CDA: Cloris Leachman
First off, my apologies about the Page Not Found problem that's been happening with my website the last couple of days. I've spent more time than I would like with tech support trying to resolve it. I hope it'll get cleared up today.
On to more important matters! Richard and my mom alerted me to the death of Cloris Leachman, and I was very sad indeed. She was a treasure! An Oscar and eight Emmys, that ain't bad. Living to the ripe old age of 94, and working the whole time, that's also pretty remarkable. A few tidbits I learned on Wikipedia:
She went to Northwestern, where two of her classmates were Paul Lynde and Charlotte Rae.
She was Miss Illinois in 1946 and competed in the Miss America contest.
She was "slated" to play Abigail Williams in the original Broadway production of Arthur Miller's *The Crucible.* She played four preview performances in Wilmington, Delaware. She left the show before it moved to Broadway and was replaced by Madeleine Sherwood. I want to know the rest of THAT story!
She gave so many incredible performances: *The Last Picture Show,* *Young Frankenstein,* *High Anxiety,* the list goes on and on. I loved her as Phyllis on *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* but have no memory of her *Phyllis* spin-off. I guess I need to check that out.
Here's a nice quick overview of her career: