Literary and Cinematic Treatments/references
Harris's story was told by Diana Trilling in the 1982 book Mrs. Harris and by the journalist Shana Alexander in the 1983 book Very Much a Lady: The Untold Story of Jean Harris and Dr. Herman Tarnower.
Harris's murder trial was depicted in the 1981 made-for-television movie The People vs. Jean Harris. She was portrayed by Ellen Burstyn, who was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the performance. Burstyn was later nominated for another Emmy for a cameo role as one of Tarnower's former lovers in Mrs. Harris, a 2005 movie in which Annette Bening played Jean Harris.
In the 1995 movie Dolores Claiborne, the journalist daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh asks her mother, Kathy Bates, why she killed her husband. The daughter then excuses herself by saying, "Don't feel too bad, Ma. I asked Jean Harris the same thing once."
In the 1997 Seinfeld episode "The Summer of George", Raquel Welch plays herself playing Jean Harris in a fictional Tony Award-winning musical about the murders called Scarsdale Surprise.
In 2006, HBO films produced Mrs. Harris, which depicted Harris's relationship with Tarnower from beginning to end, including the trial. The film starred Annette Bening, with Ben Kingsley opposite her as Tarnower. Both Bening and Kingsley received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for the film.
Harris and Tarnower are referred to in Christine Lavin's song "Cold Pizza for Breakfast".
Read more about this topic: Jean Harris
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