Contemporary Authors

• The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers Atria Books (New York, NY), 2018

1. The seasons of my mother : a memoir of love, family, and flowers https://lccn.loc.gov/2018010798 Harden, Marcia Gay, author. The seasons of my mother : a memoir of love, family, and flowers / Marcia Gay Harden. First Atria Books hardcover edition. New York : Atria Books, 2018.©2018 1 online resource. ISBN: 9781501135729 () 2. The seasons of my mother : a memoir of love, family, and flowers https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049024 Harden, Marcia Gay, author. The seasons of my mother : a memoir of love, family, and flowers / Marcia Gay Harden. First Atria Books hardcover edition. New York : Atria Books, 2018.©2018 pages cm PN2287.H224 A3 2018 ISBN: 9781501135705 (hardback)9781501135712 (paperback)

• Marcia Gay Harden - http://theofficialmarciagayharden.com/bio.html

  Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden has forged a remarkable body of work, always staying true to her chameleon style of “becoming the character.” Her character portraits have been described by critics as “searing”, “heartbreaking”, “inventive”, “pure and profane simultaneously”, “astonishing”, “authentic”, and “sensuous”. From the glamorous Ava Gardner in Sinatra, to the artist Lee Krasner in Pollock (for which she won Best Supporting Actress Oscar®), to the down and out Celeste in Mystic River (another Academy Award® nomination) Marcia has created a signature style based in character transformation. Her versatility and wide-range have been praised in such films as Millers Crossing, The First Wives Club, Meet Joe Black, Mona Lisa Smile, The Hoax, and Used People.

  Up next is the highly anticipated Universal film Fifty Shades of Grey, in which she plays Christian Grey’s mother. The release of this film has been set for Valentine’s Day 2015. Recent projects include Elsa & Fred starring the legendary Shirley MacLaine and Christopher Plummer, the ABC comedy series Trophy Wife which starred Malin Ackerman, Bradley Whitford and Michaela Watkins and Woody Allen’s Magic in the Moonlight, starring Emma Stone, Colin Firth and Jacki Weaver. This fall, Harden reprised her role as First Amendment attorney Rebecca Halliday in the critically acclaimed guest star role on Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom.

  Marcia has chosen a life away from mainstream Hollywood, crossing between independent and studio films, and television and theatre. In 2011 Harden reprised the role she originated on Broadway in the Tony Award® winning play God of Carnage along with the original cast with a tremendously successful stage run at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. In 2009, it was her exceptional Broadway performance in this starring role that garnered her the Best Actress Tony Award®. Her fellow-nominated co-stars in the play included James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels. Additionally, she received an Outer Circle Critics Award for her performance, as well as nominations from the Drama Desk and Drama League. That same year, she was nominated for an Emmy® Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her role in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler.

  Other nominations include a Tony® nomination for Tony Kushner’s Angels in America (for which she won the Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards), an Emmy® nomination for her guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU, also an Independent Spirit Award nomination for American Gun.

  Additional television appearances include:
  starring in Lifetime’s The Amanda Knox Story, portraying Amanda’s mother Edda Mellas opposite Hayden Panettiere, co-starring in the critically acclaimed FX drama Damages opposite William Hurt and Glenn Close.

  Additional film credits include:
  Parkland, which also starred Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti and Ron Livingston, If I Were You co-starring Aidan Quinn, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You, with Peter Gallagher and Ellen Burstyn, Detachment co-starring Adrien Brody, Christina Hendricks, and Lucy Liu for Tribeca Films. Harden co-starred in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It, in which her daughter Eulala Scheel also had a co-starring role, The Maiden Heist with William H. Macy, Morgan Freeman, and Christopher Walken, Canvas, Rails and Ties, Stephen King’s The Mist for which she won a Saturn Award,) Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and The Christmas Cottage with Peter O’Toole.

  Harden graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in Theatre and an MFA from the Graduate Acting program at New York University.

  www.TheMarciaGayHarden.com

• IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001315/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

  Marcia Gay Harden
  Biography
  Showing all 59 items
  Jump to: Overview (2) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (1) | Trivia (26) | Personal Quotes (27) | Salary (1)
  Overview (2)
  Born August 14, 1959 in La Jolla, California, USA
  Height 5' 4½" (1.64 m)
  Mini Bio (1)

  Marcia Gay Harden was born on August 14, 1959, in La Jolla, California, the third of five children. Her mother, Beverly (Bushfield), was a homemaker, and her father, Thad Harold Harden, was in the military. The family relocated often -- she first became interested in the theatre when the family was living in Greece, and she had attended plays in Athens. Harden began her college education at American universities in Europe and returned to the US to complete her studies at the University of Texas in 1983; went on to earn an MFA at NYU, and, thereafter, embarked on her acting career.

  Although she had acted in a movie as early as 1986, in the little-known The Imagemaker (1986), her first mainstream role, coming alongside some TV movie work, was as a sultry femme fatale in the Coen Brothers' cleverly offbeat homage to the gangster movie, Miller's Crossing (1990). Harden received good reviews for her sultry performance as Verna, a seductive, trouble-making moll. Harden thereafter worked steadily in supporting roles, including the portrayal of Ava Gardner in Sinatra (1992), a television biopic about Frank Sinatra. Harden also worked in the theater and, in 1993, was part of the Broadway cast of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America", playing Harper, the alienated wife of a closeted gay man. It was a demanding dramatic role, and Harden won acclaim for her work, including a Tony award nomination. She returned to movie making in the mid-1990s, continuing to turn in superb supporting performances in films and television.

  Harden's road to success was a long one, her work generally being overlooked because the productions were either critically panned or ignored by audiences. However, it was just a matter of time before Harden got a chance to truly show her quality on-screen, and that time came in 2000, with Ed Harris's Pollock (2000), in which she played Lee Krasner, artist and long-suffering wife of Jackson Pollock. Harden's performance was deeply moving and unforgettable and earned her the Oscar and New York Film Critic's Circle awards for best supporting actress. Continuing to work prolifically in features and television, she earned another Oscar nomination in 2003 for her supporting role in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River (2003), Harden having earlier worked with Eastwood in 2000's Space Cowboys (2000).

  Harden's work often makes otherwise mediocre productions worth watching, fully inhabiting any character she portrays. She was married to Thaddaeus Scheel, with whom she worked on The Spitfire Grill (1996), from 1996 to 2012. The couple have three children, a daughter Eulala Scheel, and twins Julitta and Hudson.

