TV Icon and Tony Nominee Valerie Harper Diagnosed with Terminal Brain Cancer

Emmy winner Valerie Harper has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and reportedly has about three months left to live, according to People.

The iconic TV actress—who originated the role of Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the spin-off Rhoda—told People of her diagnosis: “I don’t think of dying. I think of being here now.”

According to the magazine, Harper has leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, a rare form of cancer. The actress, 73, recently underwent hospitalization in January, forcing her to drop out of the national tour of Looped (the Broadway show for which she garnered a Tony nomination in 2010).

In addition to her television roles, Harper is an accomplished stage actress, having appeared on Broadway in Take Me Along, Wildcat, Subways Are for Sleeping, Something Different, Paul Sills’ Story Theatre, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Looped. She recently released her autobiography I, Rhoda.