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Leanne Rorish in the current CBS TV series Code Black. "It's hard to look at the person she was and see how much the disease has robbed her of her memory and independence." Marcia Gay Harden in Miller's Crossing, 1990 with Ed Harris in her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Lee Krasner in Pollock, 2000 and as Dr. That only happens to other people,'" she says. "You think, 'That can't be happening to my mom. After undergoing a thorough medical history, mental status testing, and a physical and neurologic examination, Harden's mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that affects more than 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer's Association. We knew this wasn't normal aging or forgetfulness."Įpisodes like that-as well as forgetting recently learned information, numbers, and dates-became so frequent, Harden says, that she and her siblings insisted their mother see a physician. At that moment, I knew something was wrong, and so did the people on my hair and makeup team who have been with me and known my mom for years. "Right before we left, my mom came downstairs ready to go, but she was dressed in a long, formal, red evening gown that she had planned to wear to a gala another night. "One day my mom couldn't find her passport, even though she had put it in her pocket just a few minutes before." Another time, her mother was accompanying Harden to an informal press event, and they had discussed what they were going to wear several times. The signs of encroaching disease were subtle, Harden remembers. GETTY IMAGES/BRUCE GLIKAS/FILMMAGIC Subtle Signs
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Marcia Gay Harden with her mother, Beverly, at the 2009 Tony Awards. Years later, as Harden raised her own three children, Beverly, whose husband died in 2002, became a doting grandmother. "There are so many decisions to make on behalf of another person." She and her siblings have had to determine where their mother should live, what sort of care she should have, and how much intervention she might want in her last days, says Harden.įor most of her life, Harden's mother was a spirited Navy wife who raised five children, often by herself, while her husband was at sea. "It's very much a disease that impacts the entire family," Harden says. As the irreversible, progressive brain disorder slowly destroyed her mother's memory and thinking skills, Harden found herself becoming her mother's caregiver and parent. Yet Harden admits she was unprepared for the role she assumed after her mother, Beverly, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2009 at age 72. She can assume any role and deliver an award-worthy performance. Throughout her career, Harden has proved her versatility. Today, she plays the brilliant emergency room doctor Leanne Rorish on the CBS medical drama, Code Black.
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Nine years later she snagged a Tony for her role in the Broadway hit God of Carnage. In 2000, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Lee Krasner, in Pollock, a biopic about the painter Jackson Pollock. In 1990, Marcia Gay Harden made her big screen debut as Verna Bernbaum in the Coen brothers' black comedy Miller's Crossing. Actress Marcia Gay Harden Becomes Alzheimer’s Advocate After Mother’s Diagnosis