ACTOR
Julie Harris
- Known for
- East of Eden (1955), Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988), Housesitter (1992), Harper (1966)
20 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Julie Harris is an actor best known for East of Eden, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey and Housesitter.
All facts (20)
- #001
In his autobiography "A Life," Elia Kazan said he was grateful that Julie Harris was on the set of East of Eden (1955) because she had a calming effect on James Dean. Kazan praised Harris both as an actress and as a person.
- #002
Joan Van Ark, her future Knots Landing (1979) co-star, interviewed Harris as a student reporter when Van Ark was fifteen. Harris later advised Van Ark to attend the Yale School of Drama. Harris was the youngest student ever to enter the university on a scholarship.
- #003
In Stamford, Connecticut, Harris fell backstage and had to undergo surgery to drain fluid from her head.
- #004
Before becoming one of the first members of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, Harris studied for a year at the New York School of Drama.
- #005
Harris announced early on to her high school drama teacher, "Acting is my life," and later in her career this seemed confirmed when director and critic Harold Clurman described her as "designed to be a completely good instrument on stage."
- #006
Her family sent her to a finishing school in Providence, Rhode Island, but she persuaded them to transfer her to a girls' preparatory school in Manhattan, then known as Miss Hewitt's Classes, that offered drama training. Harris also attended a summer acting camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where she was mentored by Charlotte Perry, who encouraged her to attend the Yale School of Drama for a year.
- #007
Harris suffered a stroke in 2001 and a second stroke in 2010.
- #008
She had a son, Peter Alston Gurian (born July 19, 1955), with her second husband, Manning Gurian.
- #009
Harris said that as a young girl she watched Gone with the Wind (1939) thirteen times and also read biographies of great actresses.
- #010
She and producer Robert Whitehead were recipients of Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. It was Harris's sixth Tony Award.
- #011
In 1994 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C.
- #012
She was a recipient of the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors. The other recipients were Robert Redford, Tina Turner, Tony Bennett and Suzanne Farrell.
- #013
She never retired from acting before her death.
- #014
Her friends included Angela Lansbury, Norman Lloyd, Shirley MacLaine, Jo Anne Worley, Barbara Bel Geddes, Larry Hagman, Michele Lee, Charles Nelson Reilly, Charles Durning, June Havoc, Patricia Neal, Christopher Plummer, Derek Jacobi, Arthur Miller, Adam Arkin, Lee Grant, Joyce Van Patten, Joel Grey, Liza Minnelli, Steven Hill, Shelley Winters, Philip Bosco, Jason Robards, Anne Jeffreys, Piper Laurie, Ruby Dee, Nanette Fabray, Barbara Barrie, Marlon Brando, Gena Rowlands, James Dean, Jack Lemmon, Ken Burns, Stephen Root, Irene Worth, Cherry Jones, Calista Flockhart, Eli Wallach, Tony Randall, Kevin Spacey, Robert Brustein, Robert Redford, Tyne Daly, Mary-Louise Parker, Alec Baldwin, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Mickey Rooney, Lauren Bacall, Rex Harrison, James Mason, Carson McCullers, Ethel Waters, Clint Eastwood, William Shatner, Sally Field, Celeste Holm, Dana Ivey, Hal Holbrook, Cicely Tyson, Nora Ephron, Joan Van Ark, Zoe Caldwell, Roberta Maxwell, David Merrick, Rosemary Harris, Roddy McDowall and Leonard Nimoy.
- #015
Julie Harris, Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald are the only performers to have won six Tony Awards. However, Audra is the only one to have won all six in competition, while Julie and Angela won five in competition and one Special Lifetime Achievement Award each.
- #016
Her acting coach and lifelong friend was Joan Van Ark.
- #017
She was the daughter of investment banker William Pickett Harris, Jr. and nurse Elsie L. (Smith).
- #018
In 1944 she graduated from Grosse Pointe Country Day School, a private school in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
- #019
She is best remembered by the public for her role as Lilimae Clements on Knots Landing (1979).
- #020
Julie Harris's birthplace, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, lies 12 kilometres east of Detroit, Michigan.
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