Search results
Jan 28, 2021 · Cloris Leachman, the acclaimed actress whose one-of-a-kind comedic flair made her a legendary figure in film and television for seven decades, has died, according to a statement from her longtime ...
- 3 min
Jan 27, 2021 · Ms. Leachman entered the spotlight as a Miss America contestant in 1946 and was still in the public eye more than 74 years later, portraying offbeat grandmothers on television and film and ...
- Oscar-Winning Performance
- TV Success
- Mel Brooks Films
- Later Career
- Voice Acting
- Activism
- Leachman on The Role She Was Most Proud of
After consistent work in television throughout the 1960s, Leachman saw her career take off when she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “The Last Picture Show” (1971). In the drama, she played a homemaker, trapped in an unhappy marriage in a small Texas town, who begins an affair with a teenage boy. The film was selected for preservation in...
While she was receiving acclaim for serious film acting, she was making audiences laugh on TV as Mary Tyler Moore’s (1936–2017) pushy friend and neighbor Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She won two of her eventual eight prime-time Emmy awards for her performances in the role. The character was popular enough with audiences that sh...
Leachman also worked with director Mel Brooks in three of his classic films: “Young Frankenstein” (1974), “High Anxiety” (1977) and “History of the World: Part I” (1981). She often played sinisterly comic characters such as Frankenstein’s housekeeper Frau Blücher, whose name inspired loud whinnying from horses every time it was mentioned.
Her versatility served Leachman well, and she worked continuously as she aged, balancing dramatic and comic roles with equal aplomb. In 2006, at 80, she won her second Emmy for playing Grandma Ida on the sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle,” and she was nominated for a dramatic TV role in the movie “Mrs. Harris.” In 2008, she became the oldest contestant...
In addition to appearing on screen, Leachman lent her distinctive voice to animated characters in “The Simpsons,” “The Iron Giant,” “Adventure Time,” and the English versions of Japanese films “Castle in the Sky” and “Ponyo.”
A vegetarian since she was 35, Leachman used her celebrity to promote vegetarianism and to improve the treatment of animals. In 2009, she posed for a PETA ad wearing only lettuce.
“There’s always one. And this one was ‘The Woman Who Willed A Miracle’ (1983). It was beautifully written. It was going to be on nighttime television but some executive from ABC said, ‘Who wants to see this on nighttime TV?’ So he put it on during the day instead. But we all won Emmys anyway. It was wonderful! That’s the thing I’m most proud of.” —...
Jan 27, 2021 · Jan. 27, 2021 2:19 PM PT. Cloris Leachman, who won an Oscar for her role in the bleak coming-of-age movie “The Last Picture Show” and Emmy awards during a prolific television career that ...
- nardine.saad@latimes.com
- Staff Writer
People also ask
Is Cloris Leachman dead or still alive?
How did Cloris Leachman die?
Who is Cloris Leachman?
Where did Cloris Leachman grow up?
Jan 28, 2021 · US actress Cloris Leachman, who won an Oscar for The Last Picture Show and brought her comedic talents to numerous US sitcoms, has died at the age of 94. Leachman died of natural causes at her ...
Jan 28, 2021 · Cloris Leachman grew up on the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa, where she was born in 1926. The large family lived in an isolated wooden house with no running water, but the mother had ambitious ideas for her children. Cloris took piano lessons at the age of 5; since the family could not afford a piano, she practiced on a cardboard drawing of the ...
