Cloris Leachman

Born in Polk County, daughter of Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman (1903-1956) and wife Cloris Wallace (1901-1967).

Cloris Leachman was born on April 30, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa to Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman and the former Cloris Wallace. Her father's family owned a lumber company, Leachman Lumber Co. She was of Czech (from her maternal grandmother) and English descent. After graduating from high school, Leachman attended Illinois State University and Northwestern University, where she majored in drama.

After winning the title of Miss Chicago 1946 (as part of the Miss America pageant), she acted with the Des Moines Playhouse before moving to New York.

Leachman made her credited debut in 1948 in an episode of The Ford Theatre Hour (1948) and appeared in many television anthologies and series before becoming a regular on The Bob & Ray Show (1951) in 1952.

Suffered a miscarriage at 4 months pregnant during the filming of Lassie (1954) in 1958.

Her movie debut was memorable, playing the doomed blonde femme fatale Christina Bailey in Robert Aldrich's classic noir Kiss Me Deadly (1955).

Other than a role in Rod Serling's movie The Rack (1956) in support of Paul Newman, Leachman remained a television actress throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, appearing in only two movies during the latter decade, The Chapman Report (1962) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

Along with Bill Mumy, she was one of only two actors to appear in both The Twilight Zone (1959) and its second television revival, The Twilight Zone (2002).

She played Bill Mumy's mother five times: in The Loretta Young Show: My Own Master (1960), The Twilight Zone: Long Distance Call (1961), The Twilight Zone: It's a Good Life (1961), Going My Way: Keep an Eye on Santa Claus (1962) and The Twilight Zone: It's Still a Good Life (2003).

On December 24, 1962, she appeared in three prime-time television series as a guest star: Stoney Burke: Cousin Eunice (1962), Saints and Sinners: A Night of Horns and Bells (1962) and The New Loretta Young Show: Anything for a Laugh (1962).

Leachman was nominated five times for an Emmy Award playing Phyllis Lindstrom, Mary Tyler Moore's landlady and self-described best friend on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970) and on the spin-off series Phyllis (1975).

Though she would win an Oscar for Peter Bogdanovich's adaptation of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show (1971) and appear in three Mel Brooks movies, it was in television that her career remained and her fame was assured in the 1970s and into the second decade of the new millennium.

Was the 70th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Last Picture Show (1971) at The 44th Annual Academy Awards (1972) on April 10, 1972.

She won twice as Best Supporting Actress in a comedy for her "Mary Tyler Moore" gig and won a Golden Globe Award as a leading performer in comedy for "Phyllis", but her first Emmy Award came in the category Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1973 for the television movie A Brand New Life (1973).

She appeared with Madeline Kahn in five films: Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), The Muppet Movie (1979), History of the World: Part I (1981) and My Little Pony: The Movie (1986).

She was awarded the 1978 Joseph Jefferson Award for Guest Artist for her performance in the play, "Twigs", at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6435 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on September 20, 1980.

One son, Bryan Englund, passed away from an overdose of ulcer medication on February 25, 1986.

Was close friends with Phyllis Love. Together, they attended Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Leachman was a 1987 inductee of the Theodore Roosevelt High School Hall of Fame.

Had guest-starred in the second-to-last episode of Diagnosis Murder (1993), Diagnosis Murder: On the Beach (2001).

Posed "au naturel" on the cover of "Alternative Medicine Digest" (issue 15, 1997) body painted with images of fruit adorning her nakedness. This was a parody, or imitation, of the famous Demi Moore body painted nude Vanity Fair photo.

She also won two Emmy Awards as a supporting player for Malcolm In The Middle (2000).

The legendary actress set a record when at age 82, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars (2005).

Leachman served as the 2009 Grand Marshal, the 10th female grand marshal in the history of the parade.

Ranked #23 on the TV Guide Network special, Funniest Women on TV (2011).

The second of only three performers ever to win Emmy Awards for acting across all three genres: Comedy, Drama and Limited Series/TV Movie. Edward Asner did this first, and Uzo Aduba joined them in 2020.