Phyllis Diller

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller ABC Comedy stars composite 1966 (cropped).JPG
Diller in a 1966 publicity photo
Birth namePhyllis Ada Driver
Born(1917-07-17)July 17, 1917
Lima, Ohio, U.S.
DiedAugust 20, 2012(2012-08-20) (aged 95)
Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
MediumStand-up, film, television, books
Alma materBluffton College
Years active1941–2011
GenresInsult comedy, observational comedy, musical comedy, improvisational comedy
Subject(s)American culture, racism, self-deprecation, everyday life, religion, current events
Spouse
Sherwood Anderson Diller
​
​
(m. 1939; div. 1965)​

Warde Donovan Tatum
​
​
(m. 1965; div. 1975)​
Partner(s)Robert P. Hastings (c. 1985–1996; his death)[1]
Children6

Phyllis Ada Diller (née Driver; July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012) was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist, best known for her eccentric stage persona, self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and exaggerated, cackling laugh.

Diller was one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S., credited as an influence by Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen DeGeneres, among others.[2] She was also one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the cosmetic surgery industry.[3]

Diller contributed to more than 40 films, beginning with 1961's Splendor in the Grass. She appeared in many television series, featuring in numerous cameos as well as her own short-lived sitcom and variety show. Some of her credits include Night Gallery, The Muppet Show, The Love Boat, Cybill, and Boston Legal, plus 11 seasons of The Bold and the Beautiful. Her voice-acting roles included the monster's wife in Mad Monster Party, the Queen in A Bug's Life, Granny Neutron in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and Thelma Griffin in Family Guy.

Early life[]

Diller was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio on July 17, 1917, the only child of Perry Marcus Driver, an insurance agent, and Frances Ada (née Romshe).[4][5] She had German and Irish ancestry (the surname "Driver" had been changed from "Treiber" several generations earlier).[6] She was raised Methodist but later became an atheist.[7][8] Her father and mother were older than most when she was born (55 and 36, respectively) and Diller attended several funerals while growing up. The exposure to death at a young age led her to an early appreciation for life and she later realized that her comedy was a form of therapy.[9]

She attended Lima's Central High School and discovered she had the gift of humor early on. Although she wasn't a class clown, calling herself a "quiet and dedicated" student, she enjoyed making people laugh once school was out.[10] Diller studied piano for three years at the Sherwood Music Conservatory of Columbia College Chicago but decided against a music career and transferred to Bluffton College where she studied literature, history, psychology, and philosophy. She met Sherwood Diller at Bluffton and they married in 1939. Diller didn't finish school and was primarily a housewife, taking care of their five children (a sixth child died in infancy).[11][12]

Career[]

1950s[]

After moving to Alameda, California, Diller began working in broadcasting in 1952 at KROW radio in Oakland, California. In November of that year, she filmed several 15-minute segments for the Bay Area television series Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker—dressed in a housecoat to offer absurd "advice" to homemakers.[13] Diller also worked as a copywriter at KSFO radio in San Francisco[14] and a vocalist for a music-review TV show called Pop Club, hosted by Don Sherwood.[15][16]

With the encouragement of her husband, Diller made her debut as a stand-up comedian at age 37 in the basement of the San Francisco North Beach club, The Purple Onion, on March 7, 1955. Up until then, she had only tried out her jokes for fellow PTA moms at nearby Edison Elementary School.[17] Her first professional show was a success and the two-week booking stretched out to 89 consecutive weeks.[18] Diller had found her calling and eventual financial success while her husband's business career failed. She explained, "I became a stand-up comedienne because I had a sit-down husband."[10]

