Popular American actress , Cloris Leachman , has died at 94 of natural causes on Tuesday in Encinitas , Califonia.
The Oscar and multiple Emmy winner is best remembered as the delightfully neurotic , Phyllis Lindstrom on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show ’ and her own subsequent sitcom , Variety . com reports .
Her longtime manager, Juliet Green said, “ It ’s been my privilege to work with Cloris Leachman, one of the most fearless actresses of our time . There was no one like Cloris. With a single look , she had the ability to break your heart or make you laugh ’till 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. ”
The daffy, self -absorbed Phyllis , a character she claimed was close to her own persona , brought the actress two Emmys as a featured actress in a series during the mid -’ 70 s and made Leachman a household name.
Leachman also won a supporting actress Oscar in the early part of the decade for a far different character , an embittered small- town housewife in Peter Bogdanovich’ s elegiac “ The Last Picture Show ”; she would later reprise the role in the film’ s less successful sequel “ Texasville . ” Both films were based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.
Overnight success for the actress , however, came only after two decades of hard work in theatre , television and some films . Leachman was in her 40 s when stardom finally hit .
Leachman ’s pitch -perfect timing and effortlessness in comedy and her unadorned honesty in drama was the result of many years honing her craft and incorporated her own life experiences as a mother of five children .
Her open, all -American look took her through several decades in a wide variety of roles on Broadway and early television as well as more than 40 movies , where she moved easily from leading roles to character parts.
The actress won a total of eight primetime Emmys , both for drama and comedy , and one daytime Emmy.
Leachman was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2011 .
“ Cloris: My Autobiography ” was published in 2009 . She penned the bestseller with George Englund , whom she divorced in 1979 .
Survivors include sons Adam , George Jr ., Morgan, an actor; and a daughter , Dinah .
The family requests that any donations in her name be made to PETA or Last Chance for Animals .
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RIP to her