Cloris Leachman

Des Moines, Iowa, USA

Biography

Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 26, 2021) was an American actress and comedian, whose career spanned over seven decades. She won various accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nominated and, along with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, most awarded actress in Emmy history. In addition, she won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award. Leachman's breakthrough role was the nosy and cunning landlady Phyllis Lindstrom in the landmark CBS sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–75), for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1974 and 1975; its spin-off, Phyllis (1975–77), earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Actress – Musical or Comedy.

Movies

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

More info
Matinee Theater
1955