Valerie Harper, the resilient sitcom star whose nine-season run in the 1970s as wisecracking straight-shooter Rhoda Morgenstern made her one of the most beloved TV actresses of her era, has died after a courageous battle with cancer. She was 80.Cristina Cacciotti, Harper's daughter,wrote on Twitter that her father, Tony, asked to share this statement: "My beautiful caring wife of nearly 40 years has passed away at 10:06 a.m. after years of fighting cancer."
The actress was told by doctors in January 2013 that she had leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, an incurable condition in which cancer cells spread into the membrane surrounding the brain. She was given as little as three months to live, but eight months later, she revealed that her cancer was near remission.