Julie Harris facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Julie Harris
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Publicity photo of Julie Harris (1973)
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| Born |
Julia Ann Harris
December 2, 1925 Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S.
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| Died | August 24, 2013 (aged 87) |
| Education | Yale University |
| Years active | 1948–2009 |
| Spouse(s) |
Jay Julian
(m. 1946; div. 1954)Manning Gurian
(m. 1954; div. 1967)Walter Carroll
(m. 1977; div. 1982) |
| Children | 1 |
Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925 – August 24, 2013) was a famous American actress. She was known for her amazing work in both classic and modern plays. Julie Harris won five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play, which is a huge honor in theater!
She started her career on Broadway in 1945. Her mother wanted her to be a socialite, but Julie loved acting. She became well-known for playing a lonely 12-year-old girl in the 1950 play The Member of the Wedding. She even played the same role in the 1952 movie version, earning a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 1951, Julie showed how versatile she was by playing Sally Bowles in the play I Am a Camera. This role won her first Tony Award. She later appeared in the 1955 film version too. Julie Harris also gave great performances in movies like The Haunting (1963) and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), where she acted alongside Marlon Brando.
Besides her first Tony, she won more for plays like The Lark (1956), Forty Carats (1969), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973), and The Belle of Amherst (1977). She also won a Grammy Award for spoken word and three Emmy Awards for her TV work. In 1979, she joined the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She received the National Medal of Arts in 1994 and a special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2002.
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Early Life and Learning
Julia Ann Harris was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Her mother, Elsie L. Smith, was a nurse, and her father, William Pickett Harris, was an investment banker and a zoology expert. She had two brothers, William and Richard.
Julie went to Grosse Pointe Country Day School and later The Hewitt School in New York City. As a teenager, she trained at the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp in Colorado. Her mentor there, Charlotte Perry, encouraged her to apply to the Yale School of Drama. Julie attended Yale for a year and later received an honorary degree from the university in 2007. She also studied "method acting" at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. This type of acting focuses on using psychology and emotions to create a character.
A Career on Stage and Screen
Julie Harris was incredibly talented and worked in theater, movies, and television for many years.
Shining on Stage
In 1952, Julie won her first Best Actress Tony Award for her role as the lively Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera. This play was based on a book that later became the famous musical Cabaret.
One of her most famous stage performances was in The Belle of Amherst. This was a one-woman play about the life and poems of Emily Dickinson. Julie won a Grammy Award for the audio recording of this play. She performed it first in 1976 and later did other solo shows.
Julie Harris holds a record for the most individual Tony Award nominations, with 10. She shares this record with Chita Rivera. She also won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1966 for her work in Chicago theater.
Memorable Film Roles
Julie Harris made her film debut in 1952, playing the lonely teenager Frankie in The Member of the Wedding. This role earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination.
Director Elia Kazan chose her to act opposite James Dean in his first major film role, East of Eden (1955). She also played the mysterious Eleanor Lance in The Haunting (1963). In this movie, she stayed separate from the other actors to help her feel like her character, who was also isolated.
Other notable films she appeared in during the 1960s include Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), Harper (1966) with Paul Newman, and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967). She also appeared in the World War II drama The Hiding Place (1975).
Television Appearances
Julie Harris was nominated for 11 Primetime Emmy Awards for her television work and won three of them. She played Nora Helmer in a TV movie of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House (1959). She appeared in more leading roles on the Hallmark program than any other actress. Her performance in the 1958 TV movie Little Moon of Alban earned her an Emmy.
Her second Emmy win was for playing Queen Victoria in the 1961 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Victoria Regina. She also won her third Emmy in 2000 for her voice role as Susan B. Anthony in the documentary Not for Ourselves Alone.
From 1981 to 1987, Julie Harris was a regular on the TV series Knots Landing. She played Lilimae Clements, an unusual and caring mother. This role earned her an Emmy nomination and two Soap Opera Digest Award nominations.
Voice Work and Narrations
Julie Harris also lent her voice to many projects. She recorded narrations of E. B. White's children's book Stuart Little twice. She also narrated many other children's books for Caedmon Records.
She did a lot of voiceover work for documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. She was the voice of Emily Warren Roebling in Brooklyn Bridge (1981) and Ann Lee in The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God (1984). Most notably, she voiced Southern diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut for Burns' 1990 series The Civil War.
Later Years and Contributions
Julie Harris continued to work into her eighties. In 2008, she appeared on stage in Chatham, Massachusetts. She also narrated five historical documentaries and was on the board of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT). In 2007, when WHAT built a new theater, Julie Harris allowed them to name their stage the "Julie Harris Stage" in her honor.
Personal Life and Legacy
Julie Harris lived in West Chatham, Cape Cod, for many years. She was married three times and had one son, Peter Gurian. She was a breast cancer survivor and faced health challenges later in life, including a severe fall and two strokes.
Julie Harris passed away on August 24, 2013, from congestive heart failure at her home.
Her impact on American theater was huge. On December 5, 2005, she was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors. President George W. Bush said it was "hard to imagine the American stage without the face, the voice, and the limitless talent of Julie Harris."
Ben Brantley, a theater critic, called her "the actress who towered most luminously ... rather like a Statue of Liberty for Broadway." Alec Baldwin, who played her son on Knots Landing, praised her, saying, "Her voice was like rainfall. Her eyes connected directly to and channeled the depths of her powerful and tender heart. Her talent, a gift from God."
On August 28, 2013, Broadway theaters dimmed their lights for one minute to honor Julie Harris. In December 2013, a scholarship was created in her name at the Yale School of Drama to support acting students.
Images for kids
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Julie Harris in an Actors Studio play, Marathon '33 (1963)
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President George W. Bush and Laura Bush with the Kennedy Center honorees on December 4, 2005. From left to right: Julie Harris, actor Robert Redford, singer Tina Turner, ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell, and singer Tony Bennett.
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Julie Harris and James Dean in East of Eden (1955)
See also
In Spanish: Julie Harris para niños
