Valerie Harper dead at 80: Mary Tyler Moore Show actress passes away after battle with cancer
- The four-time Emmy winner’s family confirmed she passed away at 10:06am on Friday, but the exact cause of death was ‘not immediately disclosed’
- Harper previously informed her 311K social media followers she was ‘in good spirits’ and having ‘a wonderful day’ for her 80th birthday last Saturday
- Valerie was originally diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 followed by brain cancer in 2013, and she had been given three months to live
- The New York-born star is survived by her second husband Tony Cacciotti – whom she married in 1987 – as well as their 36-year-old daughter Cristina
Four-time Emmy winner Valerie Harper has died at 80 following a decade-long battle with cancer and a month-long stay in hospice care.
The New York-born star’s family confirmed to ABC 7 Los Angeles she passed away at 10:06am on Friday, but the exact cause of death was ‘not immediately disclosed.’
Harper previously informed her 311K social media followers she was ‘in good spirits’ and having ‘a wonderful day’ for her 80th birthday last Saturday.
Sad news: Four-time Emmy winner Valerie Harper has died at 80 following a decade-long battle with cancer and a month-long stay in hospice care (pictured in 2016)
Valerie was originally diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 followed by brain cancer in 2013, and she had been given three months to live.
The Golden Globe winner is survived by her second husband Tony Cacciotti – whom she married in 1987 – as well as their 36-year-old daughter Cristina.
‘I think she wants people to continue loving one another and continue bringing joy into the world in any way that they know how,’ Cristina exclusively told DailyMailTV last month.
‘And I think she does hope that at the end of the day her legacy of love will live on…I think she’s more afraid for my dad than anything. He lives for my mom.’
RIP: The New York-born star’s family confirmed to ABC 7 Los Angeles she passed away at 10:06am on Friday, but the exact cause of death was ‘not immediately disclosed’ (pictured in 1975)
‘Thank you!’ Harper previously informed her 311K social media followers she was ‘in good spirits’ and having ‘a wonderful day’ for her 80th birthday last Saturday
Fighter: Valerie was originally diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 followed by brain cancer in 2013, and she had been given three months to live (pictured in 2017)
Harper first came to fame in the seventies for playing sidekick Rhoda Morgenstern in CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show before scoring her very own spin-off Rhoda.
Younger fans might recognize Valerie from her more recent appearances in Sex and the City, Dancing with the Stars, 2 Broke Girls, Childrens Hospital, and The Simpsons.
The Nice Work if You Can Get It thespian also scored a Tony nomination for best actress in 2010 for her role as Tallulah Bankhead in Looped at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
‘He lives for my mom’: The Golden Globe winner is survived by her second husband Tony Cacciotti (pictured in 2014) – whom she married in 1987 – as well as their 36-year-old daughter Cristina
Cristina exclusively told DailyMailTV last month: ‘I think she wants people to continue loving one another and continue bringing joy into the world in any way that they know how. And I think she does hope that at the end of the day her legacy of love will live on’
TV star: Harper first came to fame in the seventies for playing sidekick Rhoda Morgenstern (L) in CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show before scoring her very own spin-off Rhoda (pictured in 1974)
But Harper’s last screen credit was providing her voice in the April 22 episode of TBS sitcom American Dad! titled ‘I Am the Jeans: The Gina Lavetti Story.’
‘My mom would kill me for saying this, but my favorite work that she’s ever done is this really, really bad horror movie called Night Terror,’ Cristina told MailOnline.
‘She’s on the road trying to get home to her husband and she’s being chased by a truck driver and the screams that my mom gives – it’s all throughout the movie – are hilarious. I mean tears in my eyes laughing. I never let her live it down.’
Branching generations: Younger fans might recognize Valerie from her more recent appearances in Sex and the City, Dancing with the Stars, 2 Broke Girls (pictured in 2015), Childrens Hospital, and The Simpsons
Stage thespian: Valerie also scored a Tony nomination for best actress in 2010 for her role as Tallulah Bankhead in Looped at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre (pictured in 2010)
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