Biography

Cloris Leachman

by Sarag Green,

Academy Award-winning American actress, Cloris Leachman is a versatile woman and veteran artist who's worked in varieties of movies, TV series, and stage plays. She has given more than seven decades to the Hollywood and has earned huge respect and honor in the industry. In the span of her career, she has been awarded various prestigious awards including Primetime Emmy Awards, Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards and Golden Globe Awards among others.

Regarding her works, she is popularly known for her role in the movies and TV series, The Last Picture Show, Phyllis, and Malcolm in the Middle. Prior to starting her career as a professional actress, she won the title of Miss Chicago and stood 16th in Miss America.  In 2018, she will be seen in the movies like I Can Only Imagine and Game Over Man!.

She is currently single after the divorce from her director husband, George Englund. The estranged couple shares five children together.

Early Life And Education

Cloris Leachman was born on 30th April 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa under the birth sign Taurus. Leachman is American by nationality and belongs to White ethnicity. Her parents, Cloris Wallace and Berkeley Claiborne Leachman (worked at the family-owned company) raised her with her two sisters, Mary and Claiborne Cary (was an actress and singer).

Leachman attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and later joined Illinois State University to study drama. She also joined Northwestern University where she became the member of Gamma Phi Beta. Paul Lyndem a comic actor was in her cla s smate.

From her early age, Leachman acted in plays by local youth on weekend at Drake University. In 1946, she won the title of Miss Chicago. Later, she competed in 20th Miss America and was placed 16th position.

Career

Cloris Leachman, at the initial phase of her career, used to perform in several Broadways plays namely Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Come Back, Little Sheba and Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, South Pacific. She's starred in hundreds of movies which includes:

Movies

Leachman made her Hollywood debut in 1947 from Edgar G. Ulmer's directed movie, Carnegie Hall. After few years of hold, she got the chance to appear in black-and-white science fiction film, Kiss Me Deadly. She then starred in numbers of movies, The Rack, WUSA, The People Next Door, Dillinger, Daisy Miller, High Anxiety, Scavenger Hunt, Yesterday, Hansel and Gretel, Prancer, The Amati Girls, and The Croods among others.

Leachman's notable roles in movies include:

Movies Role IMDB Rating Cast Members
The Last Picture Show (1971) Ruth Popper 8.1 Cybill Shepard, Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms and Ben Johnson among others.
A Troll in Central Park (1994) Gnorga 5.4 Dom DeLuise, Charles Nelson Reilly, Phillip Gla s ses and Hayley Mills among others.
Now and Then (1995) Grandma Albertson 6.8 Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Demi More and Gaby Hoffmann among others.
Spanglish (2004) Evelyn Wright 6.4 Adam Sandler, Paz Vega, Tea Leoni and Sarah Steele.

Leachman worked in two movies, Young Frankenstein (1974) and High Anxiety (1977) directed by Mel Brooks. As of 2018, she will be portraying the role of Memaw in I can Only Imagine and Arvilla KIngle in Game Over, Man!.

Series

Leachman made her TV debut in 1949 from the TV series, Hold It Please. The following year, she worked in detective series, Charlie Wild, Private Detective.

She then worked in numbers of TV series, Bob and Ray, La s sie, Alfred Hitchc* * k Presents, Thriller, Laramie, Perry Mason, The Road West and The Nanny among others. She, however, is popular for:

TV Series Role IMDB Rating Cast Members
The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1975) Phyllis Lindstrom 8.2 Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, Ed Asner and Betty White among others.
Phyllis (1975-77) Phyllis Lindstrom 6.4 Lisa Gerritsen, Barbara ColbyJudith Lowry and Liz Torres among others.
The Woman Who WIlled a Miracle (1983) May Lemke 8.9 M. Emmet Walsh, Leif Green, and Rosemary Murphy.
Malcolm in the Middle (2001-2006) Grandma Ida 8.0 Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Jane Kaczmarek and Erick Per Sullivan among others.

Apart from movies and TV series, Leachman also competed in a reality show, Dancing with the Stars, season seven where she paired with dancer Corky Ballas.