  - IMDb Mini Biography By: Larry-115
  Spouse (1)
  Thaddaeus Scheel (9 July 1996 - 2012) ( divorced) ( 3 children)
  Trade Mark (1)
  Often plays conflicted, unsure characters who go through a radical change in their lives
  Trivia (26)
  Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1990" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 42. [1990]
  Her father, brother, and husband are all named Thaddaeus.
  Graduated from the University of Texas with a B.A. in theater (1980) and earned an MFA from the graduate theater program at New York University.
  On December 15, 2003, her young nephew and niece were killed in a tragic fire. The deaths occurred when the Queens, New York, apartment, owned by her former sister-in-law, went up in flames after a burning candle set a sofa on fire. Her ex-sister-in-law also later died from injuries received in the fire.
  She was the first University of Texas at Austin graduate to win an Oscar. She won for Best Supporting Actress in 2001 for Pollock (2000). The second UT grad to win was Renée Zellweger in 2004.
  Achieved a degree of notoriety for making the rounds of the spring 2004 awards ceremonies while near-term with twins. When asked about all of the talk her hugely-pregnant figure was generating, she was quoted as saying that, when it comes to pregnancy, when you've got it, flaunt it.
  Graduated from Surrattsville Sr. High in Clinton, Maryland (1976). Laura Wright also graduated from Surrattsville H.S., but in 1988.
  Was nominated for Broadway's 1993 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for Tony Kushner's "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches."
  When she first saw her future husband on the set of The Spitfire Grill (1996), she asked her co-star, Ellen Burstyn, her opinion of him. Ellen didn't think he was Marcia's type. Fortunately, Marcia didn't take her advice. Ellen became godmother of Marcia's three children.
  MFA in Acting - New York University, Tisch School of the Arts (1988).
  Inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March 2005 in Austin, Texas.
  Since the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) started giving out competitive awards, in 1994, she and Christoph Waltz are only performers to win an Academy Award without being nominated for the same performance at the SAG.
  She was awarded the 2009 Tony Award for Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for "God of Carnage" on Broadway in New York City.
  Ms. Harden was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin in the fall of 2008.
  A close friend of Shohreh Aghdashloo.
  She was the 2010 Spring Commencement speaker at the University of Texas at Austin.
  Filed for divorce from her husband Thaddaeus Scheel after 15 years of marriage [February 2012].
  Gave birth to twins (her second and third child) at age 44, a son Hudson Scheel Harden and a daughter Julitta Dee Scheel on April 22, 2004. Children's father is her ex-husband, Thaddaeus Scheel.
  Gave birth to her first child at age 39, a daughter Eulala Grace Scheel (aka Eulala Scheel) in September 1998. Child's father is her ex-husband, Thaddaeus Scheel.
  Her daughter, Eulala Scheel, played her daughter in An American Girl Adventure (2005) and in Whip It (2009).
  She, Geena Davis, Marisa Tomei, Russell Crowe and Adrien Brody are the only actors to win an Oscar without being awarded for the same performance in none of its predecessor awards (Golden Globe, Critics Choice Awards, SAG and BAFTA). She, Geena Davis and Marisa Tomei were not even nominated for those awards for their performances in Pollock (2000) The Accidental Tourist_ and My Cousin Vinny (1992), and Crowe's only award for Gladiator (2000) before the Oscar was the Critics Choice award.
  Was the 118th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Pollock (2000) at The 73rd Annual Academy Awards (2001) on March 25, 2001.
  Is one of 15 Oscar-winning actresses to have been born in the state of California. The others are Fay Bainter, Gloria Grahame, Jo Van Fleet, Liza Minnelli, Tatum O'Neal, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, Anjelica Huston, Cher, Jodie Foster, Helen Hunt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Brie Larson.
  Has worked with her real-life child, daughter, Eulala Grace Scheel (aka Eulala Scheel), on five occasions. Pollock (2000); TV Movie, An American Girl Adventure (2005); Home (2008); Whip It (2009); Trophy Wife: The Tooth Fairy (2014).
  Played mother, to her real-life daughter, Eulala Grace Scheel (aka Eulala Scheel), in 2008's,Home (2008), Eulala is her first daughter, to ex-husband Thaddaeus Scheel.
  Jeff Daniels, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and she were awarded the 2012 Back Stage Garland Award for Ensemble for "God of Carnage" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
  Personal Quotes (27)
  [on winning the Oscar despite low pre-award expectations] "Vegas had me at 12-to-1 odds. I sure do wish I had bet on myself and made a little money."
  [Talking about Lee Krasner, her character in Pollock (2000)]: "When she was first married, Lee's main concern was pleasing Jackson, she was the kind of woman who hung her hat on another man's peg to find herself, in spite of how brilliant she was in her own right. Their marriage was wonderful, fabulous, and hideous. They fed off each other in ways that weren't always healthy, but, if they hadn't been together, Pollock never would have become world famous and Lee wouldn't have pushed herself to the artistic limits she did. As soon as they split, one of them was bound to destruct".
  Until people get to know me they think I'm a dark, sensuous bitch.
  The only thing that seemed to me I could do in such a way that no one else could was acting. I thought, I can be a doctor, but there's going to be someone else who is just as good or better. I can be a lawyer, which I still sometimes think I would love to be, but I think there's someone who can do it just as good or better. So, being an actor, there will be people who can do it just as good or better, but I'll have my voice, and no one will have my voice.
  "My husband is great, and my mother flies in and helps when I'm on location." (when asked how she juggles career and family.)
  I was the girl who got off the bus wondering where Marty Scorsese was and why he wouldn't cast me in his next film.
  People have such false perceptions of how stardom really works. After I won the Oscar for Pollock (2000), some newspaper printed, 'She should get a million-dollar bump.' My sisters would write me, 'You're gonna get this million-dollar bump!' I thought, I'll open the shutters to my hotel, and Scorsese will be on the lawn, and the lawn will be made out of emeralds. I never made less money than right after the Oscar.
  [on her new role on The Newsroom (2012)] When I first got the role, Jeff Daniels said: 'I'll give you a little Aaron Sorkin tip: Come to set with your lines down for the rehearsal.' I said, 'What?' Usually the actor learns them during the day. But as an actress, I have never had a sigh of consternation when I get something complicated. You know how it is when you feel used in a good way. It's like that old song, 'keep on using me, 'til you use me up.' I just feel grateful.
  Well, we're actors. So I would absolutely agree that we all have a kind of a personality disorder.
  Television is a wide world of opportunity for women in their 30s, 40s, 50s, thank God. In any film, there are 10 male roles for 1 female role, especially in the action films. They're heavy with the guys.
  [2012, on filming Flubber (1997)] A hundred years ago, I had the good blessing to meet Robin Williams, and all memories of that movie are about flying up and down on wires with Robin while getting into a flying car. And all he did was make the crew laugh. It was the loudest set I've ever been on. He was the kindest person. His then-wife, Marcia, also just incredibly kind. It was fantastic. It was a bit of a... It was an understood star vehicle. I think it was the first star vehicle I'd been in, and Robin was doing his best to just let everybody be funny and share the humor, but I think they really just let him go. We got to be the straight-people. But I fell in love with him. He's fantastic, and he's still a friend.
  [2012, on Spy Hard (1996)] Ugh. I hated doing that movie. It was, I thought, going to be an opportunity to have a lot of fun, but it was just chaos and, uh, not so much fun. And not so funny. I mean, Leslie [Nielsen] was great, but it was really his show, and it was just... very chaotic. Behind schedule, over budget.
  [2012, on Pollock (2000)] That was exciting. That was exciting intellectually, educationally, emotionally, the craft of it. It was probably the most exciting thing I've ever done. It was full of museum visits and art study and painting classes. And emotional drainage. Working so closely with Ed Harris, who I just think is a genius. Long hours. Hard days. A full character. It was everything I dreamed of. And it was a tough shoot. You know, Ed wasn't always easy [as a director], but he was always right. And he had the Pollock cap on as well. So sometimes you'd have Pollock directing you in a movie, which was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. And sometimes you would just have Ed Harris and all of his great brilliance and manliness coming from behind the camera. But I would follow Ed up any mountain trail at any time of day or night, knowing he'll take care of me. He's a man.
  [2003 interview] The Oscar is disastrous on a professional level. Suddenly the parts you're offered become smaller and the money less. There's no logic to it.
  [...said that the bar for authenticity was set high when dozens of actors went through a medical boot camp.] "Ryan said they wanted to make sure you can do four actual procedures," Those included chest tube insertion, central line insertion, intubation, and basic sutures. "Eyes closed."
  [when she faced off against Viola Davis on the hit ABC series, How to Get Away with Murder (2014)] "I took [Viola] down and now I'm here!" [at Code Black (2015)]
  [the focus being on more human elements in Code Black (2015)] "At the end of the day, Michael's given us a show that's not snarky. It's real... hard core, ugly sometimes-but with values I can get behind: family, love, health, teamwork, and making each day a little better,"
  [on Code Black (2015)] "It's down and dirty," [she declared with a triumphant smile]
  [on Code Black (2015)] "You get involved in the lives of not just the patients coming in, but also in the lives of the doctors."
  [but what exactly does "code black" mean?] "That's the moment in the emergency room when there are more patients than there are doctors and beds to take care of them,"
  [on working on Code Black (2015)] "It is a glorious organized chaos for the doctors and it is super exciting,"
  [on gaining knowledge for Code Black (2015)] "It's real, it's raw and the amount of knowledge that they want us to acquire so that it feels second nature so that it feels authentic, is a lot,"
  [on the real Code Black (2015) hospital] I've never seen anything like that Emergency room!
  [the focus being on more human elements in Code Black (2015)] "That is what I was brought up to believe. I get the cutting-edge dramas. I love it. But to spend these kind of hours and devote this kind of energy, I do want to be behind those other values."
  [on working on Code Black (2015)] "There are four residents [working] over our shoulders who we are teaching, and it's about the life in this emergency room, based on a real emergency room."
  [on Code Black (2015)] "It is a beautiful, beautiful show,"
  That was fantastic and [How to Get Away With Murder] is a different kind of show. It's a whodunit, it's a ploty, and twisty, kind of show and [Code Black] is different because it's a formulaic show, It's a joy. You don't want to play the same thing your whole life so that's the joy of acting.
  Salary (1)
  Pollock (2000) $1,000,000
  See also

  Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites | Contact Info
  Getting Started | Contributor Zone »
  Contribute to This Page

