Valerie Harper diagnosed with terminal brain cancer

The 73-year-old American actress has told People magazine that she has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Valerie Harper appears on the front of the popular US magazine in which she confirms that she has ‘months to live’. Following tests she was told by doctors that she has leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.

Harper rose to fame on American television playing Rhoda Morgenstern in CBS series The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She then featured in the spin-off, self-titled Rhoda which ran for five series in the 1970s.

In the 1980s she returned to situation comedy starring in NBC’s Valerie but was fired after two seasons. Harper has also appeared in a number of other sitcoms and taken centre stage in many theatre shows.