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 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 a ...

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 hers ...

(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 Rose Luria Halprin (1896–1978) was an American Zionist leader and National President of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. In addition to her two terms as Hadassah president, she also served on the Zionist General Council, Amer ...

Acting career

In 1968, she appeared in ''

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

'', a documentary by

Jack O'Connell Jack O'Connell may refer to: * Jack O'Connell (actor) (born 1990), English actor * Jack O'Connell (Australian politician) (1903–1972), member of the Victorian Legislative Council * Jack O'Connell (diplomat) (1921–2010), American diplomat and C ...

. 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''. Hou ...

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, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

residents. Halprin was chosen by director

Michelangelo Antonioni Michelangelo Antonioni (, ; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for directing his "trilogy on modernity and its discontents"—''L'Avventura'' (1960), ''La Notte'' (1961), and ''L'Eclisse'' (1962 ...

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 Mark Frechette (December 4, 1947 – September 27, 1975) was an United States, American-Canada, Canadian film actor. He is best known for playing the lead role in the 1970 film ''Zabriskie Point (film), Zabriskie Point'', directed by Michelangel ...

, 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 Oreg ...

, a former member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and his 100-member

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

. 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. Plot The film follows a young American named David, who comes to Israel to study and finds an Arab friend ...

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

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

. 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, writin ...

. 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 Articles lacking sources from February 2008 People from the San Francisco Bay Area 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women