  Actress (106 credits)
  2015-2018 Code Black (TV Series)
  Dr. Leanne Rorish
  - The Business of Saving Lives (2018) ... Dr. Leanne Rorish
  - As Night Comes and I'm Breathing (2018) ... Dr. Leanne Rorish
  - One of Our Own (2018) ... Dr. Leanne Rorish
  - Change of Heart (2018) ... Dr. Leanne Rorish
  - Only Human (2018) ... Dr. Leanne Rorish
  Show all 47 episodes
  2018 Fifty Shades Freed
  Grace Grey
  2017 Fifty Shades Darker
  Grace Trevelyan Grey
  2016 Get a Job
  Katherine Dunn
  2015 After Words
  Jane Taylor
  2015 Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant
  President of the FAFAFA
  2015 How to Get Away with Murder (TV Series)
  Hannah Keating
  - It's All My Fault (2015) ... Hannah Keating (uncredited)
  - She's a Murderer (2015) ... Hannah Keating
  - Best Christmas Ever (2015) ... Hannah Keating
  - Hello Raskolnikov (2015) ... Hannah Keating
  2015 Fifty Shades of Grey
  Mrs. Grey
  2015 Grandma
  Judy
  2013-2014 The Newsroom (TV Series)
  Rebecca Halliday
  - Oh Shenandoah (2014) ... Rebecca Halliday
  - Contempt (2014) ... Rebecca Halliday
  - Main Justice (2014) ... Rebecca Halliday
  - Run (2014) ... Rebecca Halliday
  - Election Night: Part II (2013) ... Rebecca Halliday
  Show all 10 episodes
  2014 You're Not You
  Elizabeth
  2014 Magic in the Moonlight
  Mrs. Baker
  2013-2014 Trophy Wife (TV Series)
  Diane Buckley
  - Mother's Day (2014) ... Diane Buckley
  - Back to School (2014) ... Diane Buckley
  - There's No Guy in Team (2014) ... Diane Buckley
  - The Minutes (2014) ... Diane Buckley
  - Couples Therapy (2014) ... Diane Buckley
  Show all 22 episodes
  2014 Elsa & Fred
  Lydia
  2013 The Wine of Summer
  Shelley
  2013 Parkland
  Nurse Doris Nelson
  2013 Above Average Presents (TV Series)
  - Clap It Up (Step Up Parody) (2013)
  2005-2013 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)
  FBI Agent Dana Lewis / Star Morrison
  - Secrets Exhumed (2013) ... FBI Agent Dana Lewis
  - Penetration (2010) ... FBI Agent Dana Lewis
  - Informed (2006) ... FBI Agent Dana Lewis
  - Raw (2005) ... Star Morrison / FBI Agent Dana Lewis
  2012-2013 TRON: Uprising (TV Series)
  Keller
  - Welcome Home (2013) ... Keller (voice)
  - State of Mind (2012) ... Keller (voice)
  2012 Isabel (TV Movie)
  Frances Lorenz
  2012 Bent (TV Series)
  Vanessa Carter
  - Mom (2012) ... Vanessa Carter
  2012 Body of Proof (TV Series)
  Sheila Temple
  - Sympathy for the Devil (2012) ... Sheila Temple
  2012/III Noah
  Aamah (voice)
  2012 If I Were You
  Madelyn
  2011 Smothered (TV Movie)
  Fran
  2011 Innocent (TV Movie)
  Barbara Sabich
  2011 Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
  Marjorie Dunfour
  2011 Detachment
  Principal Carol Dearden
  2011 Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy (TV Movie)
  Edda Mellas
  2010 A Cat in Paris
  Jeanne (English version, voice)
  2010 Royal Pains (TV Series)
  Dr. Elizabeth Blair
  - Big Whoop (2010) ... Dr. Elizabeth Blair
  - Frenemies (2010) ... Dr. Elizabeth Blair
  - Spasticity (2010) ... Dr. Elizabeth Blair
  2009 Whip It
  Brooke Cavendar
  2009 The Maiden Heist
  Rose Barlow
  2009 The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (TV Movie)
  Janina Krzyzanowska
  2009 Damages (TV Series)
  Claire Maddox
  - Trust Me (2009) ... Claire Maddox (credit only)
  - Look What He Dug Up This Time (2009) ... Claire Maddox (credit only)
  - London. Of Course (2009) ... Claire Maddox
  - Uh Oh, Out Come the Skeletons (2009) ... Claire Maddox
  - You Got Your Prom Date Pregnant (2009) ... Claire Maddox (credit only)
  Show all 13 episodes
  2008 The Tower (TV Movie)
  Zoe Cafritz
  2008 Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage
  Maryanne Kinkade
  2008 Sex and Lies in Sin City (TV Movie)
  Becky Binion
  2008/I Home
  Inga
  2007 The Mist
  Mrs. Carmody
  2007 Into the Wild
  Billie McCandless
  2007 Rails & Ties
  Megan Stark
  2007 The Invisible
  Diane Powell
  2006 Drift (TV Movie)
  Cheryl
  2006 The Dead Girl
  Melora
  2006 Canvas
  Mary Marino
  2006 The Hoax
  Edith Irving
  2006 In from the Night (TV Movie)
  Vicki Miller
  2006 American Dreamz
  First Lady
  2005 Hate (TV Movie)
  Chief Jackie Mantello
  2005 An American Girl Adventure (TV Movie)
  Mrs. Martha Merriman
  2005 American Gun
  Janet Huttenson
  2005 American Masters (TV Series documentary)
  Willa Cather
  - Willa Cather: The Road Is All (2005) ... Willa Cather (voice)
  2005 Bad News Bears
  Liz Whitewood
  2004 P.S.
  Missy Goldberg
  2004 See You in My Dreams (TV Movie)
  Angela Brown
  2004 Welcome to Mooseport
  Grace Sutherland
  2004 She's Too Young (TV Movie)
  Trish Vogul
  2003 Just Like Mona
  2003 Mona Lisa Smile
  Nancy Abbey
  2003 Casa de los babys
  Nan
  2003 Mystic River
  Celeste Boyle
  2002 In the Echo (TV Movie)
  2001-2002 The Education of Max Bickford (TV Series)
  Andrea Haskell
  - The Pursuit of Happiness (2002) ... Andrea Haskell
  - One More Time (2002) ... Andrea Haskell
  - The Egg and I (2002) ... Andrea Haskell
  - The Bad Girl (2002) ... Andrea Haskell
  - Murder of the First (2002) ... Andrea Haskell
  Show all 22 episodes
  2002 King of Texas (TV Movie)
  Mrs. Susannah Lear Tumlinson
  2002 Guilty Hearts (TV Movie)
  Jenny Moran
  2001 Walking Shadow (TV Movie)
  Susan Silverman
  2001 Gaudi Afternoon
  Frankie
  2000 From Where I Sit (TV Movie)
  Sharon
  2000 Thin Air (TV Movie)
  Susan Silverman
  2000 Pollock
  Lee Krasner
  2000 Space Cowboys
  Sara Holland
  1999 Spenser: Small Vices (TV Movie)
  Susan Silverman
  1998 Meet Joe Black
  Allison
  1998 It All Came True
  Michelle Tippet
  1998 Labor of Love (TV Movie)
  Annie Pines
  1998 Desperate Measures
  Dr. Samantha Hawkins
  1997 Flubber
  Dr. Sara Jean Reynolds
  1997 Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing. (TV Movie)
  Nancy Floyd
  1996 Far Harbor
  Arabella
  1996 The First Wives Club
  Dr. Leslie Rosen
  1996 Spy Hard
  Miss Cheevus
  1996 The Daytrippers
  Libby
  1996 The Spitfire Grill
  Shelby Goddard
  1995 Homicide: Life on the Street (TV Series)
  Joan Garbarek
  - A Doll's Eyes (1995) ... Joan Garbarek
  1995 Fallen Angels (TV Series)
  Marie
  - Good Housekeeping (1995) ... Marie
  1995 Convict Cowboy (TV Movie)
  Maggie
  1995 Great Performances (TV Series)
  - Talking With (1995)
  1995 Chicago Hope (TV Series)
  Barbara Tomilson
  - Internal Affairs (1995) ... Barbara Tomilson
  1994 Safe Passage
  Cynthia
  1993 Geoffrey Beene 30 (Short)
  Woman
  1992 Sinatra (TV Mini-Series)
  Ava Gardner
  - Episode #1.4 (1992) ... Ava Gardner
  - Episode #1.3 (1992) ... Ava Gardner
  - Episode #1.2 (1992) ... Ava Gardner
  - Episode #1.1 (1992) ... Ava Gardner
  1992 Used People
  Norma
  1992 Crush
  Lane
  1991 Late for Dinner
  Joy Husband
  1991 Fever (TV Movie)
  Lacy
  1991 In Broad Daylight (TV Movie)
  Adina Rowan
  1990 Miller's Crossing
  Verna
  1990 Kojak: None So Blind (TV Movie)
  Angelina
  1989 Gideon Oliver (TV Series)
  Lila
  - Sleep Well, Professor Oliver (1989) ... Lila
  1988 Superman 50th Anniversary (TV Movie documentary)
  Marcia Connelly (as Marcia Harden)
  1988 Simon & Simon (TV Series)
  Librarian, Joan
  - Ties That Bind (1988) ... Librarian, Joan (as Gay Hagen)
  1987 CBS Summer Playhouse (TV Series)
  Kim
  - In the Lion's Den (1987) ... Kim
  1986 The Imagemaker
  Stage Manager
  1984 Footloose
  Dancer (uncredited)
  1979 Not Only Strangers (Short)
  Hide Hide Thanks (3 credits)
  2008 When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist' (Video documentary short) (special thanks)
  2004 Mystic River: Beneath the Surface (Video documentary short) (special thanks)
  2002 The Making of Gosford Park (TV Short documentary) (special thanks)
  Hide Hide Self (70 credits)
  2018 In the Night I Remember Your Name (Documentary) (completed)
  Pastor Joyce Speegle (voice)
  2018 Celebrity Page (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode #3.187 (2018) ... Herself
  2018 The Dr. Oz Show (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Is an Alzheimer's Cure Ready? (2018) ... Herself
  2016-2018 Home & Family (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Marcia Gay Harden/Amy Aquino (2018) ... Herself
  - Marcia Gay Harden/Erin Krakow/Mark Ballas & BC Jean/Elise Strachan (2016) ... Herself
  2018 Larry King Now (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Marcia Gay Harden on Alzheimer's, 'Fifty Shades', & her new book (2018) ... Herself - Guest
  2018 CBS This Morning (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode #7.98 (2018) ... Herself
  2015-2018 The Talk (TV Series)
  Herself / Herself - Guest Co-Hostess
  - Marcia Gay Harden/Terri Irwin, Bindi Irwin & Robert Irwin/Ellen K (2018) ... Herself
  - Guest Co-Hosts Marcia Gay Harden & Thomas Lennon/Bill Paxton & Justin Cornwell/Lindsay Miller (2017) ... Herself - Guest Co-Hostess
  - Marcia Gay Harden & Rob Lowe/Jaymes Vaughan (2016) ... Herself
  - Marcia Gay Harden/Chef David LeFevre (2016) ... Herself
  - Guest Co-Hostess Alyssa Milano/The Cast of "Code Black"/Kevin Frazier (2015) ... Herself
  2017 Hand in Hand: A Benefit for Hurricane Relief (TV Movie)
  Herself
  2015-2017 Access Hollywood Live (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 23 March 2017 (2017) ... Herself
  - Access Hollywood Live's Love Week! - Day Three (2017) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 7 October 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  2015-2017 The Doctors (TV Series)
  Herself
  - The Doctors 911: Exercise Addict Intervention (2017) ... Herself
  - The "Little Pink Pill" Libido Booster for Women/Oscar Winner Marcia Gay Harden and the Cast of "Code Black"/Treatment for Scars (2015) ... Herself
  2007-2017 Rachael Ray (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest / Herself
  - Throw a Killer Dinner Party for Under $100! Top Chefs and Designers Go Head-to-Head to Show You How to Entertain on the Cheap! (2017) ... Herself
  - It's All About "50 Shades of Grey" with Star Marcia Gay Harden and 50 Makeovers for Gray Hair (2015) ... Herself - Guest
  - Marcia Gay Harden (2007) ... Herself - Guest
  2015-2017 Today (TV Series)
  Herself / Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 31 January 2017 (2017) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 4 February 2015 (2015) ... Herself - Guest
  2016 The 42nd Annual People's Choice Awards (TV Movie)
  Herself
  2007-2015 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 30 September 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 29 September 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 1 September 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 13 May 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 25 February 2010 (2010) ... Herself
  Show all 8 episodes
  2015 Extra (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode #22.18 (2015) ... Herself
  2015 The Late Late Show with James Corden (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Carol Burnett/Fred Savage/Marcia Gay Harden/Catfish and the Bottlemen (2015) ... Herself
  2015 The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards (TV Special documentary)
  Herself - Presenter: Outstanding Limited Series
  2015 Unity (Documentary)
  Narrator (voice)
  2015 The Meredith Vieira Show (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - "Fifty Shades of Grey's" Marcia Gay Harden/Retta/Valentine's Day Dinner/Kindergarten Class Talks About Love (2015) ... Herself - Guest
  2014-2015 The Chew (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Recipes for Romance (2015) ... Herself
  - Awesomely Loud, Incredibly Crunchy (2014) ... Herself
  2002-2015 The View (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Marcia Gay Harden/Whitney Thore (2015) ... Herself - Guest
  - Guest Co-Host Thomas Roberts/Steve Harvey/Marcia Gay Harden (2014) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 16 February 2011 (2011) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 3 March 2009 (2009) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 4 October 2007 (2007) ... Herself - Guest
  Show all 11 episodes
  2014 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Jane Fonda (TV Special)
  Herself
  2007-2013 Tavis Smiley (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 2 October 2013 (2013) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 17 September 2007 (2007) ... Herself - Guest
  2013 Teens Wanna Know (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - PaleyFest Fall Previews Trophy Wife & Back in the Game (2013) ... Herself - Guest
  2013 Above Average Presents (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Dropping Off at College ft. Marcia Gay Harden, John Milhiser & Jim O'Heir (2013) ... Herself
  2013 Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story (Documentary)
  Herself
  2012 E.W.C. - Express Written Consent (TV Series)
  Herself
  2012 AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Shirley MacLaine (TV Special)
  Herself
  2012 Behind the Seams: The 14th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards Special (TV Special)
  Herself
  2010 Talk Stoop (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Hollywood (2010) ... Herself - Guest
  2009 The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Nominee
  2009 The 63rd Annual Tony Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Winner & Presenter
  2009 Charlie Rose (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 15 May 2009 (2009) ... Herself - Guest
  2008 When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist' (Video documentary short)
  Herself
  2008 Into the Wild: The Story, the Characters (Video short)
  Herself
  2008 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Nominee
  2008 RealTVFilms (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Marcia Gay Harden, Jury Sundance 2008 (2008) ... Herself
  2008 Caiga quien caiga (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 16 January 2008 (2008) ... Herself (uncredited)
  2008 13th Annual Critics' Choice Awards (TV Special)
  Herself
  2008 13th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Red Carpet Premiere (TV Special)
  Herself
  2007 Julia Roberts: An American Cinematheque Tribute (TV Movie)
  Herself
  2007 Up Close with Carrie Keagan (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 15 November 2007 (2007) ... Herself
  2007 2007 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself
  2007 The 61st Annual Tony Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter
  2007 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (TV Special)
  Herself
  2007 The 12th Annual Critics' Choice Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter
  2006 Sweet Tornado: Margo Jones and the American Theater (TV Movie documentary)
  Herself / narrator
  2006 The 60th Annual Tony Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter
  2006 2006 Independent Spirit Awards (TV Movie documentary)
  Herself
  2006 Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner (Documentary)
  Herself
  2005 The 15th Annual Gotham Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter
  2005 A Concert for Hurricane Relief (TV Special)
  Herself
  2005 The 10th Annual Critics' Choice Awards (TV Movie documentary)
  Herself - Presenter
  2004 Mystic River: Beneath the Surface (Video documentary short)
  Herself / Celeste Boyle (as Marsha Gay Harden)
  2004 Mystic River: From Page to Screen (TV Short documentary)
  Herself / Celeste Boyle
  2004 On-Air with Ryan Seacrest (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 1 March 2004 (2004) ... Herself - Guest
  2004 The 76th Annual Academy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Nominee
  2004 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Nominee
  2001-2004 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode #12.25 (2004) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode #9.64 (2001) ... Herself - Guest
  2003 Beyond Borders: John Sayles in Mexico (Documentary)
  Herself
  2003 The 75th Annual Academy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter & Past Winner
  2002 The 74th Annual Academy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter
  2001 HARDtalk (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Marcia Grey Harden (2001) ... Herself
  2001 Late Show with David Letterman (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 25 September 2001 (2001) ... Herself - Guest
  2001 The 73rd Annual Academy Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Winner
  2001 The 2001 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Presenter (uncredited)
  1997-2001 The Rosie O'Donnell Show (TV Series)
  Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 7 March 2001 (2001) ... Herself - Guest
  - Episode dated 17 November 1997 (1997) ... Herself - Guest
  2001 The 12th Annual Golden Laurel Awards (TV Special)
  Herself
  2001 CBS Cares (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 1 January 2001 (2001) ... Herself
  1993 The 47th Annual Tony Awards (TV Special)
  Herself - Nominee
  Hide Hide Archive footage (7 credits)
  2015-2017 Entertainment Tonight (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode #36.295 (2017) ... Herself
  - Episode #35.253 (2016) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 1 January 2016 (2016) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 17 October 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 3 October 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  Show all 6 episodes
  2017 Hollywood Today Live (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Melissa Etheridge/Dan Bucatinsky/Duff Goldman (2017) ... Herself
  2015 Extra (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 21 November 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  - Episode dated 3 October 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  2015 Celebrity Page (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Episode dated 9 November 2015 (2015) ... Herself
  2008 Oscar, que empiece el espectáculo (TV Movie documentary)
  Herself (uncredited)
  2004 Biography (TV Series documentary)
  Herself
  - Brad Pitt (2004) ... Herself
  1999-2003 Gomorron (TV Series)
  Herself
  - Om filmen 'Mystic River' (2003) ... Herself
  - Om filmen 'Möt Joe Black' (1999) ... Herself

