I was shocked to learn, yesterday, that Barbara Harris had left us. She passed away, at the age of 83, in Scottsdale, Arizona, of lung cancer.
If "Nashville," Altman's 1975 masterwork, had been the only thing she had done, she would have been iconic. But Harris was also a TONY winning Legend Of The Musical Stage, thanks to "The Apple Tree." She also sang the ravishing score in the original production of "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever," opposite none other than John Cullum. This cast album is the treasure trove of anyone who calls themselves a Theater Queen! I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She also originated the role of Rosalie, in the original production of Arthur Kopit's "Oh, Dad, Poor Dad...Mama's Hung You In The Closet, And I'm Feeling So Sad," and she and "Nashville" colleague, Karen Black, also deceased, appeared together in Hitchcock's very last film, 1976's "Family Plot." I still have not seen it. I must.
The kookiness that Harris brought to a lot of her characters carried over into real life. One of theater history's most famous stories is how, during a matinee performance of 'Clear Day,' she finished a number, walked off the stage--and kept on going, right through the stage door. The understudy had to do the rest of the show.
But when Harris was focused, as in "Nashville," she was funny and brilliant.
Her other musical number, in that film, "Gestures," is hilarious, because she and the band are performing at near a drag car race, and are completely drowned out by those sounds. Yet the sequence is both hilarious, and brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I also know she lived in Chicago for a time, where she taught acting, privately. Lucky the ones to have studied with her.
Barbara will be missed, but not forgotten.
Pictured is Ronee Blakley. But then comes Harris' rendition of "It Don't Worry Me!"
Ah, dammit: I cannot STAND the way all the idols of our youth have been dropping like flies lately. My mind knows its because they were all already in their 30s-40s when we teen queens first discovered them in the early 1970s, but my heart refuses to believe 45 years have passed since then (as well as much of the lifestyle we aspired to). How is it possible that we're not young anymore? When the hell did that happen? Its such an odd feeling to have outlived nearly all of your idols, with none on the horizon who could remotely replace them.
ReplyDeleteBarbara Harris was a hoot as the bogus psychic in "Family Plot" (who discovers she's not so bogus after all). The opening scene has her doing a variation on the "Tillie" seance from "I Love Lucy", only more ludicrous. Bruce Dern was still sexy as hell in his "maybe he'll kill you after, but the sex would be so worth it" era. Karen Black is interestingly off her game here: it quickly becomes obvious Hitchcock's formalism scared the hell out of her. Unlike Harris and Dern who had nothing to lose, Black was on a career roll that she desperately wanted to prolong.
Those two hippies were at ease and pretty much ignored Hitch's direction, instead pretending they were in an Altman improv movie. Black was out of her depth and somewhat miscast, incapable of the subtleties required to make the story come off (or the ability to riff off her demented co-stars). The result was Hitch's final failure: another darkly-comic misfire along the lines of his "The Trouble With Harry". Back in 1976, I went to see it three or four times (remember when neighborhood theaters had $1 matinees? remember neighborhood theaters, period?). Each time I had the theater practically all to myself. I went because I was obsessed with Karen Black (and subconsciously hot for Bruce Dern). Not a great film, but a cute curio: worth a look if/when it shows up on PBS or TCM. It may be a long wait: "Family Plot" is utterly forgotten at this point so it rarely gets aired even during Hitch festivals.
ReplyDeleteDarling,
I too ask myself about age and how
I got that way so soon--especially in
light of my father's passing.
I would love to see "Family Plot," but
it is never revived, and did not fare
well in the theaters, originally.
It would be great if the Film Forum
or some venue had a Harris retrospective.
But, I guess in this climate, that would
be too much to hope for.