In a 1986 NPR interview, Diller said she had no idea what she was doing when she started playing clubs and in the beginning, she never saw another woman on the comedy circuit. With no female role models in a male-dominated industry, she initially used props and drew from her educational and work background as a basis for satire, spoofing classical music concerts and advice columns.[19] She wrote her own material and kept a file cabinet full of her gags, honing her nightclub act. Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, and Jonathan Winters were early influences, but Diller developed a singular comedic persona — a surreal version of femininity. This absurd caricature with garish baggy dresses and gigantic, clownish hair made fun of her lack of sex appeal while brandishing a cigarette holder (with a wooden cigarette because she didn't smoke), punctuating the humor with a hearty cackle to show she was in on the joke.[10] At the time, Diller said, "They had no idea what I was. It was like—'Get a stick and kill it before it multiplies!'"[18]

Her first national television appearance was as a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life in 1958.[20][21] Multiple bookings on the Jack Paar Tonight Show led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought her national prominence as she continued to perform stand-up throughout the U.S.[18][22]

Starting in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, she released multiple comedy albums, including the titles Wet Toe in a Hot Socket!, Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller?, and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller.[23]

1960s[]

Diller at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, 1966

In the early '60s, Diller performed at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village, where an up-and-coming Barbra Streisand was her opening act.[10] She was offered film work and became famous after co-starring with her mentor Bob Hope, who described her as "a Warhol mobile of spare parts picked up along a freeway."[24] They worked together in films such as Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Eight on the Lam, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, all critically panned, but Boy... did well at the box office. Diller accompanied Hope to Vietnam in 1966 with his USO troupe near the height of the Vietnam War.[25]

She appeared regularly as a special guest on many television programs, including What's My Line? Mystery Guests. The blindfolded panel on that evening's broadcast included Sammy Davis, Jr., and they were able to discern Diller's identity in three guesses. Diller made regular cameo appearances, making her trademark wisecracks on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Self-deprecating to a fault, a typical Diller joke had her running after a garbage truck pulling away from her curb. "Am I too late for the trash?" she'd yell. The driver's reply: "No, jump right in!" She became a semi-regular on The Hollywood Squares, starting in 1967, appearing in 28 episodes until 1980.[26]

Diller continued to work in film, making an appearance as Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in Splendor in the Grass. Throughout the 1960s, she appeared in more than a dozen, usually low-budget, films. She also began a career in voice work, providing the voice of the Monster's Mate in Mad Monster Party (1967).

Diller also starred in the short-lived TV series The Pruitts of Southampton (1966–1967); later retitled The Phyllis Diller Show, a half-hour sitcom on ABC. She received a Golden Globe nomination in 1967 for her role in Pruitts.[27] Diller hosted a variety show in 1968 titled The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show.[28]

Beginning December 26, 1969, she had a three-month run in Hello, Dolly! (opposite Richard Deacon), as the second to last in a succession of replacements for Carol Channing in the title role, which included Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, and Pearl Bailey. After Diller's stint, Ethel Merman took over the role until the end of the show's run in December 1970.[29][30][31]

1970–2012[]

Diller in 1973

Diller continued working in television throughout the '70s and '80s, appearing as a judge on premiere and subsequent episodes of The Gong Show[32] and as a panelist on the Match Game PM show.[33] She also guest-starred in The Mouse Factory, Night Gallery, Love American Style, The Muppet Show and The Love Boat. Between 1999 and 2003 she played roles in 7th Heaven and The Drew Carey Show.

Her successful career as a voice actor continued when Diller guested as herself in "A Good Medium is Rare," a 1972 episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1998, Diller provided the voice of the Queen in A Bug's Life. Among her other animated films are The Nutcracker Prince (1990, as Mousequeen), Happily Ever After (1990, as Mother Nature), and Casper's Scare School (2006, as Aunt Spitzy).[34]

She voiced characters in several television series, including Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Captain Planet, Cow and Chicken, Hey Arnold! as Arnold's grandpa's sister Mitzi, The Powerpuff Girls, Animaniacs, Jimmy Neutron as Jimmy's grandmother, The Wild Thornberrys, and King of the Hill.[34] She also played Peter Griffin's mother, Thelma, on Family Guy in 2006.

Retirement[]

Citing advanced age and a lack of "lasting energy," Diller retired from stand-up in 2002. Her final performance was at the Suncoast that year in Las Vegas, Nevada. At the time she stated, "If you can't dance to comedy, forget it. It's music."[21] The 2004 documentary Goodnight, We Love You: The Life and Legend of Phyllis Diller, directed by Gregg Barson, was shot on the night of her last performance. It follows Diller to a press conference, backstage, and into her home, to cover the story of her career. Rip Taylor, Don Rickles, Roseanne Barr, Red Buttons, Jo Anne Worley and Lily Tomlin are featured, discussing Diller's comedy legacy.[35]

Although retired from the stand-up circuit, Diller never fully left the entertainment industry. In 2005, she was featured as one of many contemporary comics in The Aristocrats. Diller, who avoided blue comedy, did a version of an old, risqué vaudeville routine, in which she describes herself passing out when she first heard the joke, forgetting the actual content of the joke.

On January 24, 2007, Diller appeared on The Tonight Show and performed stand-up before chatting with Jay Leno. Leno has stated that Diller would infrequently call him to contribute jokes during his time as the host of The Tonight Show.[36] The same year she had a cameo appearance portraying herself in an episode of Boston Legal. In 2011, she appeared in an episode of her friend Roseanne Barr's reality show Roseanne's Nuts.

In January 2012, she recorded a version of Charlie Chaplin's song "Smile" with Pink Martini's Thomas Lauderdale for the album Get Happy.[37]

Author[]

Diller in February 2007

Publishing her first best seller in 1966 and releasing more throughout the decade, Diller's books on domestic life featured her self-deprecating humor. The titles include Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, Phyllis Diller's Marriage Manual, and The Complete Mother.[18] In 1981 she published The Joys of Aging & How to Avoid Them.[10]

Her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse – My Life in Comedy, co-written with Richard Buskin, was published in 2006. In it, Diller told of an unhappy childhood with undemonstrative, emotionally withholding parents, and an equally unhappy first marriage. From these beginnings, her performing style—telling rapid-fire jokes—emerged, which she compared to music: "One joke followed the other with a flow and a rhythm. ... Everything had a natural feel to it."[14]

In the early 1990s, Diller had many short, humorous pieces published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

Musician[]

Diller had studied the piano for many years and was an accomplished player but decided against a career in music after hearing her teachers and mentors play with much more skill than she thought that she would be able to achieve. She still played in her private life, however, and owned a custom-made harpsichord.[38]

Between 1971 and 1981, Diller appeared as a piano soloist with symphony orchestras across the country under the stage name Dame Illya Dillya. Her performances were spiced with humor, but she took the music seriously. A review of one of her concerts in The San Francisco Examiner called her "a fine concert pianist with a firm touch."[39]

Artist[]

Diller, a self-taught artist, began painting in 1963. She worked in acrylics, watercolors, and oils throughout the 1970s and filled her Brentwood, California home with her portraits and still lifes. In 2003, at age 86, she held the first of several "art parties," selling her artwork along with her stage clothes and costume jewelry.[40][41]

Personal life[]

Diller credited much of her success to a motivational book, The Magic of Believing (1948) by Claude M. Bristol, which gave her confidence at the start of her career.[42] She was married and divorced twice. She had six children from her marriage with her first husband Sherwood Anderson Diller, and she outlived two of her grown children.[30]

Diller's second husband was actor Warde Donovan whom she married on October 7, 1965. She filed for divorce three months later, having found him to be bisexual and alcoholic, though they reconciled on the day before the divorce was to become final. She divorced him in 1975.[30] Robert P. Hastings was her partner from 1985 until his death on May 23, 1996.[4] In a 2000 interview, she called him the love of her life, saying that he admired her for being an independent person.[43]

The character of "Fang," the husband whom she frequently mentioned in her act, sprang from an appropriation of elements of the comic strip The Lockhorns.[44] Diller portrayed herself as a horrible cook in her stand-up routines, but she was reputed to be an excellent cook. She licensed her recipe for chili and sold it nationally as "Phyllis Diller Chili".[45] Diller candidly discussed her plastic surgery, a series of procedures first undertaken when she was 55, and she wrote that she had undergone 15 procedures.[30] Her numerous surgeries were the subject of a 20/20 segment February 12, 1993.