• Biography - https://www.biography.com/people/marcia-gay-harden-9542390

  Marcia Gay Harden Biography
  Actress (1959–)
  Marcia Gay Harden is an American actress best known for her work in films, like 'Miller's Crossing' and 'Pollock.'
  Who Is Marcia Gay Harden?

  Marcia Gay Harden, American actress born into a Navy family, traveled the world before finishing her college degree at the University of Texas. Harden's breakout role was in the Cohen brothers film, 'Miller's Crossing,' as a tough moll. She continued in many films, eventually winning an Academy Award opposite Ed Harris in Pollock, for her role as Pollock's wife.
  Early Life

  Actress. Born August 14, 1959, in La Jolla, California. Harden's father was a captain in the United States Navy, and the family moved a good deal during her childhood and adolescence. Harden attended college in Greece; Munich, Germany; and Baltimore, Maryland, before completing her degree in drama at the University of Texas in Austin. After college, she moved to New York City and did graduate studies at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
  Film Debut

  In 1990, Harden made her feature film debut in Miller's Crossing, an unconventional take on the gangster movie written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Playing a tough moll named Verna, Harden held her own opposite costars Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, and Albert Finney. Two years later, she starred in the independent feature Crush (1992), as a free-spirited woman who romances both a famous novelist and his daughter, then took her place among Oscar-winning actresses Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy, and Kathy Bates in Used People. On the small screen, she radiated classic Hollywood glamour as Ava Gardner in the 1992 television miniseries Sinatra.

  As her film career continued to heat up, Harden also built an impressive stage resume, starring in a 1992 production of The Skin of Our Teeth in Chicago and in the Off-Broadway play The Years in 1993. She earned a Tony nomination in 1993 for her portrayal of an emotional Mormon wife in the two-part epic Angels in America and costarred opposite Ed Harris and Beverly D'Angelo in a production of Sam Shepard’s Simpatico in 1994 at the Public Theater in New York City.

  Harden gave an affecting performance in 1996's The Spitfire Grill, also featuring Ellen Burstyn, and costarred opposite the unpredictable comic force Robin Williams in Flubber (1997). She appeared as one of the daughters of Anthony Hopkins' character in the dramatic bomb Meet Joe Black (1998), costarring Brad Pitt. Harden won new fans with her role as Susan Silverman, the girlfriend of private eye Spenser (played by Joe Mantegna) in two TV movies, Small Vices (1999) and Thin Air (2000).
  Academy Award Win

  In 2000, Harden appeared on the big screen as the romantic interest of Tommy Lee Jones' aging astronaut in the surprise hit Space Cowboys, costarring Clint Eastwood and James Garner. Most notably, she turned in her best performance to date as Lee Krasner, the artist and long-suffering wife of tortured genius Jackson Pollock, played by Ed Harris, in Pollock, an ambitious biopic directed by Harris. With a strong Brooklyn accent and a scene-stealing screen presence, Harden earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. On Oscar night, Harden pulled off the night's biggest upset, beating out several favored actresses to win her first Academy Award.
  Recent Projects

  In recent years, Harden has been an in-demand actress for films, television shows and plays. She took home a Tony Award in 2009 for her performance in the comedy God of Carnage, which also starred James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis. Harden has also enjoyed roles on such television series as Damages, Trophy Wife and The Newsroom. She recently landed a part on the hit crime drama How to Get Away With Murder.

