Memorial Celebration for ‘First Lady of the American Theater’ Julie Harris Set at Broadway's Jacobs Theatre

There will be a memorial to celebrate the life and career of Tony-winning actress Julie Harris at noon on December 3 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Harris, often hailed as as the "first lady of the American theater," set a record with 10 Tony nominations and five Tony wins for Best Leading Actress in a play, with a sixth Tony for Lifetime Achievement. The actress died of congestive heart failure on August 24 at the age of 87.

Among Harris' friends gathering to celebrate her life will be Zoe Caldwell, Rosemary Harris, Cherry Jones, Hal Holbrook and Christopher Plummer. The public is welcome at the event.

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.

Broadway theaters dimmed their lights  on August 28 in Harris' memory.