Valerie Harper Passed Away!

Valerie Harper, best known for her roles on notable sitcoms and musicals passed away.

The famed actress known for her roles in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Valerie (re-titled as The Hogan Family) passed away after a long fight with cancer.

Valerie Harper was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 and then brain cancer in 2013. She was given a few short years of life. She managed to beat the odds. She survived at least six more years.

Harper, 80 was survived by her husband and manager Tom Cacciotti, whom she married in 1987 and their daughter Cristina.

Harper was struggling with bills due to her health. Cristina started a GoFundMe Page for her mother to help pay off medical expenses.

Harper, a native of Suffern, N.Y., began her career as a dancer at Radio City Music Hall, then transitioned into theater and improv comedy before ultimately rising to stardom as Rhoda Morgenstern on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," earning her a Golden Globe and four Emmys.

Valerie Harper played Rhoda Morgenston and Mary Tyler Moore played Mary Richards.

"I have been told by doctors to put Val in Hospice care and I can’t [because of our 40 years of shared commitment to each other] and I won’t because of the amazing good deeds she has graced us with while she’s been here on earth, he wrote on Facebook.

"We will continue going forward as long as the powers above allow us, I will do my very best in making Val as comfortable as possible," he added. "There are two special ANGELS on this planet masquerading as humans who live and work together, that have made it possible to have all of Val’s needs taken care of."

Notable controversy in the late 1980s. When NBC, Miller-Boyett and Lorimar Telepictures hired Valerie Harper on as a sitcom mom, it became a hit. It propelled Jason Bateman into the limelight.

The show was called Valerie during its first two seasons. Harper became entangled in a major feud with the producers. She asked for more creative control of the show. Cacciotti and Harper were angry over the handling of the show. The middle of the third season, Harper got angry with producers. They fired her out of the cannon. They took a brief hiatus from taping. They hired Sandy Duncan to play the lovable but naive aunt of the family and written Valerie's character in a tragic car accident.

In order to give her a proper closing, Bateman was scripted to do an episode about coping. His character accidentally leaves a lamp on and it destroys the home. The family rebuilds the home and pays homage to their television mother throughout the third and fourth season.

Harper complained that the show was being "taken away" by their love for the "bad boy" image of Bateman.

Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper passed away. Betty White is still going strong at age 97.

The show would continue for the next three seasons and end at Season 6 on CBS.

Harper was best known for playing Rhoda Morgenstern, a wise cracking neighbor who became a breakout star of her own. During the first four seasons of The Mary Tyler Moore show, Rhoda was like the best friend that Mary could count on for advice. She would get her series that would carry her into a memorable television wedding. The Rhoda episode "Rhoda's Wedding" was watched by 52 million people, making it once of the most watched television episodes in modern history.

Rhoda would air for five seasons before it was canceled in 1978.

Rhoda would earn Harper at least four Emmys and a Golden Globe.