  On the big screen, Harden appears in the film adaptation of E.L. James' erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). She will also appear in the upcoming comedy Get a Job with Anna Kendrick and Miles Teller and the midlife drama The Librarian.

  In May 2018, Harden released her book "The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family and Flowers," which examines the parent/child bond between Harden and her mother, Beverly.

  Harden has three children with her ex-husband Thaddaeus D. Scheel, a prop man she met during the filming of The Spitfire Grill. The pair split up in 2012 after 15 years of marriage.
  Fact Check

  We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!
  Citation Information
  Article Title
  Marcia Gay Harden Biography
  Author
  Website Name
  The Biography.com website
  URL
  https://www.biography.com/people/marcia-gay-harden-9542390
  Access Date
  July 12, 2018
  Publisher
  A&E Television Networks
  Last Updated
  May 2, 2018
  Original Published Date
  n/a

Harden, Marcia Gay: THE SEASONS OF MY MOTHER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Harden, Marcia Gay THE SEASONS OF MY MOTHER Atria (Adult Nonfiction) $26.00 5, 1 ISBN: 978-1-5011-3570-5
An Oscar-winning actress pays tribute to her mother.
When Harden's mother began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease, Harden decided to try to capture her memories before they were gone. In this soulful memoir, she pays homage to the woman who raised her. She tells stories from her earliest childhood days to the present and emphasizes the beliefs and values her mother instilled in her. Harden narrates chronologically, using the seasons as metaphors for the various stages in life. Chronicling her early life, she describes how her father's work in the Navy required the family to move around, including stops in California, Greece, and Japan. While they were living in Japan, her mother learned the Japanese art of flower arranging, ikebana, an artistic method of flower placement that incorporates three principle ideas: heaven, earth, and man. Ikebana was clearly Harden's mother's passion, and the author skillfully blends in descriptions of the flower arrangements her mother made and the classes she taught on ikebana. She offers tales of how her mother gently encouraged her to audition for a play, which began her successful acting career; of going to the Academy Awards; and of traveling through New Zealand with her mom instead of her boyfriend. It's abundantly clear that her mother was there for Harden through the good and the bad, so the knowledge that those memories no longer exist for her mother are especially heartbreaking. In keeping with the author's flower and gardening motif, she describes her mother's condition as "a weed run wild, slowly choking the path to memory." One of her few points of solace is the fact that her mother "has somehow managed to keep [her dignity]. Her appreciation of beauty remains as a purifier for her spirit."
Praise, love, and honor all play roles in this respectful, highly affectionate memoir about a
1 of 3 7/12/18, 10:58 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
spirited mother-daughter relationship.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Harden, Marcia Gay: THE SEASONS OF MY MOTHER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650777/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=e318b007. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650777
2 of 3 7/12/18, 10:58 PM

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers
Publishers Weekly.
265.12 (Mar. 19, 2018): p66+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers Marcia Gay Harden. Atria, $26 (320p) ISBN 9781-5011-3570-5
The devotion and heartbreak of a loving mother-daughter relationship are captured with affection and precision in this graceful memoir. Harden, an Academy Award-winning actress (Pollock), began writing the life story of her mother, Beverly, alongside her own after Beverly's 2011 Alzheimer's diagnosis. Beverly was passionate about ikebana (the ancient art of Japanese flower arrangement), and, in Hardens telling, both women led relatively ordinary lives: they married, had children, found meaning in travel, and took joy in family. She narrates the story by seasons of her mother's life, describing her essence in each one (in spring, "my mother is a brightly ribboned maypole"). Descriptions of ikebana arrangements tell Beverly's story: a military wife with five children who grew into a self-directed woman, her strength is "like a willow branch. Bendable, flexible, yet unbreakable." Harden is optimistic in the face of Alzheimer's: "When all is said and done--even without memory--what still exists is love." The connection between daughter and mother becomes even richer during "the great migration of age," when "the children become the caregivers." Harden delivers a love letter to her mother, in which the extraordinary elements of her ordinary life shine through. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers." Publishers Weekly, 19
Mar. 2018, p. 66+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc /A531977385/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=7ca626fa. Accessed 12 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A531977385
3 of 3 7/12/18, 10:58 PM

"Harden, Marcia Gay: THE SEASONS OF MY MOTHER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650777/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=e318b007. Accessed 12 July 2018. "The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers." Publishers Weekly, 19 Mar. 2018, p. 66+. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A531977385/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=7ca626fa. Accessed 12 July 2018.

• People
  https://people.com/movies/marcia-gay-harden-recalls-the-heartbreaking-moment-her-mom-with-alzheimers-didnt-recognize-her/
  Word count: 600

  Marcia Gay Harden Recalls the Heartbreaking Moment Her Mom with Alzheimer's Didn't Recognize Her
  0:02
  /
  1:25

  You Might Like
  Marcia Gay Harden Shares Her Advice to Get Through a Bad Day as An Alzheimer's Caretaker: 'Be in the Moment'
  ×
  Elizabeth Leonard
  April 25, 2018 08:00 AM

  Marcia Gay Harden knew the moment was inevitable. Still, it was no less heartbreaking when her beloved mother, Beverly, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, forgot who Harden was for the first time a few years ago.

  “We were on the phone and she said, ‘I’m sorry, but who are you?’ ” writes Harden of the call with Beverly, 81, in a moving new memoir, The Seasons of My Mother, exclusively excerpted in this week’s issue of PEOPLE.

  In her book, the Oscar-winning actress reflects on memories and lessons gleaned from Beverly’s life – as a mother, a creative force and a demure yet fierce wife of a Navy officer – while also opening up about her Alzheimer’s journey.
  Marcia Gay Harden and her mother Beverly (2015).
  Marcia Gay Harden and her mother Beverly (2015).
  Courtesy Marcia Gay Harden

  “I was prepared for it, it’d been coming on gradually, so there wasn’t really a shock. ‘It’s okay if you don’t remember me,’ I said. ‘I will always remember you.’ “

  Beverly was diagnosed in her early 70s after years of increasingly apparent memory issues. Her “clarity comes and goes”, says Harden, who, along with her brother and three sisters, pitches in to support her mom, now living with full-time care in her home state of Texas.

  “Several months later [after the phone call], she said to me, ‘I know there is something important about you, but I can’t remember what it is,’ and then later, ‘When you walked in the room, I felt something happy, like there was something about your face that was special to me’.”
  Marcia Gay Harden.
  Marcia Gay Harden.
  Chloe Aftel

  While not unexpected, the “evaporation” of her mom’s memory can be haunting for Harden. “It’s regret, anxiety, guilt… I carry it with me all the time – the pain of Mom’s situation and the appreciation of her beauty,” the Code Black star tells PEOPLE. “The sadness and horror of it all is a given. But what we do with it is the key… you repurpose the pain into something positive.”

  RELATED VIDEO: Marcia Gay Harden On The ‘Devastating Moment’ She Realized Her Mom Had Alzheimer’s & Her Children’s Fear She’ll Also Be Diagnosed
  You Might Like
  Marcia Gay Harden Recalls the Heartbreaking Moment Her Mom with Alzheimer's Didn't Recognize Her
  Marcia Gay Harden Shares Her Advice to Get Through a Bad Day as An Alzheimer's Caretaker: 'Be in the Moment'

  With The Seasons of My Mother, Harden hopes to honor Beverly’s legacy and cast light on her beauty. “[E]ven as the pitch-black darkness of this hideous disease called Alzheimer’s advances, the core of my mom has remained the same,” she writes. “I think of it as her light that cannot be extinguished.”

  And though the disease has stolen her mom’s memory, her spirit shines through. As Harden tells PEOPLE, “The essence of my mother is still here.”

  For more exclusive excerpts from The Seasons of My Mother, and PEOPLE’s interview with Harden, pick up this week’s issue, on stands Friday.

• Parade
  https://parade.com/667229/lhochwald/marcia-gay-harden-on-alzheimers-its-ok-if-you-dont-remember-me-i-will-always-remember-you/
  Word count: 981

  Marcia Gay Harden on Alzheimer's: It’s OK If You Don’t Remember Me, I Will Always Remember You
  May 3, 2018 – 1:22 PM – 0 Comments
  Lambeth Hochwald
  By Lambeth Hochwald @LambethHochwald
  Marcia Gay Harden
  Marcia Gay Harden (Larsen & Talbert)

  In 2007, when actress Marcia Gay Harden’s mother, Beverly, began showing signs of forgetfulness, Harden wasn’t sure what to make of it. The first incident occurred when the two attended a charity event in Canada and Beverly kept losing her passport, finding it and losing it again.
  marcia-gay-harden-memoir-seasons-of-my-mother-book-cover

  At a press junket and premiere months later, she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what day it was. As time passed, those forgetful moments became regular occurrences and, in 2011, Beverly was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. This week, the Academy- and Tony award-winning actress’ memoir, The Seasons of my Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family and Flowers, publishes and, with it, comes a touching story of a mother and daughter, filled with childhood stories and memories. Parade sat down with Harden, a mother of three who is currently appearing on CBS’ Code Black, to learn more about the evolution of the book and how she hopes to help every family affected by Alzheimer’s.

  It seemed to be a big turning point for your family when your mom kept losing her passport.

