Mary Tyler Moore Show star Valerie Harper was starring in a musical at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Ogunquit, Maine when she fell ill earlier this week. Found unconscious backstage, she was transported to a local hospital in York, where she was deemed stable and was said to be resting comfortably–at first, anyway.
Subsequent reports have claimed Harper is not doing well and that the situation is grave. One states the Mary Tyler Moore Show star–known for her role as the hilarious Rhoda Morgenstern–is in a coma.
Late on Thursday, the Ogunquit Playhouse issued a new statement, saying reports about Harper’s “grave condition” are false. In fact, they say the actress has now been released from the hospital and is expected to resume her role in Nice Work If You Can Get It, alongside All in the Family star Sally Struthers, within days.
Valerie Harper was diagnosed with brain cancer back in 2013 and initially given three to six months to live. She has long since defied those odds, and that has no doubt led to the barrage of rumors surrounding her recent hospitalization.
Actress Valerie Harper has been released from the hospital http://t.co/hBXqz0N990
— TIME.com (@TIME) July 31, 2015
Harper graced TV screens alongside Mary Tyler Moore in The Mary Tyler Moore Show for seven years, from 1970 to 1977. The two actresses played off one another–with Moore being sensible and Harper playing a fun-loving, quirky role.
Hopefully this new report about Valerie Harper is an accurate one. It is much better to imagine the Mary Tyler Moore Show star released from the hospital, recovering, and preparing to return to the Ogunquit Playhouse stage than it is to think the worst as other reports stated.
May Valerie Harper’s health continue to improve and may she break a leg–figuratively, of course–alongside Sally Struthers in Nice Work If You Can Get It.