Celebrity Biographies
Julie Harris
Julie Harris triumphed above all on the Broadway stage, where she was considered the antithesis of the typical diva, without her having intended it. In the cinema she starred in “East of Eden”, along with James Dean. The actress died at the age of 87 at her residence in Chatham, Massachusetts, as a result of heart failure, on August 24, 2013. This was made public by Francesca James, her lifelong friend, who was with her at the moment of his death.
Born in Grosse Pointe Park (Michigan), on December 2, 1925, Julia Ann Harris studied drama at Yale. At the age of 19, she made her Broadway debut in the play “It’s a Gift.” After participating in several theatrical productions, she became a student of the famous Actor’s Studio.
She established herself on stage with The Member of the Wedding , a play by Carson McCullers , where she played a young woman who felt abandoned by her older brother’s wedding. She made her film debut with the film adaptation of the text, directed by Fred Zinnemann . For the role she earned an Oscar nomination for best actress in 1953.
Julie Harris devoted herself almost entirely to the theater. She garnered a whopping 9 Tony Award nominations. She won five times, for Christopher Iserwood’s “I Am a Camera,” Jean Anouilh ‘s “The Lark” as Joan of Arc, the comedy “Forty Carats,” “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln,” in the one that represented the wife of Abraham Lincoln, and “The Belle of Amherst”, where the poet Emily Dickinson was.
Despite such intense theatrical activity, Julie Harris participated in numerous films. Her work stands out in East of Eden , an adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel directed by Elia Kazan , where she played the main female character, Abra, the girlfriend of Aron ( Richard Davalos ), the brother of James Dean ‘s character .
He also participated in titles such as Francis Ford Coppola ‘s You’re A Big Boy , Journey of the Damned , by Stuart Rosenberg , Reflections in a Golden Eye , by John Huston , and starred in the horror film The Haunted House , by Robert Wise , based on the novel by Shirley Jackson . In Michael Apted ‘s Gorillas in the Mist , she played Roz Carr, the elegant American woman in Rwanda who hosts the protagonist ( Sigourney Weaver ).
Throughout her career, Julie Harris has also appeared in various television series such as Holidays at Sea and Colombo . She won two Emmy Awards, for her work on Little Moon of Alban and Victoria Regina .