01-27-2021, 09:55 PM
Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 26, 2021) was an American actress and comedian, whose career spanned over seven decades. She won various accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded actress in Emmy history. In addition, she has won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Leachman attended Northwestern University and began appearing in local plays as a teenager. After competing in the 1946 Miss America pageant, she secured a scholarship to study under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, making her professional debut in 1948. Her breakthrough role was the nosy and cunning landlady Phyllis Lindstrom in the landmark CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–75), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1974 and 1975; its spin-off, Phyllis (1975–77), earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actress – Musical or Comedy.
In film, she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) as the jaded wife of a closeted schoolteacher in the 1950s; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance, and the film is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. Additionally, she was part of Mel Brooks's ensemble cast, appearing in roles such as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I (1981).
Leachman won additional Emmys for the television film A Brand New Life (1973); the variety sketch show Cher (1975); the ABC serial The Woman Who Willed a Miracle (1983); and the television shows Promised Land (1998) and Malcolm in the Middle (2001–06). Her other notable film and television credits include The Twilight Zone (1961; 2003), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), WUSA (1970), Yesterday (1981), the English-language dub of the Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky (1998), Spanglish (2004), and Mrs. Harris (2005). Leachman released her autobiography in 2009, and continued to act in occasional roles.
Leachman was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the eldest of three daughters. She attended Theodore Roosevelt High School. Her parents were Cloris (née Wallace) and Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman. Her father worked at the family-owned Leachman Lumber Company.[1][2][3][4]
Her youngest sister, Mary, was not in show business. Middle sister Claiborne Cary was an actress and singer.[5] Their maternal grandmother was of Bohemian (Czech) descent.[6]
As a teenager, Leachman appeared in plays by local youth on weekends at Drake University in Des Moines.[7] After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Northwestern University in the School of Education.[8] At Northwestern, she became a member of Gamma Phi Beta and was a classmate of future comic actors Paul Lynde and Charlotte Rae. She began appearing on television and in films shortly after competing in Miss America in 1946.
After winning a scholarship in the Miss America pageant, placing in the top 16, Leachman studied acting under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City. She had been cast as a replacement for the role of Nellie Forbush during the original run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. A few years later, she appeared in the Broadway-bound production of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba, but left the show before it reached Broadway when Katharine Hepburn asked her to co-star in a production of William Shakespeare's As You Like It.[9] Leachman was slated to play the role of Abigail Williams in the original Broadway cast of Arthur Miller's seminal drama The Crucible. The production played four preview performances at the Playhouse Theatre in Wilmington, DE from January 15 – 17, 1953, prior to opening on Broadway on January 22. However, Leachman left the production the day before opening night in Wilmington, with Madeleine Sherwood assuming the role. Leachman's name was heavily publicized prior to the production's opening, and her name still appeared in the printed program; a sign appeared at the box office in Wilmington noting the change.[10]
![[Image: 220px-Lassie_1957_cast_photo.JPG]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Lassie_1957_cast_photo.JPG/220px-Lassie_1957_cast_photo.JPG)
Leachman appeared in many live television broadcasts in the 1950s, including such programs as Suspense and Studio One. She made her feature-film debut as an extra in Carnegie Hall (1947), but had her first real role in Robert Aldrich's film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly,[11] released in 1955. Leachman was several months pregnant during the filming, and appears in one scene running down a darkened highway wearing only a trench coat. A year later, she appeared opposite Paul Newman and Lee Marvin in The Rack (1956). She appeared with Newman again in a brief role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
She continued to work mainly in television, with appearances in Rawhide and in The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", as well as the sequel "It's Still a Good Life" in the 2002–2003 UPN series revival. During this period, Leachman appeared opposite John Forsythe on the popular anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents in an episode titled "Premonition". She later appeared as Ruth Martin, Timmy Martin's adoptive mother, in the last half of season four (1957) of Lassie. Jon Provost, who played Timmy, said, "Cloris did not feel particularly challenged by the role. Basically, when she realized that all she'd be doing was baking cookies, she wanted out."[12] She was replaced by June Lockhart in 1958.
That same year, she appeared in an episode of One Step Beyond titled "The Dark Room", in which she portrayed an American photographer living in Paris. In 1960, she played Marilyn Parker, the roommate of Janice Rule's character, Elena Nardos, in the Checkmate episode "The Mask of Vengeance". In 1966, she guest-starred on Perry Mason as Gloria Shine in "The Case of the Crafty Kidnapper". In late 1970, Leachman starred in one episode of That Girl as Don Hollinger's sister, Sandy.
Much more at Wikipedia.
