LOS ANGELES (AP) — This is what a tough cookie Valerie Harper is: Despite her prolonged fight against cancer, she took on the role of a woman with Alzheimer’s to draw attention to the disease.
The result is “My Mom and the Girl,” a short film by Susie Singer Carter. The filmmaker plays opposite Harper in the story drawn from Carter’s experience with her own mother.
Harper, who gained fame on “The Mary Tyler Mary Show” and as star of the spinoff “Rhoda,” called the film joyful to make but also emotionally difficult.
It’s Harper’s first time back at work since she was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer in 2013 and given only a few months to live. Harper credits her doctors and husband for helping her beat the odds.