  It was a penny drop moment. I didn’t quite understand it at the time. It was the beginning of the signs which became much more apparent and you couldn’t be in denial about them anymore. The prick of warning was more than a prick. It was a sharp pain. It certainly was for her as well. Her fear of what was ahead was scary for all of us.

  How long did it take to write the book?

  When I began writing the memoir, it was four years ago. Then I stopped for a year and a half. It was painful and I think I didn’t want to finish it because I didn’t want to say goodbye. My mom is still here—she’s now 81—but there’s a part of me that didn’t want to finish the book. Last Mother’s Day I said ‘Come on MGH—get it done.’

  The book is punctuated by stories of your mom’s expertise in ikebana, the art of Japanese flower arranging.

  My mom and I were going to write a calendar book about flowers and, as her memory began to dissipate, I wanted her to be remembered for it. Ikebana defined her, she learned it when my father was stationed in Japan in the midst of the Vietnam War, and it was a pathway for her artistry to release. The flowers became a metaphor I wove through the book. As the book unfolded it became clear that each chapter would be connected to either a flower in season or a memory surrounding flowers.

  You write about your own concerns about being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s someday. How much do you worry about the disease?

  Everyday. You can’t not. The beginnings of it are so mistakable with signs of old age—you walk into the room and you forget what you came in for, you forget where you put your keys and then find them in your back pocket. Nobody wants Alzheimer’s. It’s not a disease to make lemonade from lemons. There’s nothing good about it. I think about it every day and I try to do the things the latest research says to do, to cut the potential of getting it myself knowing it’s a thief that has the key to every lock on the block. It doesn’t care what block it’s on.

  The book covers generation gaps—your mom wearing slips and you wearing Spanx—as well as conflicts over the years.

  That’s intentional. If you’re writing a memoir it has to be authentic. You’re going to have to relate to all parts of the story, not just the glossy parts. Therefore you have to be irritated and grumpy and sharp with your mother. People will relate to that more than if you’re a Pollyanna about it. It wasn’t always easy to write but I do think that being personal makes it something readers will relate to.

  What would you tell caregivers about taking care of themselves, too.

  Everyone says make sure you take care of yourself and rest and I think that’s true but I think we instinctively want to take the disease away and make it better. Caregivers feel guilty that they can’t do enough, but you have to go easy on yourself. Being in the moment with the person, knowing they have an ability to recognize the familiar even if they can’t verbalize it, your familiar love validates them. They don’t have their memory to validate their existence. Memory is like a companion and they don’t have that anymore so just holding their hand is so important.

  Can you share how you came to your verbal reaffirmation: ‘It’s OK if you don’t remember me, I will always remember you.’

  There’s a phrase that says ‘even though they don’t remember you, you want them to know that they will be known, they will not be left adrift.’ What inspired me to write the book is that I will always remember her, I will remember for her. In the end, I want my mother’s legacy to be all the gifts she shared as a mother. That’s what I’d want my kids to give to me.

• CBS News
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marcia-gay-harden-new-book-the-seasons-of-my-mother-alzheimers/
  Word count: 358

  Marcia Gay Harden on "The Seasons of My Mother": "I didn't want her legacy to be Alzheimer's"

  Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden is sharing her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's in her new book, "The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family, and Flowers."

  Harden told "CBS This Morning" she was propelled to write the book to turn her own pain into something positive and to preserve the memory of her mother's life before she suffered from the disease.
  somm-final-cover-image.jpg

  "I didn't want her legacy to be Alzheimer's. I wanted her legacy to be this beautiful life that she's lived and that's really why I wrote it," Harden said. "There's no bright side to Alzheimer's, although there is a hope around the corner for drugs, but in the moment there's no bright side. And so you can only repurpose your pain toward something positive."

  Harden also saw the book as an opportunity to reflect on the lessons she learned from her mother.

  "There was one passage in it where I talk about my mother's, what I assumed was my mother's, passivity. My mother said if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. So I thought that was passivity and as I got older I realized that wasn't passivity, Marcia Gay. That's called reserve. Sometimes you don't need to throw your negative opinion out and correct all the wrongs," Harden said.

  Harden is also one of the stars of hit CBS medical drama, "Code Black." In it, she plays Dr. Leanne Rorish, the residency director who leads a team in a busy emergency room. The theme of the show's third season is also related to motherhood.

  "For my character, Leanne, who is sort of a badass ER doctor and now she's attempting to adopt Ariel ... That's really an ER situation -- is raising a teenager. So she's got ER on both sides of her."

  "Code Black" airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. CT on CBS.
  © 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

• Entertainment Weekly
  http://ew.com/books/2018/05/02/marcia-gay-harden-memoir-interview/
  Word count: 1801

  Why Marcia Gay Harden refused to surrender to the power of Alzheimer's
  Amy Sussman/Getty
  placeholder
  David Canfield
  May 02, 2018 at 09:30 AM EDT

  Marcia Gay Harden has won an Oscar and a Tony, but this year the actress is showcasing her bona fides as a writer.

  On Tuesday, Harden (Pollack, Code Black) published Seasons of My Mother, a lyrical memoir recounting her intimate, profound relationship with her mother. The book is assembled non-chronologically, and follows their adventures around the world: as they grow closer, learn from one another, and develop a dynamic that goes from parent-child to close friends. Harden writes with grit and insight, painting an authentic portrait of their dynamic. And she doesn’t shy away from the most painful element of the story, either: the fact that her mother was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

  Seasons is framed around flower-arranging and the art of Ikebana, a choice that builds in literary depth as the book rolls along. It’s also an activity that binds Harden and her mother, and that was always there, if only in the background, for their relationship’s most pivotal moments.

  Just before Seasons‘ publication, Harden spoke to EW about the book’s genesis and evolution, her desire to tackle her mother’s diagnosis unflinchingly, and why the writing process has changed her. Read on below, and purchase your copy here.
  Atria Books

  ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The decision to write this memoir, I imagine, was not made overnight. What made you decide to write this?
  MARCIA GAY HARDEN: It was initially going to be a different project. In the beginning, I talk about how mom and I — how she wanted to do a traveling flower show, going into people’s gardens and arranging things as a sort of HGTV-type show. We were going to do a calendar book of flowers — “What you arrange in January; what you arrange in February” — to market along with the show. Life got in the way. I didn’t pick up the idea again until maybe six or seven years later, at which point mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The process of picking up that book already would not have the collaboration that we would’ve had previously.

  A while later, my neighbor, this old writer named Alvin Sargent [Paper Moon, Ordinary People], had just lost his wife. He’d just lost his wife and I was just going through a divorce, so he recognized me on the street and we became fast and furious friends. He said to me, “You should write it” after I told him about the book. I said I was; he told me to show him. I showed him two sentences, which were of the January chapter — in January, my mother always liked to arrange with a clean mind — and he said … “So you’re a writer.”

  High praise.
  That was, for me, a huge affirmation. I’m not a writer; I didn’t study it in school. But I’m an actor. I’m a storyteller. So I started writing, still thinking I was doing a how-to book, and then some agents saw it and said, “Really, what’s happening here is the narrative is so important. Can you keep working with the narrative?” It was very scary to me, because I really hadn’t intended to write a book about my mother. I’d intended that we would do a book together about flowers. [Laughs] But the narrative started coming; it turned into a memoir, and it would come chapter by chapter. I went to the past, the present, and would have no regard for time. I just told the stories as they came. It was a great experience, but not easy — very, very personal.

  The flowers make for such a powerful motif for the story you’re telling. As you were told to push in terms of the narrative, how did you think about the flowers and Ikebana, narratively? How they informed the story?
  I felt like I still had to follow that [calendar] structure. If you look closely at each chapter … I tried to find a memory from each. I simply didn’t place it chronologically; I just placed it whenever, and then I would let the chapter go wherever it went. In February, I’d say on Valentine’s Day, dad always gave mom beautiful red roses — breaking from the tradition of yellow. For Christmas, I went back to the motif of the reef, and how Forsythia was so important. I tried to think of a flower that would be exemplary for each month, and then find a memory — a story — around that. Sometimes, like when my mom came to visit for me giving birth to [my daughter] Eulala, it wasn’t a specific flower. It was the fact that she was the one to teach Ikebana, and then all the little lessons she taught me in the grocery store while we were getting flowers.

  I tried to weave what flower would be appropriate for a certain month, and then weave a memory with that. Then that opened doors: it was like a starting point for each chapter.

  Did approaching your relationship with your mother in this way cause you to remember things differently? Did it change or flesh out your memories?
  Yeah, it did. Memories are so ephemeral on some level. In how I write this book, I have mom flying outside of airplanes and embracing the moon and doing things that aren’t necessarily literal … Sometimes I’d go back and look at pictures and would go, “Oh, that’s what this looked like,” and would be able to write about it … It actually made my memories stronger. I did research as well to make sure my memory was based in some fact. Sometimes I got things wrong. Even now I look back and I go, “You know what, actually our plane touched down in Hawaii before we went on to Japan.” But it doesn’t matter. It’s the arc of a journey that my mom was taking. If the plane touched down and then back up, who cares? Not that facts are inconvenient — facts are important — but it’s not a biography. It’s a memoir.

  Can you describe the feeling of revisiting these memories, given the context of your mother’s Alzheimer’s?
  When I first started this, I was so angry that my mother had lost the ability to do all of the things that she loved to do. I was so angry that she was sitting in a wheelchair, starting to forget. That’s what made me first say, I don’t want this to be what we remember her for — Alzheimer’s. I just had that feeling of: I can’t surrender to the power of this disease to define a person. That’s what made me start the book. The painful memory is much what drove me, to repurpose that pain, and it’s much what drove me to do something about it. The fact of her sitting not blankly, but going in and out — we were still discovering what Alzheimer’s was. That’s what drove me to the book.

