Jean Harris
Encyclopedia
Jean Harris was the headmistress of The Madeira School
for girls in McLean, Virginia
who made national news in 1980 as the defendant in a high-profile murder case of her lover Dr. Herman Tarnower
, a well-known cardiologist and author of the best-selling book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.
Jean Harris attended Smith College
in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she graduated magna cum laude in May 1945 as an economics major. She subsequently married and had two sons; David (born 1950) and Jim (born 1952).
In 1965, Jean Harris divorced her husband, Jim Harris.
. They then began a 14-year relationship. Though Tarnower showered Harris with gifts and exotic vacations, he had multiple relationships with other women during these years.
Harris worked as the headmistress of the Madeira School while continuing her long-distance relationship with Tarnower, who would regularly accompany other lovers in front of her. Tarnower prescribed Harris multiple medications over the course of several years.
In the 1970s, Tarnower hired Lynne Tryforos, a woman more than 30 years his junior, to work as a secretary-receptionist at the Scarsdale Medical Center. They began a sexual relationship that lasted until his death.
On March 10, 1980, Harris drove from the Madeira School to Tarnower's home in Purchase, New York
, with a handgun in her possession. She later stated that she had planned to commit suicide
after talking in person with Tarnower one last time. When she arrived at the house she noticed Tryforos's lingerie in the bedroom. An argument ensued, and Herman Tarnower allegedly said to her, "Jesus, Jean, you're crazy! Get out of here!" Harris shot Tarnower four times at close range, mortally wounding him. She was arrested and booked for second-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty, insisting that the shooting was an accident and that the gun had gone off accidentally while he tried to wrestle it away from her.
for psychiatric evaluation and therapy. She then contracted the services of attorney Joel Aurnou to plan her defense.
The case went to trial on November 21, 1980, and lasted 14 weeks, becoming one of the longest in state history. The New York press sensationalized the trial and made Harris a household name from coast to coast. Harris took the stand and testified at length in her own defense, but the jury rejected her story that the shooting had been accidental, and convicted her of second-degree murder.
With the guilty verdict, Harris was not legally eligible to inherit $220,000 Tarnower had left her in his will.
Harris has consistently maintained that she did not intentionally kill Tarnower. Joel Aurnou would later state that he encouraged his client to plead guilty to a lesser charge, but she refused. Judge Russell R. Leggett ordered her confined to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York
, for the minimum of 15 years to life. Numerous appeal
s followed the conviction, but the higher courts determined that she had received a fair trial.
Because the defense had hoped for a complete acquittal, the jury was not offered the option of finding Harris guilty of first-degree manslaughter
— the mercy option — and the mental health professionals who tested and treated Harris were not called to testify.
While serving her sentence, Harris made it her mission to improve the education of female inmates in her facility. She began programs in which women could work toward obtaining their GED
s or college degrees while imprisoned. She also taught a parenting class to inmates and developed the in-prison nursery for babies born to inmates.
11 years after Harris's conviction, Governor Mario Cuomo
commuted the remainder of her sentence on December 29, 1992, as she was being prepped for quadruple bypass heart surgery
. She was released from prison by the parole board and initially planned to live in a cabin in New Hampshire
, but later moved to the Whitney Center, a retirement home in Hamden, Connecticut
, where she currently resides.
After her release, Harris visited Tarnower's grave at Mount Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson on multiple occasions.
in the 1982 book Mrs. Harris and by the journalist Shana Alexander
in the 1983 book Very Much a Lady: The Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower.
Harris's murder trial was depicted in the 1981 made-for-television movie The People vs. Jean Harris. She was portrayed by Ellen Burstyn
, who was nominated for an Emmy Award
and a Golden Globe Award
for the performance. Burstyn was later nominated for another Emmy for a cameo role as one of Tarnower's former lovers in Mrs. Harris
, a 2005 movie in which Annette Bening
played Jean Harris.
In the 1995 movie Dolores Claiborne
, the journalist daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh
asks her mother, Kathy Bates
, why she killed her husband. The daughter then excuses herself by saying, "Don't feel too bad, Ma. I asked Jean Harris the same thing once."
In the 1997 Seinfeld
episode "The Summer of George
", Raquel Welch
plays herself playing Jean Harris in a fictional Tony Award
-winning musical about the murders called Scarsdale Surprise.
