Cloris Leachman, actress and comedian, has died, TMZ reports. Leachman, who was 94 years old, died of natural causes in her home in Encinitas, California. Her daughter, Dinah, was attending her at the time, Leachman’s son told TMZ. “She had the best life beginning to end that you could wish for someone,” he said. “She left everyone with a lot of love.”
Leachman had a long and successful career in show business, setting records for her Emmy wins and nominations. She first got her start on The Ford Theatre Hour in 1949, and after booking multiple smaller TV roles, she went on to appear in series like Phyllis, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Facts of Life, and more. Leachman’s TV work earned her multiple awards, including two Emmys for her role as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and a Golden Globe her part in Phyllis.
The successful TV actress also made a name for herself in film and earned an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 1971’s The Last Picture Show. Just a few years later, she starred in one her most iconic roles as Frau Blücher in 1974’s Young Frankenstein, and worked with director Mel Brooks again for 1981’s History of the World, Part I.
Leachman was born in 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, as the oldest of three sisters. She went on to attend Northwestern University, and later competed in the 1946 Miss Universe Pageant. Not long after the competition, she set off for New York City, where she took classes with Elia Kazan at the Actors Studio.
While she’s widely known for her roles in the ’70s and ’80s, Leachman continued to act during her decades-long career. Ever since her first role in 1949, she kept booking shows and movies, winning over audiences with her parts in Raising Hope, A Brand New Life, The Ellen Show, and Malcom in the Middle, which marked another Emmy win for Leachman when she took home the award in 2002 and 2006.
More recently, Leachman was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for her role in Raising Hope, which she starred on for 83 episodes, according to The Wrap. With 22 Emmy nominations in total, Leachman is the most nominated actress of all time. After winning eight Emmys, Leachman ties with Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus for most wins.
Leachman kept working steadily in recent years, appearing in the movie Jump, Darling and the series Elena of Avalor, and lending her voice to the 2020 film The Croods: A New Age. Leachman’s last two projects, High Holiday and Not to Forget, will be released posthumously.
