Who was Cloris Leachman? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Died At Age: 94

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: George Englund (m. 1953–1979)

father: Berkeley Claiborne

mother: Cloris (née Wallace; 1901–1967)

children: Adam Englund, Bryan Englund, Dinah Englund, George Englund, Jr., Morgan Englund

Actresses Comedians

Height: 5'3" (160 cm), 5'3" Females

Died on: January 27, 2021

place of death: Encinitas, California, United States

Notable Alumni: Theodore Roosevelt High School

Ancestry: Czech American

City: Des Moines, Iowa

U.S. State: Iowa

More Facts

education: Northwestern University, Theodore Roosevelt High School

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Childhood & Early Life

Born on April 30, 1926, in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., Cloris Leachman was the oldest daughter of Cloris Wallace and Berkeley Claiborne Leachman, who worked at the family-owned Leachman Lumber Company. Of English and Bohemian / Czech descent, she had two younger sisters, Claiborne Cary, who was an actress and singer, and Mary.

She studied at the Theodore Roosevelt High School before attending Illinois State University to study drama. She later enrolled at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where she joined the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

In 1946, she was crowned Miss Illinois which led to her Miss America appearance. She was a regular performer at the Des Moines Community Playhouse before moving to New York.

Leachman was granted a scholarship for being a contestant in the Miss America pageantry and later took acting classes under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York. She had previously appeared in a production of ‘Blithe Spirit’ in 1943 at the Northwestern University.

Upon completion of the course, her background combined with her inherent talent made her venture into the New York theatre.

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Stage Career

Cloris Leachman’s first Broadway appearance was in ‘Sundown Beach’ in 1948. In the 1950 Broadway production of ‘As You Like It’, she played Celia alongside Katharine Hepburn’s Rosalind. She replaced Martha Wright in ‘South Pacific’ (Broadway, 1951), Madeleine Sherwood in ‘The Crucible’ (Broadway, 1953), and Kim Stanley in ‘The Touch of the Poet’ (Broadway, 1958). Moreover, she toured the US with the productions of ‘Grandma Moses: An American Primitive’ (1989) and ‘Slow Boat’ (1994).

Film Career

After playing minor roles in films like ‘Carnegie Hall’ and ‘Kiss Me Deadly’, Cloris Leachman’s first importance appearance was in the classic western film ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ (1969). In the 1974 drama ‘Daisy Miller’, she portrayed Mrs Ezra Miller, the mother of the eponymous character.

She and Mel Brooks collaborated in three movies. She was cast as the housekeeper Frau Blücher in the 1974 comedy horror ‘Young Frankenstein’, an affectionate and well-made parody of the classic horror film genre in true Mel Brooks style. The movie is generally considered to be one of the greatest comedy films of all time. She also played Nurse Charlotte Diesel in ‘High Anxiety’ (1977) and Dickensian character Madame Defarge in ‘History of the World, Part I’ (1981).

Leachman charmed the audience as the wine-soaked former jazz singer and grandmother Evelyn in the Adam Sandler starrer ‘Spanglish’ (2004). She acted as May Conner in Taylor Hackford’s ‘The Comedian’ in 2016.

She has lent her voice to animated films such as ‘My Little Pony: The Movie’ (1986), ‘The Iron Giant’ (1999), ‘Ponyo’ (2009), and ‘The Croods’ (2013).

In the coming future, she is set to appear in the comedy-drama ‘Lez Bomb’, Netflix comedy film ‘Game Over, Man!’, family-drama ‘I Can Only Imagine’, comedy ‘The Gliksmans’, and the animated feature ‘The Croods 2’.

Television Career

Cloris Leachman landed her first credited role in an episode of ‘The Ford Theatre Hour’ in 1948. She then played numerous memorable and iconic characters on television like Ruth Martin in ‘Lassie’ (1957-58), Phyllis Lindstrom in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ and its spin-off ‘Phyllis’, Beverly Ann Stickle in ‘The Facts of Life’ (1986-88), Grandma Ida in ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ (2001-06), Dot Richmond in ‘The Ellen Show’ (2001-02) and Maw Maw in ‘Raising Hope’ (2010-14).

Recently, Leachman voiced the comic book character Granny Goodness in ‘Justice League Action’ (2017). She currently stars as the Slavic goddess Zorya Vechernyaya, the Evening Star’, in Starz’s fantasy drama ‘American Gods’.

A prominent small screen actress as her long list of television shows can attest, she has also appeared in a wide range of telefilms. In 1969, she worked in her first television movie ‘The Man in the Moon’. She would act in 44 more in the next five decades. Her last appearance to date was in the Christian drama ‘Loves Takes Wing’ in 2007.

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Major Works

In the 1971 American drama film ‘’The Last Picture Show’, Cloris Leachman portrayed Ruth Popper, a depressed, middle-aged wife of a high school coach, who is secretly gay. The film received universal critical acclaim, still maintaining a 100% fresh rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. It garnered eight Oscar nominations and won two for Leachman and Ben Johnson’s (Sam the Lion) performances.

She played Phyllis Lindstrom, the snobbish, acid-tongued wife of a dermatologist named Dr. Lars Lindstrom, in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ (1970-75). The character became so well-liked by the audience that she went on to star in her own spin-off series ‘Phyllis’ (1975-77). She received multiple accolades for the role, including a Primetime Emmy for the former TV series and a Golden Globe for the latter.

Awards & Achievements

Cloris Leachman has received 22 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning eight. She was awarded the first one in 1973 for ‘A Brand New Life’. She earned the others for ‘Cher’ (1975), ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ (1974, 1975), for ‘performing at the Screen Actors Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration’ (1984), and ‘Promised Land’ (1998). Furthermore, she grabbed two Emmys for ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ (2002 and 2006).

Nominated four times, she was conferred with the Globe Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for ‘Phyllis’ in 1975.

For ‘The Woman Who Willed a Miracle’, she was granted The Daytime Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming’ in 1983.

At the 1971 Academy Awards, she took home the Best Supporting Actress Award for ‘The Last Picture Show’. The role also brought her the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

On September 22, 1980, she got own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6435 Hollywood Boulevard.

Personal Life

Cloris Leachman married actor and filmmaker George Englund in 1953. They had five children together: Adam (1953), Bryan (1956-1986), George Englund Jr (1957), Morgan (1963), and Dinah (1966). In the 1950s, Englund had a torrid affair with British actress Joan Collins who one night called Leachman to boast about the relationship. The union, however, survived the infidelity. They eventually divorced in 1979 but maintained a strong connection until his death in September 2017.

She has six grandchildren, including singer Anabel Englund.

In 2009, she published ‘Cloris: My Autobiography’, which she had co-authored with her ex-husband George.

Trivia

Leachman is an atheist and a vegetarian.

2006	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
2002	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series	Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
1998	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Promised Land (1996)
1984	Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program	Screen Actors Guild 50th Anniversary Celebration (1984)
1975	Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series	Mary Tyler Moore (1970)
1975	Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music	Cher (1975)
1974	Best Supporting Actress in Comedy	Mary Tyler Moore (1970)
1973	Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role	A Brand New Life (1973)

Cloris Leachman Biography