She scored laughs and stole hearts as Rhoda Morgenstern on back-to-back hit sitcoms in the 1970s.
Harper was a breakout star playing the lovable sidekick on ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show,'' then as the funny leading lady of the spinoff series, ''Rhoda.''
In March 2013, she revealed she'd been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
She had battled lung cancer in 2009, and her husband-manager had said recently he'd been advised to place her in hospice.
Harper also appeared on Broadway and in feature films including ''Freebie and the Bean'' and ''Chapter Two.