Search results
Jan 27, 2021 · George Brich/Associated Press. By Robert Berkvist. Jan. 27, 2021. Cloris Leachman, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of a neglected housewife in the stark drama “The Last Picture Show ...
Jan 28, 2021 · Cloris Leachman obituary. Star of film and TV who relished the roles of grandmas and grotesques, and won an Oscar for The Last Picture Show. Ronald Bergan. Thu 28 Jan 2021 13.31 EST. Last...
- Ronald Bergan
Jan 27, 2021 · She was 94. The death was confirmed by her son Morgan Englund, who did not give a cause.
Jan 27, 2021 · Leachman died Wednesday at age 94 at her California home. She was the namesake of the Cloris Awards, a set of honors given annually for the best productions and performers in Des Moines theater.
- 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.” —...
Personal life. Death. Bibliography. References. External links. Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades.
Jan 28, 2021 · CNN — 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...
