Cloris Leachman's Monstrous Ego

Really, that's your evidence?

"SUPPORTING" Actress...Come back when you win a real Oscar.

Oh, a Supporting Actress Academy Award is a bad thing - only about 87 actresses in history have been awarded one.

Let's see yours, cunt.

Her agents got her "special guest star" billing, dimwit, OP. Perhaps they thought Phyllis would be on for only a season.

Thank you, R4, like Cloris was in charge of the Opening Credits.

How about the opening credits on "The Big Valley"?

"and starring Miss Barbara Stanwyck".

And I've read that the shows directors and producers were thrilled with the neurotic, controlling edge that Cloris brought the role.

You have to admit that part of the early success of the show was the incredible chemistry that Mary, Valerie, and Cloris created. - it was magic.

Leachman had that credit long before she won the Oscar. And today she's still best known for playing Phyllis which was only a recurring role.

Clearly Leachman's ego was responsible as before MTM the only big thing she did was like five episodes of "Dr Kildare."

As for only 87 women winning a supporting Oscar, who cares? It's a throw-a-way award. It's was only created to give out more awards and extend commercial time for the Oscars be it on TV or previously radio.

Cloris was/is a cunt. Remember her belief that fat people are all ugly so they should be herded up into concentration camps and forced to diet? Famous fat boy James Coco had to work with her and said that in spite of all the divas he's had to endure, she was the only performer he really loathed.

She was once on Carson and spent the entire segment talking about health food and said that if Carson changed his diet, his hair would go back to its natural color. Carson slapped back, "so would yours."

Wait.. Is this the grandmother from "Raising Hope?"

Um, considering this happened 45 years ago, maybe it's time to let it go?

Just a thought.

I worked with Cloris post Facts of Life. She was a truly alarming eccentric and in her own loud, brash head all of the time to the exclusion of everyone around her. She would say tactless, vile things to people, especially young men to whom she would make bawdy comments. I would not attribute her behavior to being egotistical, but instead to being certifiably strange and relentless in her assertion that because she is an "artiste" she must behave in an off-beat, challenging way. I learned quickly to have as little as possible to do with her. It was not entirely possible (this was a theater production) as quarters were somewhat tight, but, tried not to take her batshittery too seriously since it was obvious she had tried so long to be a "personality" that any sense of humanity in her was long gone and she truly believed she was interesting and amusing. In short, she is a cunt, but, not entirely evil.

[quote]Um, considering this happened 45 years ago, maybe it's time to let it go?Just a thought.

Here's a thought for you...Suicide

Did she get along with the Facts of Life girls? I ask only because as wonderful as they're chemistry was on-screen, Beverly Ann seems to have been all but erased from the FOL cannon when it comes to reunions, retrospectives, etc. Nancy? Lisa? Mindy? Kim? George? How'd Clo get along with these gals, or didn't she?

I can attest that she had little good to say about FOL in general, hated the writers, but, spoke fondly of the girls, especially Mindy Cohn and had many good things to say of MacKenzie Astin. Throughout my career, I've only heard good things from everyone associated with FOL about the cast though aside from Cloris I never met or worked with any of the others.

[quote]Thank you, [R4], like Cloris was in charge of the Opening Credits.

There was only ONE name in the opening credits, bitch!

[quote]Leachman had that credit long before she won the Oscar.

Check your dates, hon.

Thank you R17

What's wrong with Special Guest Star?

She always seemed to me to be trying to hard to be a Stritch-esque diva and just couldn't pull it off.

Cloris won her oscar in 1972. She received that "ego" credit in 1969.

[quote]Beverly Ann seems to have been all but erased from the FOL cannon when it comes to reunions, retrospectives, etc

Not because of Leachman but because those whole episodes suck. Kind of like Happy Days once Richie left. Or Laverne And Shirley after they relocated to California.

I don't think the OP was saying Leachman was a bad actress. She was a good actress, but she did have a big ego. You can have both things you know.

