Barbara Harris began acting while still a teenager in Chicago, playing small parts in the Playwrights Theatre Club (whose other players included such youngsters as Edward Asner, Mike Nichols and Elaine May). She was also in "The Compass Players", the first ongoing improvisational theater troupe in America, directed by her then-husband Paul Sills (who founded the theater based on principles created by his mother, Viola Spolin, the author of "Improvisation for the Theatre"). A more polished version of the Compass, called "The Second City", was an enormous hit in Chicago and was moved to Broadway, where she was nominated for a Tony. She starred in a series of notable stage productions, including "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"; "Oh Dad Poor Dad"; "The Apple Tree" (Tony Award, 1967) and "Mother Courage". Her film credits include major roles in Des clowns par milliers (1965), Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1967), Qui est Harry Kellerman? (1971), Toi et moi (1972), Nashville (1975), Un vendredi dingue, dingue, dingue (1976), Complot de famille (1976), Plaza Suite (1971), Folie-Folie (1978), La vie privée d'un sénateur (1979), The North Avenue Irregulars (1979), Coeurs d'occasion (1981), Peggy Sue s'est mariée (1986), Le plus escroc des deux (1988) and Tueurs à gages (1997), and TV appearances included episodes of Alfred Hitchcock présente (1955) and Middle Ages (1992).
