VIDEO: Recap the Stage and Screen Career of Cloris Leachman
The late Leachman appears in LGBTQ drama Jump, Darling- now streaming!
By: Nicole Rosky May. 17, 2022
Just last year, the world lost a stage and screen legend in Cloris Leachman. With a career spanning more than seven decades, eight Primetime Emmy Awards, an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award, one of her final roles is in LGBTQ drama Jump, Darling.
Jump, Darling is available now on DVD and VOD, Digital from Breaking Glass Pictures. Watch the film here: https://linktr.ee/jumpdarling
Before you watch, catch up on her epic career on stage and screen below!
Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Leachman attended Northwestern University and studied acting under under Elia Kazan at The Actors Studio in New York City. Before she catapulted to stardom on screen, Leachman enjoyed a career onstage in the 1940s and 50s.
Most notably, she replaced Martha Wright in the original production of South Pacific on Broadway. She also appeared in: Happy Birthday, John Loves Mary, Sundown Beach, As You Like It, A Story for a Sunday Evening, Lo and Behold!, Dear Barbarians, Sunday Breakfast, King of Hearts, a Touch of the Poet, Masquerade. Below, she channels her musical theatre roots to perform a song from Guys and Dolls:
Her many early television appearances include Rawhide, The Twilight Zone, Lassie, Gunsmoke, and One Step Beyond- in which she played an American photographer living in Paris:
On the big screen, Leachman appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show in 1971 as the neglected wife of a closeted schoolteacher in the 1950s. For her performance, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
She is also known for her work with Mel Brooks, appearing in comedic roles such as Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein and Madame Defarge in History of the World, Part I:
Leachman played recurring character Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. A spinoff series, Phyllis, ran from 1975 through 1977 and earned her a Golden Globe Award:
She joined the parade of stars to appear on The Muppet Show in 1977:
One of her final leading performances is in the LGBTQ drama Jump, Darling alongside newcomer Thomas Duplessie, Jayne Eastwood, and Linda Kash. Directed by Phil Connell, Jump, Darling follows a rookie drag queen who, reeling from a breakup, decides to escape o the country, where he finds his grandmother in steep decline yet desperate to avoid the local nursing home.
Jump, Darling is available now on DVD and VOD, Digital from Breaking Glass Pictures. Watch the film here: https://linktr.ee/jumpdarling
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