Wow, thanks R15. Great to hear that the FOL cast was general a good bunch. I'm not surprised she was fondb of Mackenzie - they had great on-screen chemistry. Any sense of whether she resented being overshadowed by Charlotte Rae, who of course is much more fondly remembered as Mrs. Garrett.

Also, any dirt from Clo's stint on Malcolm in the Middle? They seemed to have great respect for her talents - her role as Lois' mother won her multiple Emmys and they always gave her excellent material. But what about egos on the set? Cranston the future icon? Muniz the pint size title character? Behrfield the hot-to-death future TV mogul? Kazmezarek the earthy diva? Masterson the wacko scientologist? Sullivan the wild card? How did Clo for into the grand scheme when she was on set?

[quote]They seemed to have great respect for her talents - her role as Lois' mother won her multiple Emmys

She was excellent in that role as the grandmother, but she wasn't acting. That was her in real life.

I didn't realize Cloris was an immigrant with a thick accent and "old school ways," R25. Haha. But I guess you mean her stories, sort of bitchy and domineering?

[quote]And today she's still best known for playing Phyllis which was only a recurring role.

No, Phyllis eventually became a starring role when Leachman got her own show in 1975. It only lasted three seasons, but many of the episodes of the first season were in the top Nielsen ten for that week. She was a big deal.

Wasn't she also in the north avenue irregulars? That was a pretty funny film. One of Disney's first integrated casts too.

I believe she was also a regular on Lassie for a while, playing Timmy's mom, Ruth Martin. But apparently, Cloris didn't enjoy playing the mild-mannered matriarch. She argued with the writers and the producers. And she eventually left the show.

I loved "Phyllis" the TV show - I watched it every week. They sort of had to tone down Phyllis' quirkiness to make her likeable enough to be the star of the show, which wasn't her strong suit - but it was well-done for the mid-70s. And the foul-mouthed old Mother Dexter was sort of an early Sophia Petrillo.

WHO?

[quote]Cloris won her oscar in 1972. She received that "ego" credit in 1969.

"MTM" premiered in September of 1970, so she couldn't have received credit in 1969.

"TLPS" was released in October of 1971, and was presumably filmed well before that.

1) There aren't 87 Best Supporting Actress winners. They didn't create the award until 1937 at the 9th Oscars.

2) Doesn't Cloris hate fat people? The DL should love her!!

Aaron Spelling's shows were all about special billing for the has beens he would feature on Burke's Law, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, etc.

Cloris is a crusty old bag along the lines of Shirley MacLaine. Not down-to-earth, alway "on," and envious of Betty White's late-in-life popularity. Of Betty, she said once, "Never liked her."

Funny that Betty okay'd Cloris' guest stint as Peg on Hot in Cleveland, R35. I can believe Clo is less beloved than Betty, but wasn't she making an off the cuff sarcastic comment ET or some such show when she said "never liked her"?

I looked it up- she was completely joking - they were at the time even starring in a movie together!

From NY Daily News:

[quote] Who knew that Betty White had enemies? Fellow octagenarian Cloris Leachman hit out at the 88-year-old comedienne during a recent Television Critics Association gathering. "I'm so sick of Betty White," the 84-year-old snapped at the audience. "Never liked her." The "Raising Hope" star was kidding, of course -- she and White are starring together in the upcoming comedy "You Again."

Again, I can believe that Clo's a sort of curmudgeon, but she's also somewhat of a comic genius - unlike Shirley MacLaine, who takes herself way too seriously to do 90% of the shit Cloris has done and continues to do in her career. You aren't drawn to (and so uncannily good at) the types of parts Cloris has played unless you have a good healthy sense of humor about yourself on some level. If she's lacking some of Betty's casual effortless charm offstage, well aren't we all...

Back to 1973: Our only course may be impeachment - An interview with Cloris Leachman!

Was she referring to Nixon or MTM, R38? I know they both had their issues.

Impeach Grant Tinker.

