LOS ANGELES (AP) – Oscar-winning Cloris Leachman for her portrayal of a lone housewife on “The Last Picture Show” and a comic delight like the dreaded Frau Blücher in “Young Frankenstein” and the self-absorbed neighbor Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died. He was 94 years old.
Leachman died sleeping from natural causes at his home in Encinitas, California, publicist Monique Moss said Wednesday. His daughter Dinah Englund was by his side, Moss said.
Leachman, a character of extraordinary range, challenged typography. In her first television career, she appeared as Timmy’s mother in the series “Lassie”. She played a border prostitute in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a family member who played crime in “Crazy Mama” and Blücher in “Young Frankenstein” by Mel Brooks, in which the same mention of his name he made equine comments.
“Every time I hear a horse making you laugh, I always think of Cloris’ unforgettable Frau Blücher, ”tweeted Brooks, who said Leachman was“ incredibly talented ”and“ irreplaceable ”.
Greetings from other fellow fans came out on social media. Steve Martin said Leachman “brought the mysteries of comedy to the big and small screen.” “Nothing I could say would surpass the enormity of my love for you,” posted Ed Asner of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”. “Applause at every entry and exit,” Rosie O’Donnell said.
“There was no one like Cloris. With a single glance, I had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh until tears ran down your face, ”said Juliet Green, her longtime manager, in a statement.
In 1989, Leachman toured “Grandma Moses,” a play in which she was between 45 and 101 years old. During the three years of the nineties she appeared in major cities as the captain’s wife in the rebirth of “Show Boat.” In the 1993 film version of “The Beverly Hillbillies”, she took on the role of Irene Ryan as Granny Clampett.
She also had an occasional role as Ida in “Malcolm in the Middle,” winning Emmys in 2002 and 2006 for this show. Her Emmy run over the years was eight, including two trophies for Moore’s comedy, which linked her to Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the Emmy’s best performer among performers.
In 2008, Leachman joined the ranks of the “Dancing with the Stars” contestants, which did not last long in the competition, but pleased the crowd with their bright dance costumes, putting on the rounds of the judges and arguing during the live broadcast.
She started out as Miss Chicago at the Miss America Pageant and gladly accepted the unattractive roles on screen.
“Basically, I don’t care how she looks, ugly or beautiful,” he told an interviewer in 1973. “I don’t think that’s beauty. In a single day, any of us are ugly or beautiful. I’m heartbroken, I can’t. to be the witch in “The Wizard of Oz.” But I would also like to be the good witch.Phily combines them both.
“I am just like that in life. I am a magician and I believe in magic. There is supposed to be a point in life where one should not continue to believe. I haven’t got it yet. “
During the 1950s, Leachman engaged in live television drama, demonstrating his versatility, including the roles played by the casting standards of the time.
“One week would pass as a Chinese girl, the next as a blond cockney and weeks later as another dark-haired person,” he recalled. In 1955 she made her film debut in a tough Mickey Spillane saga, “Kiss Me Deadly”: “I was the naked blonde Mike Hammer picked up on that dark road.”
It followed with Rod Serling’s court martial drama, “The Rack,” and a season in “Lassie.” He continued to play supporting roles on Broadway and in movies, and then achieved his triumph with “The Last Picture Show” by Peter Bogdanovich, based on the novel by Larry McMurtry.
When Leachman received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1971, she delivered a puzzling speech in which she thanked her piano and dance teachers and concluded, “This is for Buck Leachman, who paid the bills. “. His father ran a lumber mill.
Despite its photogenic appearance, it continued to be divided into parts of characters. Her most indelible role was Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
Phyllis often visited Mary’s apartment, bringing lamentations about her husband Lars and caustic comments about Mary and especially about her opponent, another tenant, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper). Phyllis was so unexpectedly attractive that Leachman starred in her own spin-off series, “Phyllis,” which ran on CBS from 1975 to 1977.
With “Young Frankenstein,” Leachman became a member of “stock company Mel Brooks,” which also appears in “High Anxiety” and “History of the World, Part One.” His other films include “Daisy Miller” and Bogdanovich’s “Texasville,” which reprises his role on “The Last Picture Show.” In 2009, he published his autobiography, “Cloris,” which got tabloid headlines recounting his “wild” night adventure with Gene Hackman.
Cloris Leachman grew up on the outskirts of Des Moines, Iowa, where she was born in 1926. The large family lived in a detached wooden house with no running water, but the mother had ambitious ideas for her children. Cloris took piano lessons at age 5; since the family could not afford a piano, he practiced drawing the keys on a piece of cardboard.
“I’m going to be a concert pianist,” the girl announced, and her mother encouraged her with reservations at churches and civic clubs. He arranged for Cloris to board a coal truck to Des Moines to audition for a Drake University student play. He was given the role and appeared in other plays at a local theater. After high school, she won a scholarship to study drama at Northwestern University.
Certainly a poor student, Leachman only lasted a year. As a lark in the Chicago area, she tried a Miss Chicago beauty pageant and was chosen. She competed in the 1946 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, qualifying as a finalist. His consolation prize: a $ 1,000 talent scholarship.
With a new ambition, she went straight to New York, where she worked as an extra in a film and studied Nina Foch in the theatrical hit “John Loves Mary.”
They followed more little student jobs and enrolled in the Actors Studio to perfect their craft. “I finally quit smoking,” he later said. “I couldn’t stand this blue fog.”
In 1953, Leachman married George Englund, later a film director and producer, and they had five children: Adam, Bryan, George, Morgan and Dinah. The couple divorced in 1979. Son Bryan Englund was found dead in 1986 at the age of 30.
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AP writers Beth Harris in Los Angeles and Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.
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The late AP Entertainment writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical material to this story.