Posted on 01/27/2021 2:07:43 PM PST by EdnaMode
Oscar winner and multiple Emmy winner Cloris Leachman, best remembered as the delightfully neurotic Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and her own subsequent sitcom, died of natural causes on Tuesday in Encinitas, Calif. She was 94.
“It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time,” her longtime manager Juliet Green said. “There was no one like Cloris. With a single look she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh ’till the tears ran down your face. You never knew what Cloris was going to say or do and that unpredictable quality was part of her unparalleled magic.”
The daffy, self-absorbed Phyllis, a character she claimed was close to her own persona, brought the actress two Emmys as a featured actress in a series during the mid-’70s and made Leachman a household name.
Leachman also won a supporting actress Oscar in the early part of the decade for a far different character, an embittered small-town housewife in Peter Bogdanovich’s elegiac “The Last Picture Show”; she would later reprise the role in the film’s less successful sequel “Texasville.” Both films were based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.
Overnight success for the actress, however, came only after two decades of hard work in theater, television and some films. Leachman was in her 40s when stardom finally hit.
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Wonder if she got the vaccine. What a comedic genius.
Prayers for her family and friends.
“You live for bondage and discipline”
One of my all time favorites. A true “hottie” back in the day who held her classy looks for decades; a great actress.
Phyllis v. Rhoda and Rhoda v. Phyllis - the original frenemies.
Phyllis also took out the Happy Homewrecker (Sue Ann) with Mary’s help. For a show that was touted as groundbreaking for its feminism, the women characters sure put up with a lot of garbage from assorted men.
RIP, Cloris.
MY FAVORITE ROLE!!
“You see, Color has a great deal to do with the emotionally disturbed.”
Love her!
RIP Cloris.
Who would have thought Tubby Lou Grant outlives all of the cast of Mary Tyler Moore??
Betty White and Gavin MacLeod are still alive.
I knew someone who had to deliver something to her house once. Let’s just say she was an enthusiastic nudist in her old age. Also a vegetarian for 40 years.
Just watched an old episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Leachman as one of the stars. It was titled, “Premonition” which originally aired Oct. 9, 1955.
I guess I watched that but I always recalled the mom being June Lockhart.
Fond memories of her on MTM Show & Phyllis, among other roles...
I thought the same but she apparently did the series.
Only part of a season before June Lockhart replaced her.
Don’t forget History of the World Part One (Madame Defarge).
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