When Burt Reynolds co-hosted the Oscars in 1974, he took a shot at CL's rambling acceptance speech when she won for The Last Picture Show.

Fast-forward 40 years and everyone who wins the Oscar seems to go on like she did.

Cloris was in a wheelchair during Celebrity Wife Swap.

She swapped families with Pia Zadora and called her husband "Mr. Zadora" and said he needed to grow some balls. Pia looked like she wanted to choke Cloris, which is no idle threat since Pia was arrested in Vegas for choking her overweight son in Vegas a couple years ago.

But I digress... About the wheelchair - is Cloris permanently in it or did she break a foot or something?

I saw her in a Subway in LA. I don't know what she had to eat, but she ran quickly to the restroom! It was one of those unisex/one stall bathrooms, and I went in once she exited only to find diarrhea splattered all over the wall. Explosive!

r42 - they said it was a remporary injury. At the end, in a segment filmed a few weeks later, she was walking around.

Okay, here's a great Cloris story.

I heard from a pal who works on Dancing With the Stars that one night she was lined up with her dance pro partner and all the other contestants and their pro partners and they're waiting for the show to start so they can walk down the stair case and be introduced. It's fairly dark backstage and in the darkness Cloris says in a loud voice: "Will somebody hit me in the head with a mallet. I want to see some stars!"

So supposedly Cloris hits very aggressively on her younger male co stars. Men are such dogs - especially young guys that that some of them MUST have taken her up on her advances.... even if just to say they "fucked a granny"..... any guesses as to who Cloris might have bedded recently (or currently)?

Frankie Muniz, R46?

[quote]even if just to say they "fucked a granny"

Wouldn't it be more impressive to say they fucked an Oscar winner?

[quote]Wouldn't it be more impressive to say they fucked an Oscar winner?

That was ruined that for all time back in 1931 when they gave the Oscars to Lionel Barrymore and Marie Dressler.

Frankie's a good guess - probably the kid who played Francis too.

Mother Dexter: " Kill any Krauts?"

If she invite you for dinner, do not be late!

R45 she definitely used that line on one of the Comedy Central Roasts. Maybe she said it again.

Cloris had a well established career by 1970. It was a recurring character. I could easily see her agent and the studio using the "Special guest star" billing as a negotiating chip to get her to do the part. And thank God she did as she was wonderful in almost every episode she was in on MTM.

A few years ago, when Valerie Harper announced her brain cancer, she appeared on some daytime talk show. As a special "surprise" they brought out Cloris. Valerie Harper seemed- not very moved by her being there. She proceeded to wander around the set. She didn't seem too concerned with Harper's cancer, either. It was very weird.

On Howard Stern, she seriously said of Mary Tyler Moore "I never liked her". And when talking of her one night stand with Paul Newman, she said that Joanne Woodward was "boring".

Crazy old broad.

Cloris is eccentric - it's not a crime.

MTM has often been described as cold and difficult to get along with by many of her co-workers. Her relationship with Valerie Harper was especially warm and enduring - I felt, mainly because Valerie worked so hard at supporting Mary and Mary appreciated that. Mary had a difficult childhood with an alcoholic mother and a distant father. As much as America wants to see MTM as Mary Richards - she was a real person with real issues. I can understand Cloris saying she never particularly like MTM - God bless her for telling the truth - at her age she's entitled.

Cloris is like your crazy old great aunt - if she's not making you angry, you're laughing at her or with her.

Betty White is more like the sweet old great aunt - who everyone loves and no one suspects she secretly has such a ribald sense of humor.

They're old and they probably don't care that much what you think of them.

Cloris Leachman is a very gifted woman who happens to be crazy. Really crazy. My friend Toms' grandmother was "Mother Dexter" and I quizzed him ruthlessly on this subject. The woman (Cloris) is a loon & not in a fun way. I worked at a club in NYC called Xenon & her antics were legendary. In a city full of crazies she was an all star.