Illness and death[]

By 1997, as she passed her 80th birthday, Diller began to suffer from various ailments. In 1999 her heart stopped during a hospital stay. She was fitted with a pacemaker but had a bad drug reaction and became paralyzed. Through physical therapy, she was able to walk again.[43] Approaching the age of 90, Diller retired from stand-up comedy appearances.

On July 11, 2007, USA Today reported that she had fractured her back and had to cancel an appearance on The Tonight Show, during which she had planned to celebrate her 90th birthday. On May 15, 2012, Diller conducted her final interview accepting the “Lifetime Achievement” award from her hometown of Lima, Ohio, as part of a panel of comedians.[46]

Diller died at her home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on the morning of August 20, 2012, at the age of 95. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea.[47][48][49]

Influence and legacy[]

One of Diller's self-designed costumes and her pump organ at the Alameda Museum, California, 2015.

Diller was one of the first solo female comedians in the U.S. to become a household name. She stated that making people laugh is a powerful art form.[50] As a pioneering woman in the stand-up field, she inspired many female comedians including Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin,[17] Ellen DeGeneres,[51] Margaret Cho and Roseanne Barr.[52] Diller herself was influenced by comedy books and appropriated from sources like The Lockhorns.[53]

Barr, who listened to Diller's records as a child, called her a true artist and revolutionary, saying, "It was timeless, that wacky, tacky character she created; the cigarette holder was genius, paradoxically regal. She was a victorious loser hero, the female iteration of Chaplin's Little Tramp."[52]

Fellow comic Joan Rivers paid tribute to Diller's early-career woman's point-of-view, saying, "She was the first one that there was such rage and such anger in her comedy. She had the anger that is now in all of us. And that's what made it so funny because she spoke for all these women that were sitting home with five children and a husband that didn't work."[11]

Diller had a large gay following from the beginning of her career, once saying, "My first audience were gay people because they have a great sense of humor."[54] An obituary in Queerty noted her popularity with the LGBT community, calling her a "strong-willed entertainer who challenged the status quo regarding gender and sexuality." She enjoyed the company of gay men,[55] writing in her memoir, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy: "Gay men have the most wonderful sense of humor. And they are willing to laugh. They appeal to me and I appeal to them."[56]

A New York Times remembrance noted that Diller's flamboyant look is echoed in Lady Gaga concert attire and that Eddie Murphy also punctuated jokes with a loud laugh, in a style reminiscent of Diller's persona.[9]

Diller was an outspoken proponent of plastic surgery at a time when cosmetic procedures were secretive. Her public admission to having several facelifts, nose jobs and other procedures added promotional and comedic value to her act.[18] She told Bob Hope in 1971 that she had had a facelift because "I got sick and tired of having the dog drag me out to the yard and bury me."[57] The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery gave her an award for bringing plastic surgery "out of the closet."[3]

In 2003, after hearing of the donation of Archie Bunker's chair to the Smithsonian Institution, Diller opened her doors to the National Museum of American History. She offered them some of her most iconic costume pieces, as well as her gag file, a steel cabinet with 48 file drawers with more than 50,000 jokes she had written on index cards during her career. In 2011, the Albert H. Small Documents Gallery at the National Museum of American History displayed Diller's file and some of the objects that became synonymous with her comedic persona—an unkempt wig, wrist-length gloves, cloth-covered ankle boots, and a bejeweled cigarette holder.[10]

Awards and honors[]

  • Golden Apple Award for Most Cooperative Actress – 1966.
  • Laurel Award for Female New Face 11th place. – 1967.
  • Golden Globe nomination for Actress in a Television Series – The Pruitts of Southampton – 1967.[27]
  • Awarded Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Television – January 15, 1975.[58]
  • Women's International Center Living Legacy Award – 1990.[59]
  • American Comedy Award for Lifetime Achievement – 1992.[60]
  • Diller lived in St. Louis with her family from 1961 to 1965 and was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1993.[61][62]
  • Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Service Show Host – A Tribute to Bob Hope – 1998.
  • Women in Film Lucy Award, recognizing her achievements in enhancing the perception of women through the medium of television – 2000.[63]
  • San Diego Film Festival Governor's Award – 2004.[64][65]
  • Lifetime Achievement Award from hometown Lima, Ohio – 2012.[11]
  • Diller's July 17 birthday is officially "Phyllis Diller Day" in Alameda, California, where she got her start in radio and television.[17]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Splendor in the Grass Texas Guinan film debut
1966 The Fat Spy Camille Salamander
1966 Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! Lily
1967 Mad Monster Party? The Monster's Mate Voice
1967 Eight on the Lam Golda
1968 The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell Nurse Nellie Krause
1968 Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? Agatha Knabenshu
1969 The Adding Machine Mrs. Zero
1975 The Sunshine Boys Performer on Fictional Television Program Uncredited
1977 The Great Balloon Race unknown role
1979 A Pleasure Doing Business Mrs. Wildebeest
1982 Pink Motel Margaret
1988 Doctor Hackenstein Mrs. Trilling
1989 Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog Mrs. Frasco
1990 Happily Ever After Mother Nature Voice
1990 The Nutcracker Prince The Mouse Queen Voice
1991 The Boneyard Miss Poopinplatz
1991 Wisecracks Herself Documentary
1993 The Perfect Man Mother
1994 The Silence of the Hams Old Secretary
1997 Peoria Babylon Painting Owner
1998 A Bug's Life Queen Voice
1999 The Debtors unknown role
1999 The Nuttiest Nutcracker Sugar Plum Fairy Voice, Direct-to-Video
2000 Everything's Jake Victoria Pond
2002 The Last Place on Earth Mrs. Baskin
2002 Hip! Edgy! Quirky! Mrs. Higgenbothen
2004 Motocross Kids Louise
2004 West from North Goes South The Cashier
2006 Unbeatable Harold Mrs. Clancy
2006 Forget About It Mrs. Hertzberg
2008 Light of Olympia Pelops Voice
2009 The Hipsters unknown role
2009 Family Dinner Grandma Liz O'Connell Short; Uncredited

