Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an American actress.

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, she majored in drama at Northwestern University. Leachman began appearing on television and in films shortly following a run for Miss America as Miss Chicago in 1946.

Leachman has won numerous awards during her lengthy career. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1971's The Last Picture Show, based on the bestselling book by Larry McMurtry. She has also won five Emmy Awards for her work in television over the years, most notably as the character of Phyllis Lindstrom on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character was a fixture on the Mary Tyler Moore program for five years; she left Minneapolis in 1975 for a spinoff series, Phyllis. In 1986, she returned to television, replacing Charlotte Rae as den mother on The Facts of Life. Leachman's role, playing Rae's sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, proved to be largely unpopular, and the aging series was canceled two years later.

She was married for several years to Hollywood impresario George Englund , with whom she had four sons. The Englunds suffered the loss of one of their sons from a drug overdose in the 1970s. The couple have since divorced and Leachman has never remarried. Leachman and Englund maintained close friendships over the years with Marlon Brando, Burgess Meredith, and a myriad of Tinseltown's A list. Leachman and her ex-husband have five grandchildren.

Ms. Leachman is a longtime resident of Brentwood.

Filmography

• Carnegie Hall (1947)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• The Rack (1956)
• The Chapman Report (1962)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Lovers and Other Strangers (1970)
• WUSA (1970)
• The People Next Door (1970)
• The Steagle (1971)
• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• Charley and the Angel (1973)
• Dillinger (1973)
• Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973)
• Daisy Miller (1974)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Crazy Mama (1975)
• The Mouse and His Child (1977) (voice)
• High Anxiety (1977)
• The Muppet Movie (1979) (Cameo)
• Scavenger Hunt (1979)
• Soggy Bottom, USA (1980)
• Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
• Foolin' Around (1980)
• Yesterday (1981)
• History of the World: Part I (1981)
• My Strange Uncle (1981) (short subject)
• Shadow Play (1986)
• (1986) (voice)
• Castle in the Sky (1986) (voice in 2003) English dubbed version)
• Walk Like a Man (1987)
• Hansel and Gretel (1988)
• Prancer (1989)
• Texasville (1990)
• Love Hurts (1991)
• The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1991) (narrator)
• (1991) (documentary)
• My Boyfriend's Back (1993)
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
• A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
• (1995) (documentary)
• Now and Then (1995)
• Beavis and Butt-Headd Do America (1996) (voice)
• Never Too Late (1997)
• Gen13 (1998) (voice) (unreleased)
• The Iron Giant (1999) (voice)
• Music of the Heart (1999)
• Hanging Up (2000)
• The Amati Girls (2000)
• Manna from Heaven (2002)
• Alex & Emma (2003)
• Bad Santa (2003)
• The Californians (2004)
• Spanglish (2004)
• The Longest Yard (2005)
• Mrs. Harris (2005) (currently in post-production)
• Sky High (2005) (currently in post-production)

Selected Television Credits

• Charlie Wild, Private Detective as Effie Perine
• Lassie as Ruth Martin
• Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis as Phyllis Lindstrom
• The Facts of Life as Beverly Ann Stickle
• Thanks as Grammy Winthrop
• The Ellen Show as Dot Richmand

External links