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Phyllis and Rhoda reunite as Cloris Leachman is inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame

It’s been more than 25 years since Mary Tyler Moore was inducted into the Television Academy’s Hall of Fame so it was high time that the woman who played her landlady Phyllis Lindstrom on her classic sitcom should finally be inducted too!
That woman, of course, is the one and only Cloris Leachman who won one of her NINE Emmys for her portrayal of the self-absorbed and annoying Phyllis. Miss Leachman had just won an Oscar for her role in The Last Picture Show when she began appearing on Mary’s sitcom.
One of her funniest lines – among many – came in the pilot when her daughter Bess blurts out the big news that Mary’s old boyfriend was in town and coming to see her. Cloris, as Phyllis, was clearly pained as she said: “That was mother’s news Bess … that really was mother’s news.”
It told all we needed to know about Phyllis right there and then.
[An anecdote: At the premiere of Pirates of the Carribean 3 held at Disneyland, my niece and I were assigned to seats in the bleachers right next to Miss Leachman and her granddaughter and it was great. My fondest memory of the night was doing her "That was mother's news Bess" line and having her let out a loud cackle when I did it. I had made this comedy genius laugh!]
Anyway, Cloris went on to star in her own series Phyllis for a few seasons, replaced Charlotte Rae in the later seasons of The Facts of Life, had memorable roles in the Mel Brooks’ films as Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety and was nominated for a SAG Award for her terrific performance in Spanglish starring Adam Sandler.
Now 84, she has not slowed down winning two Emmys for playing Grandma Ida in Malcolm in the Middle, being a contestant in Dancing With the Stars and currently in the new Fox comedy hit Raising Hope.
Valerie Harper, whose character of Rhoda was Phyllis’s nemesis on The Mary Tyler Moore Show,was on hand to take part in honoring her former co-star and longtime friend.
Also honored at last night’s ceremony at the Beverly Hills Hotel were Diahann Carroll, Golden Girls creator Susan Harris, cable executive Tom Freston, and posthumously inducted anchorman Peter Jennings, game show producer Bill Todman, and composer Earle Hagen.
Congratulations to one of the all-time greats!
FILE UNDER: Awards

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