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1958 You Bet Your Life Herself (Nightclub Performer) Episode: "#8.19"
1961-1970 The Ed Sullivan Show Herself (Guest) recurring role; 6 episodes
1963-1964 What's My Line? Herself (Mystery Guest) 2 episodes
1964-1967 I've Got a Secret Herself (Guest / Panelist) 4 episodes
1964-1967 The Match Game Herself (Team Captain) recurring role; 20 episodes
1964-1971 The Bob Hope Show Herself (Guest) recurring role; 10 episodes
1965-1971 The Andy Williams Show Herself (Guest) 5 episodes
1965-1974 The Dean Martin Show Herself (Guest) recurring role; 8 episodes
1966 Batman Scrubwoman Episode: "The Minstrel's Shakedown"
uncredited
1966 The Red Skelton Hour Clara Appleby Episode: "Love at First Fright"
1966-1967 The Phyllis Diller Show Phyllisa Pruitt series regular; 30 episodes
1966-1969 The Hollywood Palace Herself (Host) recurring role; 6 episodes
1967 The Carol Burnett Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#1.6"
1967-1980 The Hollywood Squares Herself (Panelist) recurring role; 28 episodes
1968 The Red Skelton Hour Greta Gargoyle Episode: "Dial M for Moron"
1968 It Takes Two Herself Episode: "Pilot"
1968 The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show Herself (Host) 4 episodes
1968-1973 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Herself (guest) recurring role; 6 episodes
1969 The Red Skelton Hour Bobo Van Beacon Episode: "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep, Unless You're a Banana"
1969 That's Life unknown role Episode: "Chalk Can Be Sexy"
1969 Love, American Style Daphanie Daniels Episode: "Love and the Phonies"
1969 The Liberace Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#5.23.1969"
1969 Get Smart Maxwell Smart Episode: "Pheasant Under Glass" (uncredited)
1969 The Good Guys Lilli Resphighi Episode: "No Orchids for the Diner"
1970 Swing Out, Sweet Land Belva A. Lockwood Television Movie
1970 The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians Herself Voice, Television Movie
1971 Night Gallery Pamela Voice, Episode: "Pamela's Voice"
1971 Love, American Style Bella Episode: "Love and the Heist"
1971 Love, American Style Edna Episode: "Love and the Vacation"
1971 The Reel Game Herself (Celebrity Guest) Episode: "#1.18.1971"
1971 The Red Skelton Hour Herself (Killer Diller) Episode: "Sheriff Hater"
1971 The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour Herself (Guest) Episode: "#1.5"
1972 The New Scooby-Doo Movies Herself Voice, Episode: "A Good Medium Is Rare"
1973 Wait Till Your Father Gets Home Detective Phyllis Diller Voice, Episode: "The Lady Detective"
1973 Love, American Style Sally Walker Episode: "Love and the Comedienne"
1973 The Bobby Darin Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#1.10"
1974 Tattletales Herself recurring role; 11 episodes
1974 Celebrity Roast Herself Episode: "Bob Hope/Telly Savalas"
1975 Uncle Croc's Block Witchy Goo-Goo series regular; 16 episodes
1975 Celebrity Roast Herself Episode: "Lucille Ball/Jackie Gleason/Sammy Davis Jr./Michael Landon/Valerie Harper"
1976 The Gong Show Herself (Guest Judge) Episode: "Phyllis Diller"
1976 The Muppet Show Herself (Special Guest Star) Episode: "Phyllis Diller"
1977 The Bobby Vinton Show Herself (Guest) 2 episodes
1978 America 2-Night Herself (Guest) Episode: "Phyllis Diller"
1978 CHiPs Wanda Episode: "Crack-Up"
1978 Comedy Roast Herself Episode: "Jack Klugman/George Burns/Betty White"
1979 The Love Boat Viola Penny Episode: "The Scoop/The Audit Couple/My Boyfriend's Back"
1980 Password Plus Herself (Celebrity Contestant) 2 episodes
1981 Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters Herself 1 episode
