Julie Harris
Julia Ann Harris (December 2, 1925 – August 24, 2013) was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary roles, she earned numerous accolades including five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, and a BAFTA Award. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, received the National Medal of Arts in 1994, the Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2005.[1][2]
For other uses, see Julie Harris (disambiguation).
Julie Harris
August 24, 2013 (aged 87)
1948–2009
1
After making her Broadway debut in 1945 Harris went on to win five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play for her roles in I Am a Camera (1952), The Lark (1956), Forty Carats (1969), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973), and The Belle of Amherst (1977). Her other Tony-nominated roles were in Marathon '33 (1964), Skyscraper (1966), The au Pair Man (1974), Lucifer's Child (1991), and The Gin Game (1997).
She starred in the 1950 play The Member of the Wedding, a role she reprised in the 1952 film of the same name, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other notable film roles include East of Eden (1955), I Am a Camera (1955), The Haunting (1963), and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967). Harris received three Primetime Emmy Awards for her roles in Little Moon of Alban (1969), Victoria Regina (1962), and Not for Ourselves Alone (1999). She won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for The Belle of Amherst (1978)
Early life and education[edit]
Julia Ann Harris was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, the daughter of Elsie L. (née Smith), a nurse, and William Pickett Harris, an investment banker and authority on zoology.[3] She had an older brother, William, and a younger brother, Richard.[4] She graduated from Grosse Pointe Country Day School, which later merged with two others to form the University Liggett School. In New York City, she attended The Hewitt School.[5] As a teenager, she also trained at the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp in Colorado with Charlotte Perry, a mentor who encouraged Harris to apply to the Yale School of Drama, which she soon attended for a year.[6][7] In 2007, Yale bestowed an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree upon Harris.[8] As a founding member of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio,[9] Harris studied method acting,[10] which emphasized psychology and emotions, and although it was strongly associated with male actors, she was able to successfully employ its techniques.[11]
Personal life[edit]
Harris lived in West Chatham, Cape Cod, for many years until her death.[21] Three times divorced, she had one son, Peter Gurian. A breast cancer survivor,[5] she suffered a severe fall requiring surgery in 1999, a stroke in 2001, and a second stroke in 2010.[22]
Harris died on August 24, 2013, of congestive heart failure at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts.[23][24] Harris was cremated after her death.[25]