American actress, a multifaceted talent of TV, film, and stage, best known for her role as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1975) and her spin-off sitcom, Phyllis (1975-1977). In 1971 she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her part in The Last Picture Show. Leachman received eight Primetime Emmys from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded actress in Emmy history.
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, she felt isolated out in the country with no other kids around so she took up piano and other arts. Jazz and dancing were her favorites. She started acting as a teenager in Iowa, both on stage in high school and on radio. She went on to Northwestern University where her acting classmates included Paul Lynde, Jean Hagen and Charlotte Rae.
In 1946 she was a Miss America finalist and was accepted by The Actors Studio in New York in 1948, where she trained under Elia Kazan. Broadway, movies and a role as the mother in TV’s Lassie followed. Among her movie credits are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Daisy Miller (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974) and High Anxiety (1977) as well as many TV-movie starring roles. In the TV show The Facts of Life (1986-1988) she played Beverly Ann, an eccentric aunt who joins the family – not by their choice. In 1989 she was on the road playing the lead role in Grandma Moses where she had to age from 45 to 100.
Leachman considered herself a character actress. When asked about all the scripts she had to review, her mischievous side came out. “I don’t read scripts anyway,” she says ” because I’m left-handed. You see, it’s hard for left-handed people to turn pages, so we just flip to the back and try a sample page.”
Leachman married in 1953 and had five children with producer George Englund; they divorced in 1979. Her youngest son, Morgan Englund, and oldest son, Adam Englund are both actors while George Jr. is a composer. Her only daughter, Dinah Englund, lived in Italy for a while and speaks Italian like a native. Son Bryan Englund died in 1986. Leachman’s granddaughter, Anabel Englund, is a singer.
Leachman wasn’t religious in the traditional sense of the word. “I’m an appreciator and a gratefuller. I want that on my tombstone: ‘She Was Grateful!'” Indeed, Leachman was an atheist.
A vegetarian, she posed clad only in lettuce for a 2009 PETA advertisement. Her autobiography Cloris: My Autobiography was published in March 2009. She wrote the bestselling book with Englund, her former husband.
Cloris Leachman died from natural causes on 26 or 27 January 2021 at her home in Encinitas, California, at the age of 94.
Link to Wikipedia biography