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Leachman attended Northwestern University and began appearing in local plays as a teenager. After competing in the 1946 Miss America pageant, she secured a scholarship to study under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City, making her professional debut in 1948. Her breakthrough role was the nosy and cunning landlady Phyllis Lindstrom in the landmark CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–75), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1974 and 1975; its spin-off, Phyllis (1975–77), earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actress – Musical or Comedy.
In film, she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) as the jaded wife of a closeted schoolteacher in the 1950s; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance, and the film is widely considered to be one of the greatest of all time. Additionally, she was part of Mel Brooks's ensemble cast, appearing in roles such as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I (1981).
Leachman won additional Emmys for the television film A Brand New Life (1973); the variety sketch show Cher (1975); the ABC serial The Woman Who Willed a Miracle (1983); and the television shows Promised Land (1998) and Malcolm in the Middle (2001–06). Her other notable film and television credits include The Twilight Zone (1961; 2003), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), WUSA (1970), Yesterday (1981), the English-language dub of the Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky (1998), Spanglish (2004), and Mrs. Harris (2005). Leachman released her autobiography in 2009, and continued to act in occasional roles.
Leachman was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the eldest of three daughters. She attended Theodore Roosevelt High School. Her parents were Cloris (née Wallace) and Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman. Her father worked at the family-owned Leachman Lumber Company.[1][2][3][4]
Her youngest sister, Mary, was not in show business. Middle sister Claiborne Cary was an actress and singer.[5] Their maternal grandmother was of Bohemian (Czech) descent.[6]
As a teenager, Leachman appeared in plays by local youth on weekends at Drake University in Des Moines.[7] After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Northwestern University in the School of Education.[8] At Northwestern, she became a member of Gamma Phi Beta and was a classmate of future comic actors Paul Lynde and Charlotte Rae. She began appearing on television and in films shortly after competing in Miss America in 1946.
After winning a scholarship in the Miss America pageant, placing in the top 16, Leachman studied acting under Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio in New York City. She had been cast as a replacement for the role of Nellie Forbush during the original run of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific. A few years later, she appeared in the Broadway-bound production of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba, but left the show before it reached Broadway when Katharine Hepburn asked her to co-star in a production of William Shakespeare's As You Like It.[9] Leachman was slated to play the role of Abigail Williams in the original Broadway cast of Arthur Miller's seminal drama The Crucible. The production played four preview performances at the Playhouse Theatre in Wilmington, DE from January 15 – 17, 1953, prior to opening on Broadway on January 22. However, Leachman left the production the day before opening night in Wilmington, with Madeleine Sherwood assuming the role. Leachman's name was heavily publicized prior to the production's opening, and her name still appeared in the printed program; a sign appeared at the box office in Wilmington noting the change.[10]
![[Image: 220px-Lassie_1957_cast_photo.JPG]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lassie_1957_cast_photo.JPG)
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[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Shepodd]Jon Shepodd, Jon Provost, and Cloris Leachman in Lassie (1957)
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Shepodd]Jon Shepodd, Jon Provost, and Cloris Leachman in Lassie (1957)
Leachman appeared in many live television broadcasts in the 1950s, including such programs as Suspense and Studio One. She made her feature-film debut as an extra in Carnegie Hall (1947), but had her first real role in Robert Aldrich's film noir classic Kiss Me Deadly,[11] released in 1955. Leachman was several months pregnant during the filming, and appears in one scene running down a darkened highway wearing only a trench coat. A year later, she appeared opposite Paul Newman and Lee Marvin in The Rack (1956). She appeared with Newman again in a brief role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
She continued to work mainly in television, with appearances in Rawhide and in The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", as well as the sequel "It's Still a Good Life" in the 2002–2003 UPN series revival. During this period, Leachman appeared opposite John Forsythe on the popular anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents in an episode titled "Premonition". She later appeared as Ruth Martin, Timmy Martin's adoptive mother, in the last half of season four (1957) of Lassie. Jon Provost, who played Timmy, said, "Cloris did not feel particularly challenged by the role. Basically, when she realized that all she'd be doing was baking cookies, she wanted out."[12] She was replaced by June Lockhart in 1958.
That same year, she appeared in an episode of One Step Beyond titled "The Dark Room", in which she portrayed an American photographer living in Paris. In 1960, she played Marilyn Parker, the roommate of Janice Rule's character, Elena Nardos, in the Checkmate episode "The Mask of Vengeance". In 1966, she guest-starred on Perry Mason as Gloria Shine in "The Case of the Crafty Kidnapper". In late 1970, Leachman starred in one episode of That Girl as Don Hollinger's sister, Sandy.
Much more at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.