Cloris Leachman

As a 1946 Miss America pageant finalist, Cloris Leachman took her $1000 scholarship prize and moved to New York with aspirations of becoming an actress. She was chosen by Elia Kazan to become a member of the original Actor’s Studio, and after learning her craft moved to Hollywood, making her film debut in the film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly (1955). This was followed the next year by The Rack starring Paul Newman, whom she later appeared with in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

A prolific actress on both the big and small screens, Leachman may be best remembered as the obliviously self-centered landlord Phyllis Lindstrom, a role she originated on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. In 1975 the character was spun off onto the short-lived show Phyllis. Between the two shows, the role won her two Emmy® Awards and three nominations.

Other Emmy® nods for Leachman include wins for the telefilm A Brand New Life (1973), her appearance on the variety show Cher (1975), and her guest-appearances on the series Promised Land and Malcolm in the Middle, as well as nominations for the telefilms The Migrants (1974), It Happened One Christmas (1977), and Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter (1984). Leachman’s series work ranges from playing the mother on Lassie to a recurring role on The Facts of Life.

She is best known for character parts, including her legendary role as Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974). She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for her work as a housewife in Peter Bogdanovich’s classic 1971 drama The Last Picture Show (a role she would reprise in 1990’s sequel, Texasville). Her other films include Dillinger (1973), Daisy Miller (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), High Anxiety (1977), Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), History of the World Part I (1981), as Granny in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) and as a voice for the animated features Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) and The Iron Giant (1999).

After five decades of film work, Leachman continues to act into the 21st century, including Spanglish (2004), Scary Movie 4 (2006) and The Women (2008).