Stage Great Julie Harris, Winner of Five Tony Awards, Dead at 87
Virtuosic acting legend Julie Harris, who won a record-breaking five Tony Awards (in addition to a Special Lifetime Achievement Award), three Emmys and a Grammy Award and was nominated for an Oscar, died at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts on August 24. The cause was congestive heart failure, according to the Associated Press. She was 87.
Harris’ career spanned six decades and a multitude of wide-ranging roles on stage and screen. The actress, who was born on December 2, 1925 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, made her Broadway debut in 1945 in It’s a Gift and went on to appear in over 30 productions on the Great White Way. Harris won her first Tony Award for playing Sally Bowles in I am a Camera in 1952. Her four other competitive wins were for her work in The Lark in 1956, Forty Carats in 1969, The Last Mrs. Lincoln in 1973 and The Belle of Amherst in 1977. Since that time, five-time Tony winners Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald have matched her record. Harris received five additional nominations for her performances in The Au Pair Man, Marathon '33, Skyscraper, Lucifer's Child and her most recent Broadway appearance in The Gin Game in 1997.
Harris was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in The Member of the Wedding and is famous for starring opposite James Dean in East of Eden. Her other notable films include Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Haunting and Reflections in a Golden Eye. A three-time Emmy winner, Harris was nominated nine times for the television award. She also gained much attention for her role on the series Knots Landing.