People named Cloris Leachman

Born to Cloris (Wallace) Leachman and Berkeley Claiborne "Buck" Leachman, Cloris had three younger sisters. Buck worked at his family's lumber mill - Leachman Lumber Company. After high school, Cloris attended Northwestern University where she was a classmate of other future comedians Paul Lynde and Charlotte Rae. While at Northwestern, she won the title of Miss Illinois and competed in the Miss America competition (1946) and then began appearing on television and in films. Moving to NYC, she studied acting at Elia Kazan's at the Actors Studio and her first appearance on Broadway was as Nellie Forbush in "South Pacific" (did you know she was a singer?). After Broadway, Cloris moved on to live television in the 1950s as well as feature films. Thus began a long and storied career. From 1953 - 1979, Cloris was married to George Englund and they had 4 sons and 1 daughter (some of whom are also in show business). When she passed, she was survived by grandchildren and 1 great-grandson. Scroll down for her obituary from the New York Times (and a picture of her in 1946 when she was Miss Chicago).

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Cloris Leachman.