1982 The Love Boat Martha Morse Episode: "The Anniversary Gift/Honey Bee Mine/Bewigged, Bothered and Bewildered"
1983 All-Star Family Feud Special Herself (Celebrity Contestant) Episode: "Richard's Rosebuds vs. Phyllis Fighters"
1984 As the World Turns Fairy Godmother Episode: "Cinderella Concert"
1984 Comedy Roast Herself Episode: "Joan Collins"
1984-1985 Body Language Herself (Panelist) recurring role; 15 episodes
1985 The Jeffersons Herself Episode: "You'll Never Get Rich"
1985 Tales from the Darkside Nora Mills Episode: "The Trouble with Mary Jane"
1985 Glitter unknown role Episode: "Rock 'n' Roll Heaven"
1987 Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge Jonathan's Mother Television Movie
1987 Alice Through the Looking Glass The White Queen Voice, Television Movie
1987-1989 Super Password Herself (Celebrity Contestant) recurring role; 25 episodes
1988 Full House Herself Episode: "But Seriously, Folks"
1988 Night Heat Mrs. Malik Episode: "Better Part of Valor"
1989 Family Feud Herself (Contestant) Episode: "The Funny Men vs.the Funny Women"
1990 227 Louanne Costello Episode: "The Class of '90"
1991 Captain Planet and the Planeteers Dr. Jane Goodair Voice, Episode: "Smog Hog"
1992 Carol: Leifer: Gaudy, Bawdy & Blue Herself Television Movie
1993 Dream On Mrs. Barish Episode: "Oral Sex, Lies and Videotape"
1993-1994 Blossom Mrs. Peterson/Herself recurring role; 4 episodes
1994 Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle unknown role Episode: "The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure"
1994 Boy Meets World Madame Ouspenkaya Episode: "Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf?"
1996 Cybill Herself Uncredited, Episode: "Romancing the Crone"
1996-2012 The Bold and the Beautiful Gladys Pope recurring role; 18 episodes, (final appearance)
1998 Animaniacs Suzy Squirrel Voice, Episode: "The Carpool/The Sunshine Squirrels"
1998 Diagnosis Murder Herself Episode: "Talked to Death"
1998-1999 Emily of New Moon Great Aunt Nancy Priest 2 episodes
1999 King of the Hill Lillian Voice, Episode: "Escape from Party Island"
1999 Cow and Chicken Red's Mom / Cop Voice, Episode: "Professor Longhorn Steer/I.M. Weasel: He Said,He Said/A Couple of Skating Fools"
1999 I Am Weasel Red's Mother Voice, Episode: "I Am Artiste"
1999 The Wild Thornberrys Samantha Voice, Episode: "Two's Company"
1999 Hey Arnold! Mitzi Voice, Episode: "Grandpa's Sister"
1999 7th Heaven Mabel Episode: "Nobody Knows"
2000 Hollywood Off-Ramp unknown role Episode: "Unfunny Girl"
2001 Arli$ Herself Episode: "As Others See Us"
2001 Kiss My Act Herself Television Movie
2001 The Test Herself (Panelist) Episode: "The Cajones Test"
2001-2002 Titus Grandma Titus 2 episodes
2002 The Drew Carey Show Bebe Episode: "Look Mom, One Hand!"
2002 Even Stevens Coach Korns Episode: "Snow Job"
2002-2003 7th Heaven Gabrielle 2 episodes
2002-2004 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Grandma Neutron Voice, 2 episodes
2002-2004 Hollywood Squares Herself (Panelist) recurring role; 30 episodes
2003 Life with Bonnie Phyllis Frost Episode: "It's a Wonderful Job"
2003 Star Dates Herself Episode: "Phyllis Diller"
2004 The Powerpuff Girls Mask Scara Voice, Episode: "A Made Up Story"
2005 Quintuplets Aunt Sylvia Episode: "Chutes and Letters"
2005 Robot Chicken Herself / Various Voice, recurring role; 3 episodes
2006 Casper's Scare School Aunt Spitzy Voice, Television Movie
2006 Robot Chicken Herself / Various Voice, Episode: "Easter Basket"
2006-2007 Family Guy Thelma Griffin Voice, 3 episodes
2007 Boston Legal Herself Episode: "Brotherly Love"
2011 Roseanne's Nuts Herself Episode: "Grannies Night Out"

