Cloris Leachman, a legendary actress, set a record by appearing on Dancing with the Stars at the age of 82.
Born on April 30, 1926, in Des Moines, Iowa, to Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman and Cloris Wallace, she was of Czech and English descent.
After graduating from high school, Leachman attended Illinois State University and Northwestern University, where she majored in drama.
She won the title of Miss Chicago 1946 and acted with the Des Moines Playhouse before moving to New York.
Leachman made her credited debut in 1948 and appeared in many television anthologies and series before becoming a regular on The Bob & Ray Show in 1952.
Her movie debut was memorable, playing Christina Bailey in Robert Aldrich's classic noir Kiss Me Deadly in 1955.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Leachman remained a television actress, appearing in only two movies during the latter decade.
She won an Oscar for Peter Bogdanovich's adaptation of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show in 1971 and appeared in three Mel Brooks movies.
Leachman was nominated five times for an Emmy Award playing Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis.
She won twice as Best Supporting Actress in a comedy and won a Golden Globe Award as a leading performer in comedy.
Leachman also won two Emmy Awards as a supporting player for Malcolm in the Middle in 2000.
She was married to director-producer George Englund from 1953 to 1979 and had five children together.
Cloris Leachman died of natural causes on January 27, 2021, in Encinitas, California.
