Harper Plays Hollywood's Original Bad Girl

Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan weren't the first risqué actresses in Hollywood - the legendary 1930's actress Tallulah Bankhead was the original bad girl.

The saucy Bankhead went from stage to silver screen and scandalized Tinseltown with booze, drugs and bisexual affairs.

Emmy-Winning actress Valerie Harper, who may be forever known as "Rhoda" from the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," has brought Bankhead back to life with her uncanny portrayal in the play "Looped."

"(She was) loaded with talent. That she was funny was more important than anything," Harper told Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

Harper is receiving rave reviews for what critics are calling her "second role of a lifetime." This one is dramatically different from her characters in the past.

"I try not to read them, but I live with the producer (her husband of 20 years) so he goes 'ahh, another great review' and I go, 'shhh,'" the humble Harper said.

Harper undergoes a sassy transformation when she gets into character with a '30s style hair-do, bright red lipstick and a heavy fur coat.

She's been lighting up the Pasadena Playhouse in "Looped" by playing an aging Bankhead trying to re-record a line she goofed up while shooting a film.

It's based on a real incident when Bankhead took eight hours to record a single line.

"This entire play is about that one looping session," Kauffman said. "And she's somewhat looped."

"So it's a double-entendre," Harper laughed.

Harper shrugs off the idea that there is a risk involved in playing this promiscuous, bisexual aging actress.

"You mean that I might be compared to her? Everyone knows I'm a terminal square," she said.

Harper admitted that she is having the time of her life playing Bankhead.

"I am, it's really wonderful," Harper said.

It may only get better for Harper if she heads to Broadway.

Harper admits that in real life she is more like her character "Rhoda," a role that brought her four Emmy's and a Golden Globe.

"I just grabbed the brass ring with Rhoda Morganstern - a fabulous character to play," she said.

Despite the fond memories of "Rhoda," she has moved on.

"I'm not a believer in the good old days," she said. "I mean they're lovely and I love them and revere them, but the best day is right now."