Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an American actress and comedian. In a career spanning over seven decades she has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, and an Academy Award for her role in The Last Picture Show (1971). As Miss Chicago, Leachman competed in the 20th Miss America pageant and placed in the Top 16 in 1946. Her longest-running role was the nosy and cunning landlady Phyllis Lindstrom in the CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off, Phyllis, in the 1970s. She also appeared in three Mel Brooks films, Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977), and History of the World, Part I (1981). She also starred as Beverly Ann Stickle in the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life from 1986 to 1988, and appeared as Granny in The Beverly Hillbillies (1993). In the 2000s, Leachman had a recurring role as Grandma Ida on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, and appeared as a roaster in the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget in 2008. She was a contestant on the seventh season of the ABC reality competition series Dancing with the Stars in 2008, paired with Corky Ballas. She was 82 at the time and is the oldest contestant to have danced in the series. From 2010–14, she starred as Maw Maw on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope.

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