Cloris Leachman, the Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress who memorably played Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died. She was 94.
“It’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time,” her manager Juliet Green said. “There was no one like Cloris. With a single look she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh 'til the tears ran down your face. You never knew what Cloris was going to say or do and that unpredictable quality was part of her unparalleled magic.”
Leachman reportedly died of natural causes on Tuesday (26 January) in Encinitas, California.
Leachman first came to prominence in the 1970s on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, in which she played Mary Richards's self-absorbed downstairs neighbour, Phyllis.
Eventually, Leachman starred in a Phyllis spin-off that ran on CBS from 1975 to 1977.
Leachman also won a supporting actress Oscar for her role in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 feature The Last Picture Show. She would later reprise her role in the 1990 sequel Texasville.
Starring in theater, television, and film, Leachman won eight primetime Emmy awards over the course of her career.
In the 1970s, she also appeared in Mel Brooks comedies like High Anxiety and Young Frankenstein.
She worked steadily throughout the 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the 1993 big-screen adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies, The History of the World Part I, and Walk Like a Man.
In the 2000s, she played Grandma Ida in Malcom in the Middle, and she popped up in movies like Alex and Emma and Bad Santa.
In 2011, Leachman was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
She is survived by sons Adam, George Jr, and Morgan, and her daughter, Dinah.
