Jessica Harper
| Jessica Harper | |
|---|---|
| File:Jessica Harper 1977 publicity shot.jpg
Harper in Little Women (1977)
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| Born | October 10, 1949 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Sarah Lawrence College |
| Occupation | Actress, producer, singer, author |
| Spouse(s) | Tom Rothman (1989–present; 2 children) |
Jessica Harper (born October 10, 1949) is an American actress and producer, as well as a singer. Harper made her feature film debut in Inserts (1974), followed by a starring role in Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974). She played the lead role in Dario Argento's horror cult classic Suspiria (1977), for which she is best remembered.[1] Other films include Shock Treatment (1981), The Blue Iguana (1988), Safe (1995), and Minority Report (2002). In addition to acting, Harper is also an author of children's music and books
Early life
Harper was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Eleanor (née Emery), a writer, and Paul Church Harper, Jr., a painter and the former chairman of the Needham Harper Worldwide advertising agency in New York.[2][3][4] She attended the North Shore Country Day School and Sarah Lawrence College.[5] She has three brothers, including a twin brother, William Harper, a composer, Sam Harper, a screenwriter and director, Charles Harper, and two sisters, Lindsay Harper duPont[3] and Diana Harper.
Career
Harper has appeared in more than twenty motion pictures, most notably Dario Argento's horror classic Suspiria; My Favorite Year, alongside Peter O'Toole and Mark Linn-Baker; as Phoenix in Phantom of the Paradise (in which she sang several songs); as Cathy Cake in Inserts by John Byrum; and as Janet Majors in Shock Treatment, where she again demonstrated great skills as a singer in the rock/pop style. She costarred with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters in Pennies from Heaven. Woody Allen featured her in his films Stardust Memories and Love and Death. She appeared in the fourth season of It's Garry Shandling's Show and in the Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise film Minority Report. She was seen in a 2005 episode ("Forget Me Not") of the television series Crossing Jordan.
She has written eleven books for children, and made seven albums of songs for children. She was named by Parenting magazine as "Parent of the Month" in 2004. In 2000, she sang background vocals on selected tracks on the Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks album Beatin' the Heat.
In December 2010, Harper released a cookbook titled The Crabby Cook Cookbook: Recipes and Rants. In a January 2011 interview[6] Harper said, "I thought it was high time there was a book that acknowledged that not everybody experiences the joy of cooking, that sometimes cooking for a family on a daily basis can be really irritating! This book, with 135 easy recipes, is for those people, crabby cooks like me! It's a collection of humor, survival tips and recipes, for the kitchen-challenged!" In March 2011, she was on tour promoting her book. Stops included Chicago,[7] where she held a "Lunch and Learn with Jessica Harper".
Family
Harper is married to Thomas Edgar Rothman, former Co-Chairman of 20th Century Fox.[3] She has two daughters, Elizabeth and Nora, who are featured on her children's albums and books.
Recordings
- A Wonderful Life (1994)[8]
Filmography
| Feature films | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | |||
| 1972-1974 | 'Rameau's Nephew' by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen | Unnamed character | experimental film | |||
| 1973 | The Garden Party | Peggy | Short film | |||
| 1974 | Inserts | Cathy Cake | ||||
| Phantom of the Paradise | Phoenix | |||||
| 1975 | Love and Death | Natasha | ||||
| 1977 | Suspiria | Suzy Bannion | ||||
| Hawaii Five-O | Sunny Mandell | Television series, 1 episode | ||||
| Aspen | Kit Kendrick | Mini-series | ||||
| 1978 | Little Women | Jo March | Television film | |||
| 1979 | The Evictors | Ruth Watkins | ||||
| 1980 | Stardust Memories | Daisy | ||||
| 1981 | Shock Treatment | Janet Majors | ||||
| Pennies from Heaven | Joan | |||||
| 1982 | My Favorite Year | K.C. Downing | ||||
| 1985 | When Dreams Come True | Annie | Television film | |||
| 1986 | The Imagemaker | Cynthia | ||||
| 1987 | Once Again | Carrie | Television film | |||
| 1988 | The Blue Iguana | Cora | ||||
| 1989 | Big Man on Campus | Dr. Fisk | ||||
| Eat a Bowl of Tea | American prostitute | Uncredited | ||||
| 1993 | Mr. Wonderful | Funny Face | ||||
| 1995 | Safe | Joyce | ||||
| 1996 | Boys | Mrs. John Baker | ||||
| The Story First: Behind the Unabomber | Linda | Television film | ||||
| 1997 | On the Edge of Innocence | Alice Walker | Television film | |||
| 2002 | Minority Report | Anne Lively | ||||
| 2005 | Crossing Jordan | Dorris Meisner | Television series, 1 episode | |||
| 2015 | Proof (2015 TV series) | "Cat's" mother | 1 episode | |||
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Jessica Harper Biography
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jessica Harper, Actress, Marries T. E. Rothman – New York Times
- ↑ "The Blue Book: Leaders of the English-Speaking World"
- ↑ Jessica Harper Biography at Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ Mondo-video.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
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- Use mdy dates from December 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with hCards
- Official website not in Wikidata
- 1949 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- Actresses from Chicago, Illinois
- American female singers
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- American women writers
- North Shore Country Day School alumni
- Sarah Lawrence College alumni
