"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Monday, August 15, 2011

Girl of the Day - Tess Harper



The actress Tess Harper is 61 today.   She has had a small recurring role on one of my favorite shows, Breaking Bad, as the suburban mother of young meth "cooker," Jessie Pinkman (a story line in an earlier season had to do with how his parents disowned him, and he got revenge by buying a property they owned at a rock-bottom price after divulging to the real estate agent that the house had been a meth-cooking lab for years).    

Anyway, Tess Harper has never been what you would call a star and, in fact, her career was somewhat accidental, taking off when she was cast as the young wife of Robert Duvall in Tender Mercies after attending a cattle call audition in Texas, where she was doing dinner theater and acting at theme parks.   Tender Mercies is a great, great movie, and she is great in it.   Here's a clip:





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