A biography for Valerie Harperhasn’t been written yet.
“I don't wake up saying, 'Oh, I'm going to die.' It's a waste of time. It really is.”
“Daddy was a salesman and away a lot, always working. My mom took me to the movies on Thursday nights because it was dish night, when they gave you a free dish along with your movie ticket.”
“That's very unusual for an actor, to have gainful employment that they are secure in, that they know is going to be there year after year.”
“On 'Rhoda,' they wanted my husband, Joe, to wear a pajama top when we were doing love scenes. They finally let him take it off as long as the audience saw him get into bed wearing pajama bottoms so they didn't think he was completely naked underneath.”
“I have an intention to live each moment fully.”
“It's really important that we don't hang up the membership to the human community at menopause.”
“I long ago came to the understanding that the problems I once had with food were not merely about food. Eating was a way of trying to fill up the emptiness, to provide comfort. It was a substitute for love. I'm not referring to the love that comes from someone else. The love that was missing from my life was self-love. With age I've discovered a sense of worth that makes me less hungry. A piece of cake is just a piece of cake.”
“I loved working in the theater.”
“'Incurable' is a tough word. So is 'terminal.'”
“I first met Rhoda Morgenstern in the spring of 1970.”
“Live fully in the instant.”
“Stop working so hard at being interesting and focus on what's outside yourself. There are universes out there that need to be explored. And, an interested person is extremely interesting.”
“The body is just a rooming house.”
“I have had acupuncture regularly, and I engage in visualization, which is actually an actor's tool, visualizing myself kicking out the cancer, making up scenarios.”
“I think drama and comedy are pretty much all the same, and the issue is whether or not you have a sense of humor.”
“I've had a lot of great stuff - spectacular stuff - happen to me. I've got to not be a pig about life.”
“What we really wanted to call it was 'I Rhoda Book.'”
“I really developed an early love for ballet. Like most dancers, I am still 'first' a dancer. I'm very proud of it. Once you are a dancer, the physicality never leaves you, nor does the strength. Hopefully, it keeps you like an athlete.”
“I am pretty heavy into causes. I'm an active Democrat, I boycott grapes, and I work for prison reform.”
“I danced in choruses from about 1959 to 1967, in 'Take Me Along,' 'Wildcat,' and 'Subways Are for Sleeping.'”