My boss was Pepo Vennini who was/is gay and married to Victoria Tenant at the time. Cloris Leachman was Victorias' buddy, They both loved cocaine & shocking little queens like me. The Studio 54 stories are all true.

& PS I also worked as Pia Zadoras' PA, but that's another story.

R56 very cool

[quote] She was once on Carson and spent the entire segment talking about health food and said that if Carson changed his diet, his hair would go back to its natural color. Carson slapped back, "so would yours."

This is why I miss Johnny Carson. He could be relied upon to say shit like this to wackadoo celebs. They all had to take it and do the show again because he was the King. I can't see Fallon or Kimmel saying it but Colbert would, I'm looking forward to his show.

I love Cloris Leachman without reservation. I know she's a vicious loon and I don't care. I don't have to live/work with her.

Here's Johnny having a tough time with a coked up Tanya Roberts.

He finally gets exasperated and says something highly inappropriate (but awesome). He'd never get away with that today.

R59, that's pretty funny. People forget just how good Carson really was - no one's been better at that job.

Cloris' ex-husband George Englund must have been something special between the sheets for Joan Collins to refer to him as the love of her life.

My name is Phyllis

I was born in San Francisco, before the fire which means I'm very old

I had a bad puberty, being a bitch and all

When I was 21 I went to college, my mother still refers to this as "Well she's too stupid to graduate but maybe she can land a guy."

Eventually I moved to Minneapolis, where I demaned not only the end credit, not only a guest star credit but a special guest star credti.

Then I married a Swede and later pushed him down a flight of stairs, only to discover his life insurance beneficiary is Mother Dexter

Now I'm back in San Francisco which in the 20 years since I left is now all gay.

Hope I don't get the AIDS

[quote]Remember her belief that fat people are all ugly so they should be herded up into concentration camps and forced to diet?

Which should make her a queen to Dataloungers.

[quote] WHO? —Anonymous

Shush. Go back to fantasizing about Zayn and One Direction.

Wasn't Martin Landau credited as 'special guest' for the longest time on MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE before he became an official regular ?

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Phyllis, bitches!

I knew she diddled Gene Hackman, but Paul Newman, too? This girl is a SLUT!

I was shocked by Johnny Carson's implications leading up to that joke that you're referring to. I thought it was rather mean-spirited and hateful coming from someone that powerful, even though she was admittedly a total mess.

Cloris and Charlotte Rae were roommates at Northwestern. When they came to New York lived on the Upper West Side. Do you think they practiced Tribidism in the dead of night?

Dylan Shayne Lewis is now 52 years old.

Knew folks on the show then, only bad thing heard about Cloris was that she was control freak, set up catering if she thought it was wrong, pressured girls (at their fattest, granted) to diet, etc. But more of a sugar coated bitch just like Phyllis.

That is the same source/director who told me they had to double enforce the furniture on set because the girls had gotten so heavy, ha. I prefer to think that is exaggeration except those prop chairs are usually light wood so maybe...

So tiresome.

And with me, irrelevant.

[quote] You have to admit that part of the early success of the show was the incredible chemistry that Mary, Valerie, and Cloris created. - it was magic.

True. Usually conflict makes for better chemistry. Everyone believes that dumb shit about a cast being a "family." It's seldom true. Or rather, it's true in the way that you kind of love and hate them at the same time, that there are power factions, etc.

R69

Which helps explain the video below

R56, please start a Pia-centric thread. I must find out all of the dish!

[quote]Oh, a Supporting Actress Academy Award is a bad thing - only about 87 actresses in history have been awarded one.

Sound dead common to me.

I loved Cloris on MTM despite the fact that Phyllis was repeatedly belittled on the show. I prefer the characters that are supposedly the bad ones, like her and Ted and Sue Ann, and dislike the supposed nice ones like Mary and Rhoda and Murray.

