Cloris Leachman was born on April 30 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa. Her family's company, Leachman Lumber Company, is still in operation. Miss Leachman was the oldest of three daughters. The middle daughter, Claiborne Leachman, performed on Broadway and on television under the name Claiborne Cary. The youngest daughter, Mary, did not follow her sisters into show business. Cloris Leachman took an interest in acting while very young. As a teenager she performed with the Drake University Children’s Theatre and the Des Moines Playhouse. Following her graduation from Theodore Roosevelt High School, she attended Northwestern University. In 1946 she competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Illinois.
Cloris Leachman studied acting at Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City. She made her debut on Broadway in Happy Birthday in 1947 after having served as the understudy for the character of Addie. Cloris Leachman would return to Broadway many times in her career. In the late Forties she appeared in Sundown Beach, As You Like It, and A Story for a Sunday Evening. In the Fifties she appeared in South Pacific, Lo and Behold!, Dear Barbarians, Sunday Breakfast, King of Hearts, A Touch of the Poet, and Masquerade.
Cloris Leachman made her television debut in an episode of The Ford Theatre Hour in 1948. In the late Forties she guest starred on the shows NBC Presents, Actor's Studio, Nash Airflyte Theatre, The Clock, and The Billy Rose Show. In the Fifties Cloris Leachman was a regular on the short-lived series Charlie Wild, Detective, as well as the classic show Lassie. She guest starred on several shows in the Fifties, including Pulitzer Prize Playhouse, Somerset Maugham TV Theatre, Big Town, Studio One, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Tales of Tomorrow, The Bob & Ray Show, Kraft Television Theatre, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Suspense, Danger, The Philip Morris Playhouse, The Web, The Mask, Philco Television Playhouse, Star Stage, Screen Directors Playhouse, Lux Video Theatre, The Kaiser Aluminum, Zane Grey Theatre, Matinee Theatre, Telephone Time, Climax!, One Step Beyond, Johnny Staccato, Rawhide, Thriller, Wanted: Dead or Alive, Outlaws, Checkmate, and Shirley Temple's Storybook.
It was at the close of the Sixties, in 1970, that Cloris Leachman began playing what might be her most famous role, that of Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. She guest starred on the shows Hawaiian Eye, The Loretta Young Show, Gunsmoke, The Donna Reed Show, Frontier Circus, The Twilight Zone, Cain's Hundred, Aloca Premiere, Target:The Corruptors, The Untouchables, Route 66, Laramie, General Electric Theatre, Wagon Train, The New Breed, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Kraft Mystery Theatre, Going My Way, The New Loretta Young Show, Stoney Burke, Saints and Sinners, 77 Sunset Strip, The Defenders, Mr. Novak, A Man Called Shenandoah, The Trials of O'Brien, Dr. Kildare, Perry Mason, Run for Your Life, The Big Valley, The Road West, The Guns of Will Sonnett, Adam-12, The Name of the Game, Mannix, Judd for the Defense, The Virginian, Ironside, Lancer, Marcus Welby M.D., and That Girl.
The Seventies saw Cloris Leachman continue to play Phyllis Lindstrom on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Phyllis. Miss Leachman also appeared as Phyllis in the Rhoda episode "Rhoda's Wedding." She guest starred on the shows Storefront Lawyers, Night Gallery, The Sixth Sense, Young Dr. Kildare, Wonder Woman, and The Associates. She also appeared in several TV movies.
In the Eighties Cloris Leachman was a regular on both The Facts of Life and The Nutt House. She guest starred on the shows ABC Afternoon Specials, American Playhouse, The Love Boat, and Ferris Bueller. She appeared in several TV movies. In the Nineties she starred on the TV Show Walter & Emily and Thanks. She guest starred on the shows The Simpsons, Sunday Dinner, The Powers That Be, The Nanny, Promised Land, The Norm Show, Twice in a Lifetime, and Love & Money.
In the Naughts Cloris Leachman had regular roles on The Ellen Show, Beach Girls, and Malcolm in the Middle. She guest starred on Diagnosis Murder, The Twilight Zone, Touched by an Angel, Happy Family, Joan of Arcadia, Two and a Half Man, The Great Malones, The Wedding Bells, The Office, Hawthorne, Blue Mountain State, and The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno.