Awards And Nominations

Over her career, Cloris Leachman has received several nominations for her outstanding performances in the movies and TV series. She also holds an Oscar for the 1971's movie The Last Picture Show. Some of the awards she's won are-

  • 1971 = Academy Awards for  The Last Picture Show.
  • 1971 = BAFTA Awards for The Last Picture Show.
  • 1971 = Kansas City Film Critics Circle for The Last Picture Show.
  • 1971 = National Board of Review for The Last Picture Show.
  • 1971 = National Society of Film Critics Awards for The Last Picture Show.
  • 1971 =  New York Film Critics Circle Awards for The Last Picture Show.
  • 1973 = Primetime Emmy Awards for A Brand New Life.
  • 1974 = Primetime Emmy Awards for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
  • 1975 = Primetime Emmy Awards for Cher.
  • 1975 = Primetime Emmy Awards for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
  • 1975 = Golden Globe Awards for Phyllis.
  • 1983 = Daytime Emmy Awards for The Woman Who Willed a Miracle.
  • 1984 = Primetime Emmy Awards.
  • 1998 = Primetime Emmy Awards for Promised Land.
  • 2002 = Primetime Emmy Awards for Malcolm in the Middle.
  • 2006 = Primetime Emmy Awards for Malcolm in the Middle.

Apart from the awards she's won, Leachman has been also nominated for various other prestigious awards like Satellite AwardsGenie AwardsScreen Actors Guild Awards, and Golden Globe Awards among others.

Net Worth

Cloris Leachman has an estimated net worth of $21 million. Leachman gave several hit movies that made an impressive collection at the box office.

Here is the list of her hit movies:

Movies Budget Box Office Collection IMDB rating Awards and Nominations Casts Members
Butch Ca s sidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) $6million $102.3 million 8.1
  • Academy AwardsBritish Academy Film Awards, and Writers Guild America Awards.
  • Nominated for Academy Awards.
Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Katherine Ross, and Strother Martin among others.
Young Frankenstein (1974) $2.78 million $86.2 million 8.0
  • Won Hugo AwardsNebula AwardsSaturn Awards, Golden Screen Awards, and Toronto Film Festival Awards.
  • Nominated for Academy AwardsGolden Globe Awards, and WGA Awards.
Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn and Teri Garr among others.
The Longest Yard (2005) $82 million $190.3million 6.4
  • Won BET Comedy Awards and  Golden Raspberry Awards.
Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds, Chris Rock and Nelly among others.
Scary Movie 4 (2006) $40 million $178.3 million 5.1
  • Won Golden Raspberry Awards.
Anna Faris, Regina Hall, David Zucker and Leslie Nielsen.
Ponyo (2008) $34 million $201.8 million 7.7
  • Won Tokyo Anime Awards and Japan Academy Prize Awards.
Yuria Nara, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Nozomi Ohashi and Hiroki Doi among others.
Inglourious Basterds (2009) $70 million $321.5 million 8.3
  • Won Golden Globe AwardsScreen Actors Guild AwardsBAFTA Awards, and Academy Awards.
  • Nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and BAFTA Awards.
Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, and Diane Kruger.
The Croods (2013) $135 million $587.2 million 7.2
  • Won Annie AwardsBMI Film & TV Music Awards, and Made-in-Hollywood Awards.
  • Nominated for Academy AwardsCritics' Choice Awards, and Satellite Awards.
Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and Chris Sanders among others.

In 2000, Leachman bought a penthouse in LA for $635k and sold it for $988k in 2012. She also bought a house in Topanga, California worth $930k.

Beside this, Leachman published a book, Cloris that costs $9.99 in Kindle and $3.10 in Paperback.

Personal Life

Cloris Leachman is a divorcee. Leachman was previously married to longtime boyfriend, George Englund, Hollywood impresario in 1953. Actress, Mabel Albertson is her former mother-in-law. The couple started dating in 1947 after meeting for the first time at the Actors Studio.

The couple shares five children, Bryan Englund (1956-1986), George Englund Jr. (1957), Adam Englund, Morgan Englund (1963) and Dinah Englund (1966) together. Their children are also engaged in the entertainment industry.

The pair has six grandchildren, Portia, Skye, Arielle, Jackson, Anabel Englund and Hallelujah and a great-grandson, Braden. Their grandchild, Anabel Englund is a singer.

She was also close friends with 40's famous actor and director, Marlon Brando.

In 1979, Leachman and her ex-spouse separated and they divorced for some unrevealed reasons.

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