[quote]Cranston the future icon? Muniz the pint size title character? Behrfield the hot-to-death future TV mogul? Kazmezarek the earthy diva? Masterson the wacko scientologist? Sullivan the wild card? How did Clo for into the grand scheme when she was on set?

Jesus R24, I don't think you could be more retarded if you tried.

Cloris wasn't the problem with late-era [italic]Facts of Life[/italic]. She was an improvement on Clooney (for whom Ryan Cassidy got pushed out) by a wide margin. The show just got old and they could have done more with Eastland going co-ed (Andy had nothing to say on the matter) in the finale than they did. It still ended better than [italic]Diff'rent Strokes[/italic]. Overall it aged the best out of the 1980s teen/youth sitcoms.

[quote]spoke fondly of the girls, especially Mindy Cohn

She probably ate out Mindy's ham and cheese curtains.

I agree with the OP, who's that fuckin' bitch think she is to deserve an "and credit" at her stage of her career.

I love Cloris as looney as she is.

I heard she said she saved "the Facts of Life."

Jay Sandrich, director of the MTM Show, said several times in his TV Academy interview when talking about the show, that Chloris was always hounding him about what scenes meant for her character and what anything on the show had to do with her character. He didn't use the word but he painted the picture of a self absorbed actress. He never said anything bad about her, but he didn't say anything good either like he did about the other actors and people he worked with.

She was at her best in Bad Santa.

Does her pussy stink?

She's not on the show as much as people think. She is only on like 12 episodes or so max each season. She was a special guest star.

leave clitoris alone!!!!!

Her Phyllis hair was sexy.

Yes, her pussy does stink- bad. Fans were all over the set.

Thank you, R76, for the "Are You Being Served" reference! :)

I wish one of those retro channels would rerun "Phyllis."

Phyllis would've survived if two main cast members hadn't died. The very popular Mother Dexter suddenly died of natural causes, and another woman was randomly murdered on the street. The show just had extremely bad luck.

The "Phyllis" theme song is so much fun.

Being gay as a goose even as a child, I memorized it and can still sing it, naturally!

She's a thousand years old, she can say what she wants.

The lack of respect on here is deplorable. None of you get fruit cup.

Actors who appear in supporting roles (and even star roles, really) are at the mercy of the writers and producers in determining their characters' plot lines throughout a season. The helpless actors are often not given their scripts until shooting begins when it's difficult, if not impossible, to make any changes.

So, of course, any intelligent and caring actor will be hounding the powers that be about their characters all the time. I would be suspicious of the talent of any actor not making demands on the writers.

In her memoirs, which basically are a bore, Cloris said Joan Collins in the 1960s was having an affair with her husband, George Englund, who was a notorious pussyhound in Hollywood. She said Joan called her and told her to give him up, and she laughed at her. Clo knew her hubby wasn't serious about Joan, as Collins' nickname was "The British Open" around town.

R99, did Cloris take it out on Joan's innocent souflee?

Oh, please.

I always remembered her in the TV movie, "A Girl named Sooner".

[quote][R99], did Cloris take it out on Joan's innocent souflee? —The Lars Affair is my favorite episode

It's one of mine, too. "Do you know how to remove chocolate stains? Oh GOOD!"

Chloris must have something going for her - or why would Mel brooks have kept casting her? Always assumed she was a hoot - as the brooks’ movies crew all seemed to love working together and had a great time...?

R102, I sought it out thanks to someone on here, it may have been you.

"My Lars? Dr. Lindstrom?"

That apron-thing she wears as she sweeps into Mary's apartment with "that damn pie."

The other day, I had to unclog a kitchen drain and reach inside and I murmured the Chopin line.

R103, she was great in the Mel Brooks movies but as Pauline Kael noted, a little of her goes a long way and that was especially true of her on MTM and that was why her own show flopped.

Did she really get gangbanged at Studio54? So shocking!

About ten years or so ago (possibly more), there was a website about Cloris hate for fat people. Of course, at that point she was still rail thin, as she had been her whole life. She really despised fatties and was offended that she even had to look at them.

