the role of Rhoda, who she called as downright relatable as they come and a character she loved. Millions of female viewers felt exactly the same way.

Elizabeth Blair, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 stylish   

adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的

参考例句：

• He's a stylish dresser.他是个穿着很有格调的人。
• What stylish women are wearing in Paris will be worn by women all over the world.巴黎女性时装往往会引导世界时装潮流。

3 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

4 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

5 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

6 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

7 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

8 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

9 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

10 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

11 sitcoms   

n.情景喜剧( sitcom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This is the stuff most stadard TV sitcoms are made of. 这是大多数标注的电视幽默剧所采用的题材。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In most countries, prime-time Monday night television is dominated by sitcoms. 在大多数国家，周一晚上的电视黄金时段都由连续剧所占据。 来自互联网

12 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

13 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

15 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

16 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

17 deluded   

v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
• She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。