Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an acclaimed, accomplished actress who has won an Oscar and nine Emmys, but this year, at the age of 82, Cloris will take on a new television genre – reality television – when she appears on “Dancing with the Stars” with partner Corky Ballas.
Cloris Leachman was born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944 and starred in many stage productions at the Des Moines Playhouse. Cloris then majored in drama at Northwestern University.
She represented Chicago in the Miss America competition in 1946. After winning $1,000 in scholarship prize money in the competition, Cloris moved to New York to train. She eventually joined the Elia Kazan Actors Studio. She debuted on television in “Actors Studio” in the late Forties. While in New York, she appeared on Broadway in William Inge’s Come Back, Little Sheba.
Through the Fifties, Cloris continued to show up on television in shows such as “Armstrong Circle Theatre,” “Hallmark Hall of Fame,” and “The Philco Television Playhouse.” Her first feature film appearance was in Kiss Me Deadly in 1955. The next year, she was appearing alongside Paul Newman and Lee Marvin in The Rack. She briefly appeared at the adoptive mom on “Lassie” before being replaced by June Lockhart.
In 1953, Cloris married producer/director/writer George Englund. Their son Bryan was born in 1956. The couple would go on to have four more children, eventually divorcing in 1979. During the Sixties, Cloris continued to appear on television, showing up on “77 Sunset Strip,” “Dr. Kildare,” “Perry Mason,” and “The Big Valley.” She would hit the television big time when she was cast as landlord Phyllis Lindstrom on “Mary Tyler Moore” in 1970. In 1971, she would also hit the big time on the big screen, winning an Oscar as a neglected housewife in The Last Picture Show. Cloris also appeared in many made for television movie including “The Migrants,” for which she received an Emmy nomination for Best Lead Actress.
Cloris saw her character Phyllis receive her own self titled sitcom in 1975. The show ran for two years. Cloris continued to appear in made for television movies during the Seventies. She also continued to act in films in the Seventies and Eighties such as “The Muppet Movie, “High Anxiety,” “History of the World: Part I,” and “Young Frankenstein.” In 1986, she replaced Charlotte Rae on “Facts of Life” for the final two seasons. But, 1986 brought tragedy to Cloris as her eldest child Bryan died from an overdose of prescription medication.
The Nineties saw Cloris working just has much as the previous four decades with her starring as Granny in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies, appearing in eight made for television movies, and making guest appearances on shows such as “The Simpsons” and “The Nanny.” She even did a voiceover for the film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America.
Cloris appeared as Dot Richmond on “The Ellen Show” from 2001-2002, four episodes of “Touched by an Angel” in 2003, and 11 episodes of “Malcolm in the Middle” as Grandma Ida. She currently has three movies in post-production (New York, I Love You, American Cowslip, and Love Takes Wing).
Cloris, a long-time vegetarian, appeared nude on the cover of Alternative Medicine Digest in 1997. She was a close friend of Marlon Brando, whom she met while studying under Elia Kazan. In 2006, Drake University awarded Cloris an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts.
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