I wonder what her opinion is now that her metabolism slowed and she gained a few pounds herself.

And yet she lives, still! Cloris is still alive, and has the 2nd highest number of Emmys, having been dethroned by Julia Louis Dreyfus when she won all those Emmys for Veep. I wonder if she still works?

A friend of mine wrote and produced a tv movie with Cloris in a substantial but supporting role. She kept trying to appropriate other actors' speeches and actions always with the rationale that it would just be better coming from her character instead.

[quote]as Pauline Kael noted, a little of her goes a long way

A little of Pauline goes an even longer way.

R108 I know she was in the first season of "American Gods" a couple of years ago.

I read her autobiography last year and in her own words she comes across as eccentric, over-sexed and slightly crazy.

I was a waiter while I was going to college. One night a customer paid with an AMEX and her name was Cloris Leachman. How could there be 2 people in the world with that name?

....

Cloris in her first movie "Kiss Me Deadly", making quite the impression in the opening scene before the credits roll.

The highest rated episodes of the Facts of Life was the episode with Stacey Q and Natalie losing her virginity- both of which happened in the Cloris era final seasons. People were still watching FoL til the end. It was never a ratings darling, but held steady for almost its entire run. I was a more a fan of the Edna’s Edibles era.

I've been watching her for the first time on Lassie playing the June Lockheart mom role on COZI TV weekends. It's a bit of a hoot. Timmy's very little and dumb in this first season and judgemental and sassy. Cloris is so sweet and easygoing with a dash of Phyllis.

[quote] The highest rated episodes of the Facts of Life was the episode with Stacey Q and Natalie losing her virginity- both of which happened in the Cloris era final seasons. People were still watching FoL til the end. It was never a ratings darling, but held steady for almost its entire run. I was a more a fan of the Edna’s Edibles era.

Just a few years before that, Disney put her and Alex Rocco together in [italic]Herbie Goes Bananas[/italic].

Poor Cloris was badly miscast on Facts of Life. I wanted to love her, I did love her, just not on that show.

Natalie lost her virginity to Stacy Q? No wonder that was the highest rated episode in the show's history!

Clitoris Leachman was always a cunt. Her name says it all.

“If you smoked around Chloris she’d slap the cigarette right out of your mouth. She was a little nuts, y’know....I’m careful not to smoke around her.” Mel Brooks

(2013 interview with Conan O’Brien, Serious Jibber-Jabber.)

Imagine. An actor with an ego!

An acquaintance of mine was in a play with her at a dinner theatre in Toronto in the late ‘90’s. She said Phyllis was excellent on stage but that she spent a lot of time offstage telling the other actors in the cast what they needed to be doing in their roles. My friend said it was ultimately pretty annoying but she loved her nonetheless.

She did the same thing on "the Facts of Life" by taking top billing when she should've been second to last.

Remember when Leslie Jordan teamed up with Cloris?

Clitoris Leachman is wizard!

In her five seasons on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, she was never in more than 8 episodes a season: 34 episodes overall, plus an appearance in the finale.

So she was truly a special guest star.

It seems like she was in more shows than she actually was. Kael was right — a little of her went a long way.

18:35 ... Phyllis singing "Ten Cents a Dance."

18:35 ... Phyllis singing "Ten Cents a Dance."

Phyllis ran for two seasons, not three.

Just hearing her name makes me act like a whinnying horse, rearing up on my hind legs, as if I just heard the name: Frau Blücher.

I remembered when she and Betty White played sisters in the Lake Placid film series. They were in different installments though and never shared any scenes together.

R121 If she hated smoking so much, I wonder how she managed on MTM. According to Valerie Harper, Mary would smoke constantly between scenes.

Wow, Mary Richards was a smoker.

Mary (the actress) was also an active alcoholic during the MTM Show years. In the final seasons, she looked kind of haggard. Plus, I think she had diabetes.

Cloris Leachman?

Qui etait cette cunt?