*Broadway Legend Julie Harris has died ...

[bigbelterbaby]

Rest in Peace.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APfa96e4e6cb144fdda7146fc3d8a51d03.html

[tazber]

Oh wow.

R.I.P.

[Jordan Catalano]

Oh my God. I'm in shock. One of the finest actresses of all time.

Rest in peace.

[CapnHook]

We just lost a great talent. RIP, Julie.

[strummergirl]

Loved her. Amazing in The Haunting and the backbone to Kazan's East of Eden. RIP

[Almira]

One of the greats. Truly the end of an era.

[PalJoey]

There are some performers you are lucky to have seen.

And then there are some you are blessed to have seen.




Julie Harris Accepts Her Tony Award for The Last of Mrs. Lincoln, 1973

[Playbilly]

Miss her already!!! Member of the Wedding....brilliant!

[GavestonPS]

I am stunned. I recently introduced my husband to the film of A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING.

Only one of Miss Harris' triumphs...

[somethingwicked]

A true legend. May she rest in peace.

[Dollypop]

So sad. I saw her in the musical SKYSCRAPER and then in THE BELLE OF AMHERST. She was absolutely luminous

May she rest in peace.

[CarlosAlberto]

R.I.P. Miss Julie Harris.

I never got the opportunity to see this brilliant actress work her magic on a live theater stage as so many of you have but I did have the honor to witness her talent in her many film and TV appearances.

I loved her on KNOTS LANDING.

[Borstalboy]

We hadn't heard from her in quite some time. I hope she rests in peace.

"I doubt that Jimmy (Dean) would ever got through EAST OF EDEN if it hadn't been for an angel on our set. Her name was Julie Harris, and she was goodness itself with Dean, kind and patient and everlastingly sympathetic. She would adjust her performance to whatever the new kid did. Despite the fact that it had early on been made clear to me that Warner, when he saw her first wardrobe test, wished I had gone with a 'prettier' girl, I thought Julie beautiful; as a performer she found in each moment what was dearest and most moving. She also had the most affecting voice I've ever heard in an actress; it conveyed tenderness and humor simultaneously. She helped with Jimmy more than I did with any direction I gave him. The breakup of a film company when the schedule concludes is a sad event; none was sadder for me than when I saw this young woman for the last time."--Elia Kazan, A LIFE.

[lovebwy]

Got to see her in Lucifer's Child and Love Letters with Dick Kiley. A fantastic actress.

[Borstalboy]

"A prettier girl"

[PalJoey]

She was the first Sally Bowles.

http://youtu.be/v7jBfFzsGKg

[CJ N2N]

Wow, I never made the connection that that was her in The Haunting. One of (if not THE) the finest performances in a horror ever.

Rest in peace, Ms. Harris.

[Kristie-K2]

Wonderful Actress...I got to meet her in Seattle. She was so sweet...I saw her show 5 times...

[After Eight]

A very sad day for us all.

She gave so much to the theatre, and to all those who love the theatre.

Personally, she provided me with among my most treasured theatregoing memories. I loved her in everything I saw her in, but my favorite of her performances was in one of my favorite plays, Forty Carats. She was as radiant as a 40 carat diamond in that play.

Julie Harris was so wonderful, and she made my life wonderful.

I thank her with all my heart, and wish her eternal peace.

[WestCoastActor/Director]

I am fortunate to have seen her on stage once- Driving Miss Daisy. Brilliant actress in a league of their own.

[fredric47]

It is rather ironic that we lost brilliant actress Julie Harris on Saturday. I spent part of my afternoon watching on YouTube a replay of the first nationwide telecast of the Tony Awards from the Spring of 1967. There she was looking the way I first remember seeing her on stage in the '60s first on Broadway in the musical, "Skyscraper," and then in summer stock as Blanche duBois opposite Robert Forster's Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire, making a speech about the voting process for the Tony Awards and how the votes were tabulated by the accounting firm of Lutz and Carr.
I was privileged to see Miss Harris in three shows after that: "The Au Pair Man" opposite Charles Durning; "Forty Carats," and "Lucifer's Child," which was the last time I saw her on a Broadway stage in March 1991. All three of these performances were nominated for Best Actress Tony Awards. Of course, she won her third Tony Award for "Forty Carats," in which she spun a cotton candy confection of a story into pure gold with her delightful personality displayed in this role. It was after "Forty Carats" that I had the opportunity to meet and interview Miss Harris for my radio show at the time, "Theatre Party," broadcast over the first high school radio station in the United States, WHHS-FM in suburban Philadelphia, PA. I still have the cassette tape of that interview, and I plan to listen to it again sometime soon.
She was a wonderful person to interview because she gave in depth answers to every question while being most gracious and charming towards me, a high school junior and lifelong theatre buff.
A few years ago after she had had her first stroke, I entertained the idea of writing the first full length biography of Miss Harris. We had gotten along so well at the time of our meeting in 1968 that I had the notion that she would welcome speaking to me again about her life and career. I made the mistake of asking someone in the theatre who claimed to know her fairly well because his mother had been a famous actress who worked with her in a film and he was a mutual friend of one of Miss Harris's closest show biz colleagues, Charles Nelson Reilly,who was still living at the time, whether he thought Julie Harris would go for the idea of someone writing her biography. He said positively not because she was a very private person and would not want to participate in such a project.Now I see in Bruce Weber's insightful "New York Times' obituary, that her favorite type of book to read was historical biographies.So maybe if I had made the arrangements with her not to publish the book until after her passing, she might have agreed.
If any of Julie Harris's theatrical friends and associates are reading this message board entry, feel free to e-mail me if you would be willing to be interviewed for a prospective biography of Julie Harris once I have a publisher's contract. Meanwhile I am most grateful for the existence of YouTube and the video tape recordings of Julie Harris performances available at The Museum of Television and Radio and at The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center's Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.

[bigbelterbaby]

obviously there should be an announcement the next few days for the Broadway lights to go out in her honor....I will be very upset if news of her death is not well covered - it doesn't matter if she's 87 and hasn't been in the public eye for a few years - she was here and now she's gone and it's a huge, awful loss for anyone involved in the arts, because this lady was a trailblazer, a true legend and an American original. she might not have had the looks of a movie star and she was a private person never in the press unless it was work related - but her pure talent got her were she is - she is an Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Winner and an Oscar nominee . one step away from EGOT. shame she didn't do more films but at least we have some and she got her Oscar nomination. she was a girl of the stage through and through. let's please now remember her and celebrate her amazing career and life.

[Will42]

Terrible, terrible news. One of the greatest actresses of the American theater. Rest in Peace, dear Ms. Harris.

I can't believe that the news is still not on BroadwayWorld's home page or that is not the top story on Playbill's website.
Not only she was a great actress, but also the most celebrated performer in Tony Awards history, but apparently Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike's closing date announcement is more important.

[John J Mackay]

She was the actress of her age

[best12bars]

There were many Broadway stars of the Golden Age, but there were a few true legends that through repeated excellence which spanned multiple shows and multiple decades rose high above the rest.

Julie Harris was one of them.

RIP