Actress Cloris Leachman, Who Played Both Silly And Serious, Dies At 94

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Cloris Leachman, pictured in 1974, seemed game for anything, from playing a creepy housekeeper in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein to competing on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars.

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George Brich/AP

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Leachman (center) may be best remembered for playing kooky landlady Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Here, she appears in a scene with Mary Tyler Moore (left) and Valerie Harper.

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In 2008, Leachman told The New York Times, «I’m just a simple person, with a silly bone.»

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI

In 2008, Leachman told The New York Times, «I’m just a simple person, with a silly bone.»

Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI

The actress seemed game for anything, from playing a creepy housekeeper in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein to competing on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars at the age of 82. «I don’t want to prove anything,» she told one of that show’s dance instructors. «I just want to be the best jive dancer I can be.»

Leachman made a point of saying she wanted to reach people through the characters she played — but she wasn’t necessarily like those characters. In 2008, she told The New York Times, «If I were to do some outlandish role, I always made sure I’d be on Johnny Carson to show that I wasn’t that person that I played. I’d be myself. And so people got to know me, I think, and I think they know that I’m honest and truthful and real. … I’m just a simple person, with a silly bone.»

She was silly, serious, hard-working and had a very, very long career — all qualities that helped make her one of Hollywood’s most decorated and versatile performers.

Editor Ted Robbins and digital producer Nicole Cohen contributed to this report.