  There’s one chapter where you recount, in painfully routine detail, your mother not being able to remember which dress to wear, repeatedly putting on the wrong clothing and getting more and more confused.
  It’s a very painful memory. And what else would it be? You know something’s wrong, and if everything the doctors are saying is true about it, there’s not much we can do about it … My mom is now in a wheelchair, and who knows why? Did her body forget how to walk? I don’t know exactly why she’s in a wheelchair. She’s still the same beautiful person. But at that time, when she was first beginning to show symptoms, each one was like a lower note in a musical scale. It’s scary. That’s what I remember that dress moment as.

  Gathering with my family, my brothers and sisters, and trying to understand what was going — what our response would be — were all painful memories to revisit. And there are so many families going through the same thing. It doesn’t just affect the patient; it affects huge communities of people: the families, the caregivers. In terms of writing about it, most of the book is not about Alzheimer’s — it’s about a mother-daughter relationship, us growing and traveling together and learning to see each other as people, rather than the labels of “mother” and “daughter.” That’s the beauty of her. Our mothers give us these life lessons in ways that we don’t even recognize in the moment that they’re being given … But of course Alzheimer’s is there — I tell you in the beginning [of the book], that’s what’s going to happen. You know we’re going there. By knowing it’s happening in the beginning, it makes the loss of her and her gifts more tangible.

  Did writing this change you? Make you look back on things differently? Even now, since you’ve finished and are now talking about it.
  It’s a strange feeling, releasing babies into the world, isn’t it — things that you cherish? It’s constantly changing me. What I’m telling myself is to hold onto it — to hold onto the fact of it … What’s changing in me is to help be a voice for the Alzheimer’s world, and that’s really what the mission is: raise awareness and help find a cure for this heinous disease. That’s the goal.

  And then on this other level, I have people in my social media saying, like, “I just took an Ikebana class — thank you so much for introducing this to me!” A few of my friends who have read it are now giving me the feedback that they understand Ikebana in a whole new light, and they’re interested in this craft. I think that would make my mother so incredibly proud, as a result of what’s happened with the book. So for me, it’s a little scary. It’s always a little scary releasing a baby and then talking about it. I’m being asked, “What is it? What is this book?” I can’t go, “It’s a mystery thriller!” [Laughs] This is a mother-daughter journey. That’s the best way I can put it.

• Biography
  https://www.biography.com/news/marcia-gay-harden-book-interview
  Word count: 1340

  Marcia Gay Harden On Her Mom’s Battle With Alzheimer’s: 'I Never Thought I’d Be a Statistic' (INTERVIEW)
  In this Biography.com exclusive, the Academy Award-winning actor talks about her life, career and new book, 'The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family and Flowers,' which deals with her mother Beverly’s ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

  Colin Bertram
  May 2, 2018

  Marcia Gay Harden Photo

  Marcia Gay Harden

  (Photo: Larsen & Talbert)

  Marcia Gay Harden won an Academy Award for her role in Pollock, has appeared in more than 50 other films (Miller’s Crossing, The First Wives Club, Mystic River), won a Tony award for her role in God of Carnage on Broadway and can be seen in the TV drama Code Black, now in its third season on CBS.

  But it’s books we’re talking about when Harden calls from her home in California. Her book, in fact. The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family and Flowers (Atria Books) was released May 1st and examines the parent/child bond between Harden and her 83-year-old mother Beverly.

  Originally destined to be a calendar book, it was to be a collaborative effort between mother and daughter focused on flowers. Long a practitioner of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, Beverly’s participation in the venture was shelved as she began her long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

  “I started writing it because I didn’t want her legacy to be Alzheimer’s,” says Harden of her initial hopes for the book. “I wanted it to be the beautiful life that she’d lived and Ikebana. I probably wrote it in a way to keep that person that I was watching slip away alive inside of me as well.”

  An honest and emotionally telling account of the lives of two vibrant and creative women, Harden, 58, says her book has taken on a whole different shape and meaning now that it's been released. “What I find I’m talking about a lot now is Alzheimer’s, and I think it was naïve of me to think it also wouldn’t be about that. Certainly, the early goal was to make a difference in the Alzheimer’s world, to raise awareness. The challenge for me has been standing those two things in marriage with each other. And that is my mother: she is her incredible past, she is the present moment that she is living in with as much grace and dignity as she can muster, and moving toward the future. I feel that with this book we can help make a difference in Alzheimer’s awareness.”

  Never intended to be a self-help book about the disease, it was created as the “memories of our lives and ultimately the struggle with Alzheimer’s,” Harden says.
  'The Seasons of My Mother' Book Cover Photo

  Cover of 'The Seasons of My Mother: A Memoir of Love, Family and Flowers'

  (Photo: Simon & Schuster / Atria Books)

  It is also a chronicle of a remarkably successful acting career and the everyday family life that existed beyond the big screen and red carpet premieres. Recounting her earliest memories as one of five children to Texas natives Beverly and Thad, Harden retraces her life — including childhood moves to Japan, Germany, California and Maryland thanks to her father’s work as an officer in the United States Navy — with a touching and self-aware candor.

  At the beginning of the 21st century Harden was initially riding high. In 2001 she was awarded the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Lee Krasner in Ed Harris’ biopic Pollock. Her parents were both in attendance to see her accept the award. However, the following year her father died, leaving Beverly widowed after 46 years of marriage. In 2003 further tragedy struck when Harden’s niece and nephew died, along with their mother, as a result of a fire in their Queens, New York home. Around the same time, Beverly confided to Harden that “something is wrong. I’m afraid I’m forgetting the simplest of things.” By the end of 2011, Harden’s marriage was crumbling and Beverly had been officially diagnosed.

  “I was falling apart at the seams,” Harden says of the period. “I am so honored to look back and say that I was able to keep it together, because all these unlikely people – professionals, people I work with, friends, therapists – came together to say, ‘We’ve got you.’ I went to a clinic, a kind of healing place, and I would be there during the daytime and take classes on cognitive behavioral therapy and meditating. Taking classes on how to be in my own skin with all these things going on around it, because I had a goal. And the goal, the light that was pulling me through was my children."

  "I wanted to be a good mother. And I wasn’t. I wasn’t being a good mother, I wasn’t being a good daughter, I was not a wife anymore," Harden adds. "All the roles and the labels of life had disappeared for me. And the one thing that I most cherished – being a mother – I was doing a bad job at. I was impatient, I was taking things out on my kids because I was under incredible duress. So, with this team of people, they gave me the space of a month to pull it together. And I did. That was the crumble moment. I came back standing on my own two feet, being able to continue to battle. By them giving me space they let me return to center, to return to the battle. Because it wasn’t like I came back and everything was fine. You must have a core strength to battle, and I had lost my core strength. They helped me get it back.”

  Married for 15 years, Harden has three children with ex-husband Thaddeus Scheel and 19-year-old Eulala and 14-year-old twins Julitta and Hudson were often enlisted to help as mom was writing The Seasons of My Mother.

  “Because I am an actor I couldn’t just write and understand what those words felt like on a page, I had to read them out loud and if they didn’t work reading them out loud I would go back and work it until they would,” Harden says. “I would grab my children and say, ‘Guys, would somebody sit down and listen to this?’ And the first question would always be, ‘How long will it take, Mom?’”

  Harden admits writing, especially the chapters about divorce and Alzheimer’s, was often difficult. “I never, ever thought that I would be a statistic. When death and divorce and Alzheimer’s become a part of your life you think, ‘Oh, I am part of the 45 million people worldwide [affected by the disease], I’m part of the fifty percent population worldwide that gets divorced. Suddenly you are a statistic and it really threatens your individuality.”

  Of late, Harden has been trying to practice the power of standing still, what she describes in the book as “perhaps the most important lesson” learned from her mother.

  “Now, I’m incredibly, incredibly grateful for the life that I lead,” Harden says. “I’m very happy being a single mom. I’m in a good relationship/friendship with their dad. I want my kids to have a father. And what’s point of all the animosity? What an incredible waste of energy. There’s no point lamenting the past. You must try to stay present in the now – sure, it’s not always easy – but I think writing the book has helped change my perspective that way.”

  Tags
  celebrity interview

  By
  Colin Bertram

• ET
  https://www.etonline.com/the-seasons-of-my-mother-7-heartwarming-revelations-from-marcia-gay-hardens-new-memoir-101769
  Word count: 717

  The Seasons of My Mother': 7 Heartwarming Revelations From Marcia Gay Harden's New Memoir
  By Latifah Muhammad‍ 1:46 PM PDT, May 8, 2018
  Playing: 7 Revelations From Marcia Gay Harden’s Memoir ‘The Seasons of My Mother’

  Marcia Gay Harden takes readers through The Seasons of My Motherin a moving new memoir sharing some of the many lessons that she learned from her beloved mother, Beverly Harden.

  The Fifty Shades of Grey actress is the middle child of five children, and was born in La Jolla, California, to two Texas natives. Beverly was a homemaker, while Harden's father, Thaddeus, who died in 2002, was a naval officer.

  Harden was pretty much destined to become an actress, showing an early passion for performing and storytelling, due in part from the encouraging experiences of her childhood. The Academy Award winner boasts a strong appreciation for her mother, whose battle with Alzheimer’s disease has been a lesson in resilience and grace.