In 2006, HBO films
produced Mrs. Harris
, which depicted Harris's relationship with Tarnower from beginning to end, including the trial. The film starred Annette Bening
, with Ben Kingsley
opposite her as Tarnower. Both Bening and Kingsley received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the film.
Harris and Tarnower are referred to in Christine Lavin
's song "Cold Pizza for Breakfast".
The Madeira School
The Madeira School is a private, non-denominational preparatory boarding school for girls located in McLean, Virginia, United States. Originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., it was founded by Lucy Madeira Wing in 1906 and moved to the Northern Virginia suburb of...
for girls in McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....
who made national news in 1980 as the defendant in a high-profile murder case of her lover Dr. Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower
Herman Tarnower was a cardiologist and the author of the bestselling diet book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet...
, a well-known cardiologist and author of the best-selling book The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.
Life
Jean Harris was born Jean Struven in Cleveland, Ohio on April 27, 1923 to Albert and Mildred Struven. She was the second of four children.Jean Harris attended Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she graduated magna cum laude in May 1945 as an economics major. She subsequently married and had two sons; David (born 1950) and Jim (born 1952).
In 1965, Jean Harris divorced her husband, Jim Harris.
Life with Tarnower
Harris met Tarnower, a respected cardiologist (later known, due to a popular diet book he published, as the "Scarsdale Diet Doctor"), in December 1966, the year after her divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
. They then began a 14-year relationship. Though Tarnower showered Harris with gifts and exotic vacations, he had multiple relationships with other women during these years.
Harris worked as the headmistress of the Madeira School while continuing her long-distance relationship with Tarnower, who would regularly accompany other lovers in front of her. Tarnower prescribed Harris multiple medications over the course of several years.
In the 1970s, Tarnower hired Lynne Tryforos, a woman more than 30 years his junior, to work as a secretary-receptionist at the Scarsdale Medical Center. They began a sexual relationship that lasted until his death.
Events of March 10, 1980
As Madeira students were preparing to leave for spring break, some staged a "sit-in" protest denouncing the educators and headmistress of Madeira. Harris was troubled by the actions of the students. On the evening of March 9, 1980, Madeira faculty members noted she seemed despondent and distant.On March 10, 1980, Harris drove from the Madeira School to Tarnower's home in Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...
, with a handgun in her possession. She later stated that she had planned to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
after talking in person with Tarnower one last time. When she arrived at the house she noticed Tryforos's lingerie in the bedroom. An argument ensued, and Herman Tarnower allegedly said to her, "Jesus, Jean, you're crazy! Get out of here!" Harris shot Tarnower four times at close range, mortally wounding him. She was arrested and booked for second-degree murder. She pleaded not guilty, insisting that the shooting was an accident and that the gun had gone off accidentally while he tried to wrestle it away from her.
Legal defense and trial
Harris was released on $40,000 bail raised by her brother and sisters and signed into the United Hospital of Port ChesterPort Chester, New York
Port Chester is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is part of the town of Rye. As of the 2010 census, Port Chester had a population of 28,967...
for psychiatric evaluation and therapy. She then contracted the services of attorney Joel Aurnou to plan her defense.
The case went to trial on November 21, 1980, and lasted 14 weeks, becoming one of the longest in state history. The New York press sensationalized the trial and made Harris a household name from coast to coast. Harris took the stand and testified at length in her own defense, but the jury rejected her story that the shooting had been accidental, and convicted her of second-degree murder.
With the guilty verdict, Harris was not legally eligible to inherit $220,000 Tarnower had left her in his will.
Harris has consistently maintained that she did not intentionally kill Tarnower. Joel Aurnou would later state that he encouraged his client to plead guilty to a lesser charge, but she refused. Judge Russell R. Leggett ordered her confined to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York
Westchester County, New York
Westchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of and has a population of 949,113 according to the 2010 Census, residing in 45 municipalities...
, for the minimum of 15 years to life. Numerous appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
s followed the conviction, but the higher courts determined that she had received a fair trial.
Because the defense had hoped for a complete acquittal, the jury was not offered the option of finding Harris guilty of first-degree manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
— the mercy option — and the mental health professionals who tested and treated Harris were not called to testify.
While serving her sentence, Harris made it her mission to improve the education of female inmates in her facility. She began programs in which women could work toward obtaining their GED
GED
General Educational Development tests are a group of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills...
s or college degrees while imprisoned. She also taught a parenting class to inmates and developed the in-prison nursery for babies born to inmates.