In the Teens Miss Leachman was a regular on Raising Hope the animated series Creative Galaxy, and the revival of Mad About You. She was a guest voice on the animated shows Adventure Time, Phineas and Ferb, Bob's Burgers, Clarence, Justice League Action, and Elena of Avalor. She guest starred on Hot in Cleveland, Kirstie, Franklin & Bash, The Milers, Hawaii Five-0, Girl Meets World, The Eleventh, Royal Pains, American Gods, and Teachers.
Cloris Leachman made her film debut in Kiss Me Deadly in 1955. The following year she appeared in The Rack (1956). In the Sixties she appeared in the movies The Chapman Report (1962), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), and WUSA (1970).
In 1971 she appeared as Ruth Popper in The Last Picture Show, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 1974 she appeared in what might be her second most famous role, that of Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein. She worked with Mel Brooks again in High Anxiety (1977) and later in History of the World Part I (1981), as well as on his short-lived TV show The Nutt House. In the Seventies she also appeared in the movies Charley and the Angel (1973), Dillinger (1973), Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973), Daisy Miller (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), The North Avenue Irregulars (1979), The Muppet Movie (1979), Scavenger Hunt (1979), Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), and Foolin' Around (1980).
In the Eighties Cloris Leachman appeared in the movies Yesterday (1981), History of the World Part 1 (1981), Shadow Play (1986), Walk Like a Man (1987), Hansel and Gretel (1987), Going to the Chapel (1988), Prancer (1989), Love Hurts (1990), Texasville (1990), and The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1990). She provided voices for My Little Pony: The Movies (1986) and the English version of Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta (1986-Castle in the Sky). In the Nineties she appeared in the movies My Boyfriend's Back (1993), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), Now and Then (1995), Never Too Late (1996), Music of the Heart (1999), Hanging Up (2000), and The Amati Girls (2000).
In the Naughts Miss Leachman appeared in the movies The Animal (2001), Manna from Heaven (2002), Alex & Emma (2003), Bad Santa (2003), Spanglish (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), Sky High (2005), The Californians (2005), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Beerfest (2006), The Women (2008), New York, I Love You (2008), American Cowslip (2009), A Very Mary Christmas (2010), and You Again (2010). In the Teens she appeared in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (2012), Gambit (2012), Adult World (2013), The Wedding Ringer (2015), This is Happening (2015), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Baby, Baby, Baby (2015), Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? (2016), So B. It (2016), The Bronx Bull (2016), The Comedian (2016), The Gliksmans (2017), I Can Only Imagine (2018), Lez Bomb (2019), When Last We Spoke (2019), and Jump, Darling (2020). She was the voice of Gran in The Croods: A New Age (2020).
Cloris Leachman certainly had a long career. Her career on television alone spanned over seventy years. She was also extremely prolific. She not only appeared frequently on television, but she also appeared in several movies throughout her career. Miss Leachman was a regular on several shows, from Lassie to Raising Hope. If Cloris Leachman had a long career and was prolific on both television and in movies, it was perhaps because she was an incredible actress.She was excellent at comedy. If she is remembered as Phyllis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis, it is perhaps because she made the character seem like a real person. Phyllis was self-absorbed, a bit of a snob, and had a hard time minding her own business, but at the same time she truly cared for her friends. It was due to Cloris Leachman's talent that she not only made Phyllis funny, but even likeable despite some of her less than redeeming traits. Of course, she also did an excellent job as the elderly housekeeper Frau Blücher. She did so well in the role that Frau Blücher remains one of the favourite characters of fans of Young Frankenstein.
While Cloris Leachman's best known roles are in comedies, she was equally adept at drama. It is with good reason that she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Last Picture Show. She was excellent as Ruth Popper, the middle-aged housewife who's husband is actually a closeted homosexual. In the Wagon Train episode "The Nancy Lee Davis Story," Miss Leachman plays a washed up saloon girl who nurses Flint McCullough back to health and has the misfortune to fall in love with him. On the Route 66 episode "Love is a Skinny Kid" she played a mother who had her daughter committed to a psychiatric hospital (Tuesday Weld), only to have the daughter return seeking revenge. In her long career Cloris Leachman played a wide variety of roles in both comedies and dramas. What is more, she always gave great performances. Mel Brooks paid tribute to Cloris Leachman upon her death, saying, "She could make you laugh or cry at the drop of a hat." That was certainly true. She was an incredible actress.
In my mind, which counts for nothing, she will always be remembered for her role in The Last Picture Show, one of the most depressing and gripping movies ever made.
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