Actress Cloris Leachman died in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday at the age of 94, her publicist reports Wednesday. She won an Oscar in 1972 for her supporting role in The Last Picture Show . She has also received eight Emmy awards in her career spanning nearly seven decades.
Leachman was best known for her comedic characters and broke through in the 1970s as Phyllis in the series The Mary Tyler Moore Show . That role gave her her own spin-off, Phyllis , for which she won two Emmys and a Golden Globe.
Later in life, Leachman also starred in a large number of films and series, including the popular sitcom Malcolm in the Middle . For this she won an Emmy Award in 2000 and 2006.
After that, the actress was seen in productions such as R aising Hope, American Gods and the new version of Mad About You. She also provided many voices in cartoons, such as Phineas and Ferb.
The actress died in her sleep in her hometown of Encinitas (California).
Cloris Leachman, the versatile Oscar-winning actress whose career on stage, television and film spanned more than seven decades, has died at age 94. https://t.co/GM9OPOt2qd pic.twitter.com/q8HFVW9adF
— ABC News (@ABC) January 27, 2021