NEW YORK — Just a week after the death of ’70s TV icon Bonnie Franklin, Valerie Harper has told People magazine that she has “terminal brain cancer,” and has three months to live.
In a few sparse quotes from the magazine’s website, Harper, 73, says: “I don’t think of dying, I think of being here now.” Per the magazine, she has a condition called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. Harper portrayed Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (and later her own hugely popular series “Rhoda”) and was one of the most beloved characters in sitcom history.
She also is an accomplished stage actress, and earned a Tony nomination for her recent run in “Looped,” about Tallulah Bankhead. There were indications by the way that all was not right with Harper, who had to pull out of the show before it went on national tour because of illness a couple of months ago. (A non-smoker, she had earlier suffered from lung cancer in 2009.)
