Daria Halprin (born December 30, 1948) is an American somatic-expressive arts therapist, author, teacher dancer, and former actress known primarily for her performances in three films of the late 1960s and early 1970s and as founding director of Tamalpa Institute.

Early life

Daria Halprin was born in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, the daughter of San Francisco-based landscape architect

Lawrence Halprin Lawrence Halprin (July 1, 1916 – October 25, 2009) was an American landscape architect, designer, and teacher. Beginning his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in 1949, Halprin often collaborated with a local circle of modernist ...

and choreographer

Anna Halprin Anna Halprin (born Hannah Dorothy Schuman; July 13, 1920 – May 24, 2021) was an American choreographer and dancer. She helped redefine dance in postwar America and pioneer the experimental art form known as postmodern dance and referred to her ...

(née Schuman), who, in the 1950s, was one of the Western pioneers of using dance as a healing art. Like her mother, Halprin studied dance, and in the mid 1960s, began acting in film. Her paternal grandmother was Zionist leader Rose Halprin.

Acting career

In 1968, she appeared in ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

'', a documentary by Jack O'Connell. Shot mainly in San Francisco, the film depicted the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

movement and featured a series of interviews with that city’s

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

residents. Halprin was chosen by director

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni ( ; ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is best known for his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents", ''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and '' ...

for the lead in his second English-language feature, ''

Zabriskie Point Zabriskie Point is a part of the Amargosa Range located east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in California, United States, noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 mil ...

''. The film, released in 1970, was a statement on the burgeoning violence in America and the growing rift between the establishment and the

. Following release of the film, with her ''Zabriskie Point'' co-star Mark Frechette, Halprin briefly joined self-styled guru

Mel Lyman Melvin James Lyman (March 24, 1938 – March 1978) was an American musician and writer, and the founder of the Fort Hill Community, which has been variously described as a family, commune, or cult. Early life Lyman grew up in California and Ore ...

, a former member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and his 100-member commune. In 1972, Halprin appeared in John Flynn's thriller ''

The Jerusalem File ''The Jerusalem File'' is a 1972 film directed by John Flynn. It stars Bruce Davison, Nicol Williamson, Daria Halprin, and Donald Pleasence. The film only ever made it onto VHS in various dubbed or subtitled languages. It can be found on YouTube ...

''. Also in 1972, she married actor/director

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

. The marriage produced one child, Ruthanna Hopper, and the couple divorced in 1976.

Later life

In the 1970s, Halprin developed an interest in

creative arts therapy The expressive therapies are the use of the creative arts as a form of therapy, including the distinct disciplines expressive arts therapy and the creative arts therapies (art therapy, dance/movement therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, writing ...

. In 1978, she and her mother Anna founded the Tamalpa InstituteTamalpa Institute
/ref> and developed the Halprin Process. She has written ''The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy'' and ''Coming Alive: The Creative Expression Method'', and she was a contributing author to ''Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy''.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halprin, Daria 1948 births Jewish American actresses American film actresses Living people Actors from the San Francisco Bay Area 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women