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Biography
Rosemary Harris (born 1930) has been a enormously popular and versatile star of the theatre on both sides of the Atlantic for over 50 years.She was born in England but, shortly afterwards, the family moved to India, returning six year later. After school she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where she won a Gold Medal. She made her stage debut in the Broadway production of Moss Hart's Climate of Eden (1951) and was described by the press as the ‘most beautiful girl on Broadway’. Although the cast was awarded a Theatre World Award, the play ran for only 20 performances. After it closed, she returned to Britain where she made her West End debut in the British premiere of The Seven Year Itch (1952) - it ran for a year at the Aldwych Theatre. She went next for a season to the Bristol Old Vic and then joined the Old Vic. Among the star roles she played there were Desdemona, opposite Richard Burton, in Othello (1956) and Cressida in Tyrone Guthrie’s production of Troilus and Cressida. During this period, she also made her first film, Beau Brummell (1954), with Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor. In December, 1956, she returned to Broadway with the Old Vic Company that was presenting a short repertory season in which he again played Cressida.When the season ended, she decided to stay in New York. Much of her 1957 work was involved in television: she appeared in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and in two episodes of The DuPont Show of the Month, and one episode of both Hitchcock’s Suspicion and The Kraft Television Theatre. Her next Broadway appearance was in Interlock (1958), with Celeste Holm, at the ANTA Playhouse. The new play survived for only four performances. Before the end of the year, she was back again: starring with Jason Robards Jr. in The Disenchanted (1958-9).In 1959, she met an ambitious young actor, Ellis Rabb (1930-1998) who was determined to establish his own company - The Association of Producing Artists (APT). It was a project that appealed to her, as did the man. They married in December, 1959. Shortly afterwards, on February 24, 1960, she played the opening night of Benn W. Levy’s The Tumbler that was directed by Laurence Olivier and also starred Charlton Heston. It was not a success and there were to be only another four performances.She then gave her energies to helping her husband form the APA and then appeared on a prolonged tour with the company, performing mainly classical plays. In 1962, she appeared in Laurence Olivier's Company at the Chichester Festival Theatre for their first season, playing in The Broken Heart and Chances. She returned the following year and, in 1964, she played Ophelia, opposite Peter O'Toole, in Hamlet, the Laurence Olivier production that inaugurated the National Theatre at the Old Vic.Apart from her visits to London, she lived in the States and performed mainly with the APT company. The exception was the première on Broadway of The Lion in Winter (1966) in which she created the role of Eleanor of Aquitaine and for which she received the 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She also appeared on Broadway in seven other plays, all produced by APT, between November 23, 1965, and June 17, 1967. In the last of the seven, she played Natasha in a new dramatisation, directed by husband, of War and Peace. This was the last time she appeared in an APT production. Shortly afterwards, she and Ellis Rabb were divorced and, later in 1967, she married the author, John Ehle, who lived in North Carolina. In the spring of 1969, she and her new husband went to London where she starred with Paul Rogers in Plaza Suite. For her performance, she won the ‘London Evening Standard’ Award for Best Actress. After her return to Winston-Salem in North Carolina, she gave birth to her daughter, Jennifer Ehle, who has become a successful and distinguished actress.Throughout the ensuing years, she has been a much loved and highly-praised performer in an astonishing variety of roles in films and in plays on stage and television. Highlights of her theatre career in London include: Heartbreak House (1984) with Rex Harrison; The Best of Friends (1987) with John Gielgud; and Hecuba in Women of Troy (1995) for the Royal National Theatre. On Broadway, she played Barbara Jackson in Pack of Lies (1985); Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers (1992); and Waiting in the Wings (1999-2000) with Lauren Bacall. Her film roles include Mrs Doring in The Boys From Brazil (1978); Rose Haigh-Wood in Tom & Viv (1994) for which she received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress; the Player Queen in Hamlet (1996) with Kenneth Branagh; and Aunt May Reilly Parker in Spider-Man (2002). The many TV dramas in which she has appeared include Notorious Woman (1974) and Holocaust (1978), for both of which she received an Emmy nomination.Despite her justifiable fame, she has always been a kind and giving person who has always been happy to share her considerable expertise with drama students. She has taught acting courses in many places from her now home state of North Carolina to Russia.
| Items for Sale on Collectors' Post |
| Click for details |
| 000779 |
Theatre: Programs (USA) - post 1939 | THE DISENCHANTED (by Budd Schulberg & Harvey Breit) with Jason Robards, Jr. & Rosemary Harris - world premiere |
| 014823 |
Theatre: Programs (USA) - post 1939 | A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (by Tennessee Williams) with ROSEMARY HARRIS |
| 014758 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | THE BEST OF FRIENDS (by Hugh Whitemore) with JOHN GIELGUD |
| 014821 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | STEEL MAGNOLIAS (by Robert Harling) with ROSEMARY HARRIS |
| 014884 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | BEST OF FRIENDS (by Hugh Whitemore) with JOHN GIELGUD |
| 010461 |
Theatre: Playbills | HAY FEVER (by Noel Coward) with Rosemary Harris - PREVIEW |
| 010761 |
Theatre: Playbills | HEARTBREAK HOUSE (by Bernard Shaw) with Rex Harrison, Rosemary Harris & Philip Bosco |
| 011247 |
Theatre: Playbills | HEARTBREAK HOUSE by George Bernard Shaw |
| 016484 |
Theatre: Playbills | THE ROYAL FAMILY (by George S. Kaufman & Edna Ferber) with ROSEMARY HARRIS & EVA LeGALLIENNE |
| 016594 |
Theatre: Playbills | A DELICATE BALANCE (by Edward Albee) with ROSEMARY HARRIS & ELAINE STRITCH |
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