HARRIS, BARBARA

HARRIS, BARBARA (Sandra Markowitz; 1937– ), U.S. actress. Born in Evanston, Illinois, Harris attended the Goodman Theater School and the University of Chicago. Generally acknowledged as one of the pioneering women in the field of improvisational theater, Harris began her career with the famous Second City improvisation troupe. She moved from there to Broadway, where she won a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance in the musical The Apple Tree (1967). Her other Broadway performances were From the Second City (1961); Mother Courage and Her Children (1963); and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965). She also starred in a stage production of Oh Dad, Poor Dad …, for which she won a Theater World Award in 1962. Harris made her film debut in the bittersweet comedy A Thousand Clowns (1965) and went on to star in such films as Oh Dad, Poor Dad… (1967), Plaza Suite (1971), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), The War between Men and Women (1972), Mixed Company (1974), Nashville (1976), Freaky Friday (1976), Movie Movie (1978), The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), The North Avenue Irregulars (1979), Second-Hand Hearts (1981), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), and Grosse Pointe Blank (1997). (Jonathan Licht / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)