11 years after Harris's conviction, Governor Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
commuted the remainder of her sentence on December 29, 1992, as she was being prepped for quadruple bypass heart surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and colloquially heart bypass or bypass surgery is a surgical procedure performed to relieve angina and reduce the risk of death from coronary artery disease...
. She was released from prison by the parole board and initially planned to live in a cabin in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, but later moved to the Whitney Center, a retirement home in Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
, where she currently resides.
After her release, Harris visited Tarnower's grave at Mount Hope Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson on multiple occasions.
Literary and cinematic treatments/references
Harris's story was told by Diana TrillingDiana Trilling
Diana Trilling was an American literary critic and author, one of the New York Intellectuals. Born Diana Rubin, she married the literary and cultural critic Lionel Trilling in 1929....
in the 1982 book Mrs. Harris and by the journalist Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander
Shana Alexander was an American journalist, born Shana Ager in New York City on October 6, 1925. Although she became the first woman staff writer and columnist for Life magazine, she was best known for her participation in the "Point-Counterpoint" debate segments of 60 Minutes with conservative...
in the 1983 book Very Much a Lady: The Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower.
Harris's murder trial was depicted in the 1981 made-for-television movie The People vs. Jean Harris. She was portrayed by Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn
Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...
, who was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for the performance. Burstyn was later nominated for another Emmy for a cameo role as one of Tarnower's former lovers in Mrs. Harris
Mrs. Harris (film)
Mrs. Harris is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Phyllis Nagy. The teleplay, based on the book Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander, focuses on the tempestuous relationship between Herman Tarnower, noted cardiologist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Complete Scarsdale...
, a 2005 movie in which Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
played Jean Harris.
In the 1995 movie Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne
Dolores Claiborne is a 1992 psychological thriller novel by Stephen King. The novel is narrated by the title character. Atypically for a King novel, it has no chapters, double-spacing between paragraphs, or other section breaks; thus the text is a single continuous narrative which reads like a...
, the journalist daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an American film and stage actress, best known for her roles in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Georgia and Short Cuts...
asks her mother, Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates
Kathleen Doyle "Kathy" Bates is an American actress and director.After several small roles in film and television, Bates rose to prominence with her performance in Misery , for which she won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe...
, why she killed her husband. The daughter then excuses herself by saying, "Don't feel too bad, Ma. I asked Jean Harris the same thing once."
In the 1997 Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
episode "The Summer of George
The Summer of George
"The Summer of George" is the 156th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. It was also the 22nd and final episode of the 8th season. It originally aired on May 15, 1997.-Plot:...
", Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
plays herself playing Jean Harris in a fictional Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning musical about the murders called Scarsdale Surprise.
In 2006, HBO films
HBO Films
HBO Films is a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. While much of HBO Films' output is created directly for the television market, such as the film Witness Protection and the mini-series Band of Brothers, Pacific, Generation Kill and Angels in...
produced Mrs. Harris
Mrs. Harris (film)
Mrs. Harris is a 2005 American drama film written and directed by Phyllis Nagy. The teleplay, based on the book Very Much a Lady by Shana Alexander, focuses on the tempestuous relationship between Herman Tarnower, noted cardiologist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Complete Scarsdale...
, which depicted Harris's relationship with Tarnower from beginning to end, including the trial. The film starred Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
, with Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
opposite her as Tarnower. Both Bening and Kingsley received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the film.
Harris and Tarnower are referred to in Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin is a New York City-based singer-songwriter and promoter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded numerous solo albums, and has also recorded with other female folk artists under the name Four Bitchin' Babes...
's song "Cold Pizza for Breakfast".
General
- Jean Harris' biography at The Biography Channel (archived at archive.org)
Further reading
- Trilling, Diana . Mrs Harris. New York: Viking, December 1982. ISBN 0-14-006363-3
- Alexander, Shana. Very Much a Lady: The Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower. New York: Little Brown & Co, 1983. ISBN 0-316-03125-9
- Harris, Jean. Stranger in Two Worlds. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986.
- Harris, Jean, They Always Call Us Ladies Published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, (1988)
- Harris, Jean, Marking Time Published by Kensington Publishing Corp. New York, NY (1993)
- A&E "American Justice" episode: "The Scarsdale Diet Docter Murder"
External links
- Herman Tarnower at Findagrave.com
- "Jean Harris: Murder with Intent to Love" "Time" article (04/09/1981)