  The Seasons of My Mother, which was released on May 1 via hard copy and audiobook, is a reminder that the degenerative brain disease hasn’t dimmed the light of her mother’s dazzling spirit, while unearthing some of the stories that shaped her identity.

  Check out seven heartwarming revelations from Harden’s book below.
  Season of my Mother
  Simon & Schuster

  1. The Seasons of My Mother wasn't always a memoir.

  The project was originally supposed to be a calendar book of flower arrangements that morphed into a memoir after a “series of events” (including her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis) changed Harden’s plans.

  2. Harden learned a lot from her family's world travels.

  As a military family, the Hardens moved frequently and eventually landed in Yokohama, Japan, where Harden's father was stationed. Located south of Tokyo, Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan and is known for its historical architecture and breathtaking botanical gardens.

  3. It takes "courage" to become an actress.

  Harden’s mother taught her daughter how to submerge herself in diverse environments, which ultimately helped her muster the "courage" to audition for various roles and taught her how to sink into the world of different characters.

  4. Harden's mother was skilled in the ancient art of Japanese flower arrangements.

  While living overseas, Harden’s mother learned the art of Japanese flower arrangements, known as Ikebana. She even picked up an interesting hack of using vodka to help Wisteria flowers stay fresh longer. Years later, as Alzheimer’s began to set in, Harden asked her mother how she learned the vodka trick, to which she replied: “I know Wisteria love vodka because I have shared some with it.”

  5. Cherished memories can be created anywhere.

  During one particularly sweet passage in the book, Harden reflects on the “joyful chaos” of a happy memory of her mother teaching an Ikebana class to Harden's friends and neighbors in Venice Beach, California, in 1998. At the time, the actress was preparing to give birth to her first daughter, Eulala.

  6. It's important to live in the moment.

  One of the biggest lessons that Harden learned from her mother’s diagnosis is to “live in the moment.” Alzheimer’s often strips patients of their past, and living in the moment becomes their only option.

  7. Alzheimer's disease won't be her mother's legacy.

  Harden doesn’t want her mother to be defined by Alzheimer's disease. With The Seasons of My Mother, Harden hopes to show that her mother’s legacy is in the totality of a beautiful life, not in the diagnosis that has replaced pieces of her witty but soft-spoken disposition with the fragility of not being able to recall sometimes the smallest of memories.

  Listen to an excerpt from The Seasons of My Mother in the video above. Click here for more on Harden’s new book.

  RELATED CONTENT:

  Marcia Gay Harden Reveals Why 'Code Black' Is Not Your Average Medical Drama: 'It's Down and Dirty'

  She Gets It From Her Mama: Celebrity Mother-Daughter Doppelgangers
  'How to Get Away with Murder' Sneak Peak: Marcia Gay Harden Joins the Cast

• Wall Street Journal
  https://www.wsj.com/articles/marcia-gay-harden-lost-a-bet-with-her-mother-and-won-an-oscar-1525186800
  Word count: 1295

  Marcia Gay Harden Lost a Bet With Her Mother and Won an Oscar
  The actress recalls her childhood growing up in California, Japan and Greece as the daughter of a naval officer and a mother who encouraged her to act
  Marcia Gay Harden in New York City in March.
  Marcia Gay Harden in New York City in March. Photo: Axel Dupeux for The Wall Street Journal
  By Marc Myers
  May 1, 2018 11:00 a.m. ET
  13 COMMENTS

  Marcia Gay Harden, 58, is an Oscar-winning actress who has appeared in more than 50 films, including “The First Wives Club,” “Pollock,” “Mystic River” and “Fifty Shades of Grey.” She is the author of “The Seasons of My Mother” (Atria). She spoke with Marc Myers.

  My mother wasn’t a stage mom but she was convinced I had talent. In the early 1980s, fresh out of college with a major in theater, my plan was to work odd jobs and audition in Washington. But I was stubbornly insecure.

  My mother, Beverly, sensed my anxiety. One weekend, when I visited my parents’ home in Virginia, she pulled out an article about auditions for a local production of Neil Simon’s “I Ought to Be in Pictures.”

  I insisted it was a musical and resisted. My mother gently offered to call to see if it was a musical. I said, “fine,” so she called. It wasn’t a musical. I auditioned and got my first professional theater part. What’s more, I received good reviews and won an award. More plays and good reviews followed. Somehow, my mother knew that if she just got me to the edge, I’d fly.

  When I was little, my family lived in a three-bedroom ranch house in Garden Grove, Calif. My father, Thad, was a naval officer who rose to the rank of captain. He’d be away for six months at a stretch. The person who maintained the ship at home was my mother. There were five kids—I was the middle child.

  All in all, we were good kids. This had a lot to do with my mother’s lightheartedness and kindness. Her voice was soft and reminded me of Snow White. She also loved planning fun events to keep us occupied. May 1 was always a big deal. The night before, we gathered flowers in the garden. The next morning, we made little bouquets and “Happy May Day” cards. Then we left them hanging on neighbors’ doors.
  Ms. Harden, far right, with her family in Long Beach, Calif., in the early 1960s.
  Ms. Harden, far right, with her family in Long Beach, Calif., in the early 1960s. Photo: Marcia Gay Harden

  When I was 8, in 1967, my father was transferred to Japan, where he helped command a ship. Our house was on the naval base, halfway up a hill. It was magical. My mother became a sexy, determined, ’60s woman who wore asymmetrical dresses in orange and yellow.

  Our house had a front porch, where we put on plays for families on the base. The first was “The Princess and the Pea.” I pretended to stagger while carrying a heavy cake, and the audience laughed. I thought, “They think I’m funny. This is clearly something I need to be doing.”
  More House Calls

  A Pulitzer-Prize Winner Learned Storytelling in the Deep South July 3, 2018
  How Former NBA Star Elgin Baylor Invented His Hanging Jump Shot June 26, 2018
  Novelist Meg Wolitzer on First-Grade Stories and Suburban Summers June 19, 2018

  The house that changed me most was in Greece. In 1976, my dad was appointed commanding officer at a base in a town called Nea Makri, on the eastern coast. We rented the house of a shipping magnate. The furnishings were beautiful, and the house looked down at the bluest water.

  Finally, I had my own bedroom. It was circular with French doors that opened to fragrant trees in our backyard. Each day I was overcome by the smell of jasmine, lemon and orange trees and roses. There was an intoxicating sensuality there, and I fell in love with the country.

  I spent my first year in college in Greece. Acting became a passion after I watched ancient Greek plays performed at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens. When I moved to Munich for my second year of college, I began to take acting seriously. During a rehearsal, my teacher said, “Oh, (pause), you’re good.”

  After my last year of college at the University of Texas, I moved to Washington, D.C., then to New York. I waited tables at the Pierre Hotel and went on auditions. By then, all of my friends were buying stereos and having babies. I didn’t have anything except a fifth-floor walkup in the West Village.

  ‘The house that changed me most was in Greece.’
  —Marcia Gay Harden

  My parents were supportive, in their own way. My dad dropped hints about me studying computers as a fallback. Then NYU gave me a full scholarship to its graduate program in theater. My mother said, “At least she’ll be able to teach.”

  In 1988, I auditioned for Joel and Ethan Coen. The directors were casting unknowns for their movie, “Miller’s Crossing.” Months later, when I was in my kitchen, my agent called. “You got the part!” he said. I fell to my knees. My first major film role. I called home. My dad said, “Fan-blanking-tastic.” My mother said softly, “Oh, Marcia Gay!”

  Today, I live in Mar Vista, in Los Angeles. My house is Spanish Mediterranean, but old. The four-bedroom house is about me and my three kids.

  On one side you can see the Pacific and on the other the mountains. But they aren’t sweeping views. What we have is privacy.

  My father died in 2002. My mother today has Alzheimer’s. I don’t measure what stage she’s in, but she’s handling the disease with grace. When I ask, she says the most important things to her are love, flowers and her family. This is the same woman who pushed me to audition. I don’t want Alzheimer’s to be her legacy.
  Most Popular Videos

  [https://m.wsj.net/video/20180711/07112018_plants/07112018_plants_167x94.jpg]
  Too Many Houseplants? No Way!
  [https://m.wsj.net/video/20180712/071218scotusoutlookshelby4/071218scotusoutlookshelby4_167x94.jpg]
  Three Big Cases Kavanaugh May Help Decide
  [https://m.wsj.net/video/20180711/071118thaiboys/071118thaiboys_167x94.jpg]
  Video Shows 12 Thai Boys and Coach After Dramatic Cave Rescue
  [https://m.wsj.net/video/20180712/071218thaicave2/071218thaicave2_167x94.jpg]
  Successful Thai Cave Rescue: A Herculean Team Effort
  [https://m.wsj.net/video/20180710/070918saudidrive2/070918saudidrive2_167x94.jpg]
  All Hail Saudi Arabia's First Female Ride-App Drivers

  Most Popular Articles

  Michael Cohen Purchases New York Apartment for $6.7 Million
  Michael Cohen Purchases New York Apartment for $6.7 Million
  Columbus Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Stormy Daniels
  Columbus Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Stormy Daniels
  FBI’s Strzok Denies Claims of Bias at House Hearing
  FBI’s Strzok Denies Claims of Bias at House Hearing
  Chateau Margaux for Seat 2A: Emirates Rewrites Rules for Airlines
  Chateau Margaux for Seat 2A: Emirates Rewrites Rules for Airlines
  Delta to Trim Flights as Fuel Prices Rise
  Delta to Trim Flights as Fuel Prices Rise

  SHOW COMMENTS (13)
  The Wall Street Journal
  U.S. Edition

  Subscribe NowSign In
  Back to Top «

  WSJ Membership

Word Count