Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman
Leachman in July 1970
Born(1926-04-30)April 30, 1926
DiedJanuary 27, 2021(2021-01-27) (aged 94)
EducationTheodore Roosevelt High School
Alma materNorthwestern University
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
  • comedienne
Years active1942–2021
Known for
WorksFull list
Spouse
(m. 1953; div. 1979)
Children5
RelativesClaiborne Cary (sister)
Anabel Englund (granddaughter)
AwardsFull list

Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded performer in Emmy history.[1] Leachman also won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe 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. In film, she appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971) as the neglected 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. She was part of Mel Brooks's ensemble cast, playing Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein (1974) and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I (1981).

Leachman won additional Emmys for her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show; television film A Brand New Life (1973); the variety sketch show Cher (1975); the ABC Afterschool Special production The Woman Who Willed a Miracle (1983); and the television shows Promised Land (1998) and Malcolm in the Middle (2000–06).[1] Her other television credits include Gunsmoke (1961), The Twilight Zone (1961; 2003), and Raising Hope (2010–2014). She also acted in the films Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), WUSA (1970), Yesterday (1981), Castle in the Sky (1998), Spanglish (2004), and Mrs. Harris (2005). She wrote her memoir Cloris: My Autobiography (2009).

  1. ^ a b Wittmer, Carrie. "The 17 actors who have won the most Emmys of all time". Business Insider. Retrieved October 15, 2021.