CLORIS LEACHMAN
Name: Cloris Leachman
Born: 30 April 1926 Des Moines, Iowa
Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an Academy Award-, nine-time Emmy- and
Golden Globe-winning American actress of stage, film and television. She has won
eight primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other female performer—and one Daytime
Emmy Award.
Leachman, the eldest of three sisters, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the
daughter of Cloris and Buck Leachman, who owned a lumber company. She
graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944. She later majored in drama at
Northwestern University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta and a
classmate of future comic actor Paul Lynde. Leachman began appearing on
television and in films shortly after competing in Miss America as Miss Chicago
1946.
After winning a scholarship in the beauty pageant, Leachman studied acting in
New York City at the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan. She appeared in the Broadway
production of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba.
She appeared in many live television broadcasts in the 1950s, including such
programs as Suspense and Studio One. She was also one of the Raisonette Girls in
the 1960s. She made her feature film debut in Robert Aldrich's film noir classic
Kiss Me Deadly, released in 1955. Leachman was several months pregnant during
the filming, and appears in one scene running down a darkened highway barefoot
and wearing only a trenchcoat. A year later she appeared opposite Paul Newman
and Lee Marvin in The Rack (1956). She appeared with Newman again, in a brief
role as a prostitute in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
Leachman as Ruth Martin in "Transition", her debut episode (1957) on Lassie. Jon
Shepodd as Paul Martin. The Martins have just learned Timmy has run away.
She continued to mainly work on television, with appearances including the
classic It's a Good Life episode of The Twilight Zone, in which she played Billy
Mumy's mother; Rawhide; and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Leachman appeared as Ruth
Martin, Timmy's adoptive mom, in the last half of season four (1957) of Lassie.
She was replaced by June Lockhart in 1958. In 1959,she appeared in an episode of
One Step Beyond entitled The Dark Room, where she portrayed an American
photographer living in Paris.
Leachman has won numerous awards during her lengthy career. She won an Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress in The Last Picture Show (1971), based on the
bestselling book by Larry McMurtry. She played the high school gym teacher's
wife, with whom Timothy Bottoms' character has an affair. Director Peter
Bogdanovich had predicted to Leachman during production that she would win an
Academy Award for her performance. The part was originally offered to Ellen
Burstyn, who wanted another role in the film.
Leachman has also won a record-setting eight primetime and one daytime Emmy
Awards and been nominated over 20 times for her work in television over the
years, most notably as the character of neighbor/landlady/nosy friend Phyllis
Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character was a fixture on the
program for five years and was subsequently featured in a spinoff series,
Phyllis (1975-1977), for which Leachman garnered a Golden Globe award. In 1978
she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. During the mid
and late 1970s, she was featured in several Schoolhouse Rock episodes.
In 1986, Leachman returned to television, replacing Charlotte Rae's character
Edna Garrett as the den mother on The Facts of Life. Leachman's role, as Edna's
sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, could not save the long-running series, and it was
canceled two years later.
She has voice acted in numerous animated films, including My Little Pony: The
Movie, The Iron Giant, and most notably as the voice of the cantankerous sky
pirate Dola in Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 feature Castle in the Sky. Dubbed by Disney
in 1998, Leachman's performance in this film received nearly unanimous praise.
Leachman played embittered, greedy, Slavic “Grandma Ida” on the Fox sitcom
Malcolm in the Middle, for which she won two Emmy Awards, both for Outstanding
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (once in 2002, then again in 2006). She was
nominated for playing that same character for six consecutive years.
Later television credits include the successful Lifetime Television miniseries
Beach Girls with Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond. Leachman was nominated for a SAG
Award for her role as the wine-soaked, former jazz singer and grandmother Evelyn
in the Sony feature Spanglish opposite Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. She had
replaced an ailing Anne Bancroft in the role. The film reunited her with her
Mary Tyler Moore Show writer-producer-director James L. Brooks. That same year
she appeared with Sandler again, in the remake of The Longest Yard. She also
appeared in Kurt Russell comedy Sky High.
In 2006, Leachman's performance alongside Sir Ben Kingsley and Annette Bening in
the HBO special Mrs. Harris earned her an Emmy nomination for outstanding
supporting actress in a miniseries or TV movie as well as an SAG Award
nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie
or Miniseries.
On May 14, 2006, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Drake
University.
