Barbara Densmoor Harris (July , â€" August , ) was an American
actress. She appeared in such movies as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza
Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married,
and Grosse Pointe Blank. Harris won a Tony Award and was nominated for
an Academy Award. She also received four Golden Globe Award
nominations.Harris was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of
Natalie (née Densmoor), a pianist, and Oscar Graham Harris, an
arborist who later became a businessman. In her youth, Harris attended
Wilbur Wright College. She began her stage career as a teenager at the
Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Her fellow players included Edward
Asner, Elaine May and Mike Nichols.She was also a member of the
Compass Players, the first ongoing improvisational theatre troupe in
the United States, directed by Paul Sills, to whom she was married at
that time. Though the Compass Players closed in disarray, a second
theatre directed by Sills called The Second City opened in Chicago in
and attracted national attention. Despite Sills and Harris having
divorced by this time, Sills cast her in this company and brought her
to New York to play in a Broadway edition at the Royale Theatre,
opening on September , . She was nominated for the Tony Award for
Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.A life member
of the Actors Studio, Harris received a Tony Award nomination in for
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut in
the original musical revue production From the Second City, which ran
at the Royale Theatre from September , to December , . The revue also
featured the young Alan Arkin and Paul Sand. Produced by Max Liebman
(among others) and directed by Paul Sills, the production presented
Harris in such sketches as Caesar's Wife, First Affair, Museum Piece,
and The Bergman Film.
actress. She appeared in such movies as A Thousand Clowns, Plaza
Suite, Nashville, Family Plot, Freaky Friday, Peggy Sue Got Married,
and Grosse Pointe Blank. Harris won a Tony Award and was nominated for
an Academy Award. She also received four Golden Globe Award
nominations.Harris was born in Evanston, Illinois, the daughter of
Natalie (née Densmoor), a pianist, and Oscar Graham Harris, an
arborist who later became a businessman. In her youth, Harris attended
Wilbur Wright College. She began her stage career as a teenager at the
Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. Her fellow players included Edward
Asner, Elaine May and Mike Nichols.She was also a member of the
Compass Players, the first ongoing improvisational theatre troupe in
the United States, directed by Paul Sills, to whom she was married at
that time. Though the Compass Players closed in disarray, a second
theatre directed by Sills called The Second City opened in Chicago in
and attracted national attention. Despite Sills and Harris having
divorced by this time, Sills cast her in this company and brought her
to New York to play in a Broadway edition at the Royale Theatre,
opening on September , . She was nominated for the Tony Award for
Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.A life member
of the Actors Studio, Harris received a Tony Award nomination in for
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut in
the original musical revue production From the Second City, which ran
at the Royale Theatre from September , to December , . The revue also
featured the young Alan Arkin and Paul Sand. Produced by Max Liebman
(among others) and directed by Paul Sills, the production presented
Harris in such sketches as Caesar's Wife, First Affair, Museum Piece,
and The Bergman Film.
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