Thursday, January 28, 2021

ululate!

Legendary actress Cloris Leachman has died.  She was 94.  I'll let Wikipedia do the talking:

Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 26/27, 2021) was an American actress and comedienne whose career spanned more than seven decades. She won many 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. She won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.

gorgeous in 1970

You don't live to be 94 without amassing an enormous filmography.  Leachman's résumé could go on for pages.  I remember her best for her comic roles in History of the World: Part I, Young Frankenstein, and for her absolutely gut-busting turn as the S&M-loving Nurse Diesel in High Anxiety.  (She and Harvey Korman stole the show, as far as I'm concerned.)

The last role of hers that I saw was in Season 2 of American Gods, where she played the role of an old Slavic deity named Zorya Vechernyaya, goddess of the evening, and one of three cosmic sisters.  I recall being shocked, while watching American Gods, to discover that Leachman was still alive and active; somehow, I'd gotten it into my head that she had passed years ago.

For certain, Leachman had presence.  She was great with foreign accents, great at disappearing into all manner of esoteric characters, and gifted with a marvelous sense of humor and comic timing.  I'm sad to know she's gone, and but thankful she graced us with her presence for as long as she did.

RIP, Cloris Leachman.  Flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.





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