Name: Cloris Leachman
Born: 30 April 1926 Des Moines, Iowa
Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an Academy Award-, nine-time Emmy- and
Golden Globe-winning American actress of stage, film and television. She has won
eight primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other female performer—and one Daytime
Emmy Award.
Leachman, the eldest of three sisters, was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the
daughter of Cloris and Buck Leachman, who owned a lumber company. She
graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1944. She later majored in drama at
Northwestern University, where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta and a
classmate of future comic actor Paul Lynde. Leachman began appearing on
television and in films shortly after competing in Miss America as Miss Chicago
1946.
After winning a scholarship in the beauty pageant, Leachman studied acting in
New York City at the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan. She appeared in the Broadway
production of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba.
She appeared in many live television broadcasts in the 1950s, including such
programs as Suspense and Studio One. She was also one of the Raisonette Girls in
the 1960s. She made her feature film debut in Robert Aldrich's film noir classic
Kiss Me Deadly, released in 1955. Leachman was several months pregnant during
the filming, and appears in one scene running down a darkened highway barefoot
and wearing only a trenchcoat. A year later she appeared opposite Paul Newman
and Lee Marvin in The Rack (1956). She appeared with Newman again, in a brief
role as a prostitute in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).
Leachman as Ruth Martin in "Transition", her debut episode (1957) on Lassie. Jon
Shepodd as Paul Martin. The Martins have just learned Timmy has run away.
She continued to mainly work on television, with appearances including the
classic It's a Good Life episode of The Twilight Zone, in which she played Billy
Mumy's mother; Rawhide; and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Leachman appeared as Ruth
Martin, Timmy's adoptive mom, in the last half of season four (1957) of Lassie.
She was replaced by June Lockhart in 1958. In 1959,she appeared in an episode of
One Step Beyond entitled The Dark Room, where she portrayed an American
photographer living in Paris.
Leachman has won numerous awards during her lengthy career. She won an Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress in The Last Picture Show (1971), based on the
bestselling book by Larry McMurtry. She played the high school gym teacher's
wife, with whom Timothy Bottoms' character has an affair. Director Peter
Bogdanovich had predicted to Leachman during production that she would win an
Academy Award for her performance. The part was originally offered to Ellen
Burstyn, who wanted another role in the film.
Leachman has also won a record-setting eight primetime and one daytime Emmy
Awards and been nominated over 20 times for her work in television over the
years, most notably as the character of neighbor/landlady/nosy friend Phyllis
Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character was a fixture on the
program for five years and was subsequently featured in a spinoff series,
Phyllis (1975-1977), for which Leachman garnered a Golden Globe award. In 1978
she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. During the mid
and late 1970s, she was featured in several Schoolhouse Rock episodes.
In 1986, Leachman returned to television, replacing Charlotte Rae's character
Edna Garrett as the den mother on The Facts of Life. Leachman's role, as Edna's
sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, could not save the long-running series, and it was
canceled two years later.
She has voice acted in numerous animated films, including My Little Pony: The
Movie, The Iron Giant, and most notably as the voice of the cantankerous sky
pirate Dola in Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 feature Castle in the Sky. Dubbed by Disney
in 1998, Leachman's performance in this film received nearly unanimous praise.
Leachman played embittered, greedy, Slavic “Grandma Ida” on the Fox sitcom
Malcolm in the Middle, for which she won two Emmy Awards, both for Outstanding
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series (once in 2002, then again in 2006). She was
nominated for playing that same character for six consecutive years.
Later television credits include the successful Lifetime Television miniseries
Beach Girls with Rob Lowe and Julia Ormond. Leachman was nominated for a SAG
Award for her role as the wine-soaked, former jazz singer and grandmother Evelyn
in the Sony feature Spanglish opposite Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. She had
replaced an ailing Anne Bancroft in the role. The film reunited her with her
Mary Tyler Moore Show writer-producer-director James L. Brooks. That same year
she appeared with Sandler again, in the remake of The Longest Yard. She also
appeared in Kurt Russell comedy Sky High.
In 2006, Leachman's performance alongside Sir Ben Kingsley and Annette Bening in
the HBO special Mrs. Harris earned her an Emmy nomination for outstanding
supporting actress in a miniseries or TV movie as well as an SAG Award
nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie
or Miniseries.
On May 14, 2006, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from Drake
University.