Mel Harris
Encyclopedia
Mel Harris (born July 12, 1956) is an American actress.
, the daughter to Mary Michael "Mike", a high school science teacher, and Warren Harris, a university football coach. Harris attended high school in New Brunswick, New Jersey
.
Harris has been married five times: to David Silbergeld (1978–79), Brian Kilcommons (1980–82), photographer David Hume Kennerly
(1983–88) (with whom she had son Byron in 1984), actor Cotter Smith
(1988–96) (with whom she had daughter Madeline in April 1990) and investment banker Michael Toomey. Harris and Toomey were married May 26, 2001, but he filed for divorce on October 3, 2006.
named her one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women". She also had a starring role in the 1988
horror film
Cameron's Closet
. From 1996 to 1998, she starred with Jere Burns
on the NBC
sitcom Something So Right
.
In addition, Harris has appeared in a number of other television programs including The West Wing, Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest, Dawson's Creek
, Touched by an Angel
, and House
. She played real-life victim Madge Oberholtzer
in the TV mini-series Cross of Fire
(1989) and starred in the Scott Turow
legal thriller The Burden of Proof
in 1992. She had a recurring role on Stargate SG-1
as Oma Desala.
Before finding success as an actress, Harris had appeared as a contestant on the game show Pyramid
on two separate occasions: in 1979 on the ABC-TV daytime version known as The $20,000 Pyramid, and in 1985 on the syndicated version known as The $100,000 Pyramid, both versions hosted by Dick Clark. She later appeared as a celebrity on the third week of the The $100,000 Pyramid hosted by John Davidson in 1991, with a clip of her big win in 1985 as shown in a flashback clip.
Harris guest-starred on the Close to Home episode "Maternal Instinct" that aired April 6, 2007 on CBS. She played Beth Murphy, mother of Eric Murphy, who was convicted of killing his father (Beth's husband) and attempting to kill her as well. Harris played Sylvia Capshaw on the MyNetworkTV
limited-run serial Saints & Sinners
.
Personal life
Harris was born in Bethlehem, PennsylvaniaBethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
, the daughter to Mary Michael "Mike", a high school science teacher, and Warren Harris, a university football coach. Harris attended high school in New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
.
Harris has been married five times: to David Silbergeld (1978–79), Brian Kilcommons (1980–82), photographer David Hume Kennerly
David Hume Kennerly
David Hume Kennerly in Roseburg, Oregon, won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for his portfolio of photographs taken of the Vietnam War, Cambodia, East Pakistani refugees near Calcutta, and the Ali-Frazier fight in Madison Square Garden, March 8, 1971...
(1983–88) (with whom she had son Byron in 1984), actor Cotter Smith
Cotter Smith
Cotter Smith is an American stage, film, and television actor.-Biography:He was born Joseph Cotter Smith in Washington, D.C., the son of Madeline and John Lewis Smith, Jr., who was a federal judge...
(1988–96) (with whom she had daughter Madeline in April 1990) and investment banker Michael Toomey. Harris and Toomey were married May 26, 2001, but he filed for divorce on October 3, 2006.
Career
Harris is perhaps best known for her role as Hope Murdoch Steadman on the popular 1980s television show thirtysomething (1987–1991). In 1989, Harper's BazaarHarper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
named her one of "America's 10 Most Beautiful Women". She also had a starring role in the 1988
1988 in film
-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Cameron's Closet
Cameron's Closet
Cameron's Closet, also known as Cameron's Terror, is a 1988 American horror film. The film was directed by Armand Mastroianni and stars Scott Curtis, Cotter Smith, Mel Harris, Tab Hunter, Kim Lankford, Gary Hudson and William Lustig.-Plot:...
. From 1996 to 1998, she starred with Jere Burns
Jere Burns
Jerald Eugene "Jere" Burns II is an American actor who has appeared in theatre productions and on television and is best known for his role as ladies' man Kirk Morris on the television series, Dear John.-Early life:...
on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
sitcom Something So Right
Something So Right
Something So Right is an American television situation comedy which ran on two different networks during its time on the air, and in reruns on the USA Network for a number of years after its cancellation....
.
In addition, Harris has appeared in a number of other television programs including The West Wing, Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest, Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...
, Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
, and House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
. She played real-life victim Madge Oberholtzer
Madge Oberholtzer
Madge Augustine Oberholtzer was an American schoolteacher who worked and lived in Indianapolis. Kidnapped and raped by D.C. Stephenson, Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan, she died of a staph infection from wounds inflicted upon her by Stephenson...
in the TV mini-series Cross of Fire
Cross of Fire
Cross of Fire was an American 1989 television miniseries based on the horrific rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer by D. C. Stephenson, a highly successful leader of the Indiana branch of Ku Klux Klan. It starred John Heard as Stephenson and Mel Harris as Oberholtzer. Lloyd Bridges was also in...
(1989) and starred in the Scott Turow
Scott Turow
Scott F. Turow is an American author and a practicing lawyer. Turow has written eight fiction and two nonfiction books, which have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies...
legal thriller The Burden of Proof
The Burden of Proof (film)
The Burden of Proof or Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof is a 1992 television miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. The story follows the character Sandy Stern following events in the film and book Presumed Innocent....
in 1992. She had a recurring role on Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
as Oma Desala.
Before finding success as an actress, Harris had appeared as a contestant on the game show Pyramid
Pyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
on two separate occasions: in 1979 on the ABC-TV daytime version known as The $20,000 Pyramid, and in 1985 on the syndicated version known as The $100,000 Pyramid, both versions hosted by Dick Clark. She later appeared as a celebrity on the third week of the The $100,000 Pyramid hosted by John Davidson in 1991, with a clip of her big win in 1985 as shown in a flashback clip.
Harris guest-starred on the Close to Home episode "Maternal Instinct" that aired April 6, 2007 on CBS. She played Beth Murphy, mother of Eric Murphy, who was convicted of killing his father (Beth's husband) and attempting to kill her as well. Harris played Sylvia Capshaw on the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
limited-run serial Saints & Sinners
Saints & Sinners (2007 TV series)
Saints & Sinners is a telenovela which premiered on March 14, 2007 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on the American television network MyNetworkTV. Twentieth Television produced this limited-run serial, based on the a 2000 TV Azteca telenovela titled La Calle de las Novias...
.