Early life

Harris was born in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, the daughter of Enid Maude Frances (née Campion) and Stafford Berkely Harris. One of her grandmothers, born into a family of boyars in Muntenia, was Romanian. Her father was in the Royal Air Force and as a result, Harris' family lived in India during her childhood. She attended convent schools, and later studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1951 to 1952.

Career

Early in her acting career, she gained experience in English repertory theatre. In 1948, she acted in Kiss and Tell at Eastbourne with Tilsa Page and John Clark and later with Anthony Cundell's company at Penzance, where she played the mother in Black Chiffon. She went from Penzance to train at RADA. knowledge and The Cornishman newspaper, Penzance>> She first appeared in New York in 1951 in Moss Hart's Climate of Eden, and then returned to Britain for her West End debut in The Seven Year Itch which ran for a year at the Aldwich. She then entered a classical acting period in productions with the Bristol Old Vic and then the Old Vic, appearing as Ophelia in the opening production of Hamlet.+

Her first film followed, Beau Brummel (1954) with Stewart Granger and Elizabeth Taylor, and then a touring season with the Old Vic brought her back to Broadway in Tyrone Guthrie's production of Troilus and Cressida. She met Ellis Rabb who had plans to start his own producing company on Broadway. By 1959, the Association of Producing Artist (APA) was established, and she and Rabb were married in December of that year.

In 1962, she returned to Britain and Chichester Festival Theatre during its opening season when the director was Laurence Olivier; she appeared as Elena in Olivier's celebrated 1962-63 Chichester production of Uncle Vanya. In 1964, she was Ophelia to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet in the inaugural production of the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain.

Returning to New York, she worked further with the APA, and then was cast as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, a performance that garnered her a Tony Award in 1966. Rabb directed her one last time as Natasha in War and Peace in 1967, the same year they agreed to divorce. A little while later, Harris married the American writer John Ehle. They settled in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where their daughter, Jennifer, was born in 1969. Jennifer Ehle followed in her mother's footsteps by becoming a noted film, television and Broadway actress. In 1974, Harris starred in the BBC TV serial Notorious Woman, which aired on PBS in the US as part of Masterpiece Theatre. For this role, she won the 1976 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - TV Drama for the 1978 NBC miniseries Holocaust, which also starred Meryl Streep. She received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the 1994 film Tom & Viv. Harris and her daughter Ehle, played the young and elderly incarnations, respectively, of the same character in István Szabó's 1999 film Sunshine, about a Hungarian Jewish family. They had previously played the young and old Calypso in the 1992 Channel 4 adaptation of The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley.

Harris appeared in the rotating cast of the Off-Broadway staged reading of Wit & Wisdom. In 2007, she received the North Carolina Award for fine arts. Her husband, John Ehle, won the same award in 1972 for literature.

In 2002, she appeared as Aunt May Parker in the first film adaptation of Spider-Man, reprising the role in the sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

Work

Stage

• The Road to Mecca - Miss Helen
• The Royal Family - Fanny Cavendish
• Oscar and the Lady in Pink - George Street Playhouse
• Oscar and the Lady in Pink - Solo performance Old Globe Theatre, San Diego]
• Wit & Wisdom - Arclight Theatre
• Waiting in the Wings - May Davenport
• A Delicate Balance - Agnes
• An Inspector Calls - Sybil Birling
• Lost in Yonkers - Grandma Kurnitz
• Hay Fever - Judith Bliss
• Pack of Lies - Barbara Jackson
• Heartbreak House - Hesione Hushabye
• The Royal Family - Julie Cavendish
• A Streetcar Named Desire - Blanche Du Bois
• The Merchant of Venice - Portia
• Old Times - Anna
• War and Peace - Natasha
• You Can't Take It with You - Alice Sycamore
• The Wild Duck - Gina (alternate)
• We, Comrades Three - Young Woman (Alternate)
• Right You Are If You Think You Are - Signora Ponza (Alternate)
• The School for Scandal - Lady Teazle, Epilogue
• The Lion in Winter - Eleanor
• You Can't Take It With You - Alice Sycamore
• 'Uncle Vanya (1963), Chichester Festival Theatre
• The Tumbler - Lennie
• The Disenchanted - Jere Halliday
• Interlock - Hilde
• Troilus and Cressida - Cressida
• The Climate of Eden

Filmography

• This Means War (2012)
• Is Anybody There? (2009)
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Being Julia (2004)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Spider-Man (2002) (as May Parker in this and two sequels)
• Blow Dry (2001)
• The Gift (2000)
• My Life So Far (1999)
• Sunshine (1999)
• Hamlet (1996)
• Looking for Richard (1996)
• Death of a Salesman (1996)
• Tom & Viv (1994)
• The Bridge (1992)
• The Delinquents (1989)
• Crossing Delancey (1988)
• The Chisholms (1979 and 1980) as Minerva Chisholm
• The Boys from Brazil (1978)
• Holocaust (1978)
• Notorious Woman (1974, BBC)
• A Flea in Her Ear (1968)
• Uncle Vanya (1963)
• The Shiralee (1957)
• Beau Brummell (1954)

Awards and nominations

• 1953: Theatre World Award - The Climate of Eden (won)
• 1962: Obie Award for Best Actress - The Tavern & The School for Scandal & The Seagull (won)
• 1965: Obie Award for Best Actress - Judith & Man and Superman & War and Peace (won)
• 1966: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - The Lion in Winter (won)
• 1972: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance - Old Times (won)
• 1972: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Old Times (nominated)
• 1973: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance - A Streetcar Named Desire / The Merchant of Venice (won)
• 1976: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - The Royal Family (won)
• 1976: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - The Royal Family (nominated)
• 1976: Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series - Notorious Woman (Masterpiece Theatre, PBS) (won)
• 1978: Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series - Holocaust (NBC) (nominated)
• 1978: Golden Globe Award for Best Television Actress in a Drama - Holocaust (1978, NBC) (won)
• 1984: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - Heartbreak House (nominated)
• 1984: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Heartbreak House (nominated)
• 1985: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - Pack of Lies (won)
• 1985: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Pack of Lies (nominated)
• 1986: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Hayfever (nominated)
• 1994: National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress - Tom & Viv (won)
• 1994: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Tom & Viv (nominated)
• 1996: Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play - A Delicate Balance (nominated)
• 1996: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - A Delicate Balance (nominated)
• 2000: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play - Waiting in the Wings (nominated)
• 2001: Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama - Sunshine (won) (shared with her daughter, Jennifer Ehle).
• 2002: Obie Award for Best Actress - All Over (won)
• 2010: Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play - The Royal Family (nominated)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]