References[]

  1. ^ "Robert Hastings Obituary - Los Angeles, California - Tributes.com". www.tributes.com.
  2. ^ Phyllis Diller Dies; Groundbreaking Comedian Is Dead at 95, People, Stephen M. Silverman, August 20, 2012, retrieved November 4, 2015
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Phyllis Diller Comedienne & Humanitarian, Women's International Center. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Keepnews, Peter (August 20, 2012). "Phyllis Diller, Sassy Doyenne of Rapid-Fire Comedy, Dies at 95". The New York Times.
  5. ^ The censuses from 1920 and 1930 state that the Driver family lived on West Mark Street, in Lima
  6. ^ "Genealogy of Phyllis Diller, by Rhonda R. McClure, hosted at www.genealogy.com". Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2012.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ "Roseanne Barr: 'Phyllis Diller was a genius'". Hollywood.com. August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012. Barr admits Diller never believed in God and she often joked about heaven.
  8. ^ Nachman, Gerald (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York, NY: Pantheon Books. p. 219. ISBN 9780375410307. OCLC 50339527.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Zinoman, Jason. "Phyllis Diller and Her Comic Craft," The New York Times, August 22, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "The Phyllis Diller Gag File," Smithsonian Institution – Albert H. Hall Documents Gallery. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Phyllis Diller to receive Lifetime Award from her hometown". Cleveland 19 News. May 15, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  12. ^ Ellis, Kate. "Lima's Funniest Lady: Phyllis Diller still remembered as one funny local," Archived July 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine The 419, Ohio, July 13, 2015. Retrieved on November 24, 2015.
  13. ^ "diller19Nov1952.jpg (image)". 1.bp.blogspot.com.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Stern, Jane and Michael. "'Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse': Desperate Housewife," New York Times Sunday Book Review, March 13, 2005. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  15. ^ Video on YouTube
  16. ^ Anderson, Greg (March 1, 2010). "Phyllis Diller in the News: Pyllis Diller: April 23, 1955".
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c Levaux, Janet. "Alameda: Fans organize Phyllis Diller Day on Island," Contra Costa Times, July 16, 2014. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Horowitz, Susan (1997). "Queens of Comedy: Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Joan Rivers, and the New Generation of Funny Women," pp. 46, 48. Gordon and Breach Publishers, The Netherlands. ISBN 2884492437.
  19. ^ Fresh Air Remembers Comedian Phyllis Diller, 1986 interview with Terry Gross, NPR, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  20. ^ "Phyllis Diller". IMDb.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b Weatherford, Mike. "Phyllis Diller dies at 95 in Los Angeles; final performance was in 2002 at Suncoast," Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  22. ^ Pioneers of Television – Phyllis Diller's TV Debut – PBS on YouTube
  23. ^ Phyllis Diller Records and CDs MusicStack.com
  24. ^ Coveney, Michael. "Phyllis Diller Obiturary," The Guardian August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  25. ^ Third Marine Division's Two Score and Ten History. Paducah, Ky.: Turner. 1992. p. 13. ISBN 978-1563110894.
  26. ^ Pioneers of Television – Phyllis Diller, PBS. Retrieved on November 15, 2015.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b "Phyllis Diller". www.goldenglobes.com.
  28. ^ Orenstein, Bernie, (interview). Posted 2016. "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show," Archive of American Television, emmytvlegends.org. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.
  29. ^ "Hello, Dolly! replacement cast members at IBDB". Archived from the original on October 23, 2006.
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Diller, Phyllis; Buskin, Richard (2005). Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy. New York: Penguin Group. pp. 53–69, 204–207, 210–211, 213, 224, 233, 258. ISBN 1-58542-396-3.
  31. ^ "Ethel Merman – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". www.ibdb.com.
  32. ^ Diller, Phyllis (posted June 25, 2012). "Phyllis Diller on being a celebrity judge on The Gong Show," Archive of American Television. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.
  33. ^ Sullivan, Robert Dave. (February 26, 2014). "10 Match Game episodes that hit viewers right in the blank." A.V. Club. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b Minovitz, Ethan (August 20, 2012). "Stand-up comedienne Phyllis Diller dead at 95". Big Cartoon News. Archived from the original on December 5, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  35. ^ "Goodnight, We Love You: The Life and Legend of Phyllis Diller," The New York Times. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  36. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (January 21, 2015). "Jay Leno on Bill Cosby: 'I Don't Know Why It's So Hard to Believe Women'". Variety. Retrieved February 12, 2015.
  37. ^ "Official Bio". Pink Martini. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  38. ^ Press Release. (August 21, 2013). "Property from the Estate of Phyllis Diller – The First Lady of Stand-up Comedy," Julien's Auctions. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.
  39. ^ Phyllis Diller Biography Good Night We Love You, 2005. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  40. ^ Friend, Tad. "Diller at Ninety-two," The New Yorker, January 11, 2011. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  41. ^ Ryon, Ruth. "It's Still Her Dream House," Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2002. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  42. ^ Interview with Phyllis Diller on "The Magic of Believing" by Claude M. Bristol, YouTube, November 3, 2011.
  43. ^ Jump up to: a b Phyllis Diller interview with Fred Wostbrook, Archive of American Television, March 8, 2000. Retrieved on November 5, 2015.
  44. ^ Oliar, Dotan; Sprigman, Christopher (2008). "There's No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy". Virginia Law Review. 94 (8): 1848. JSTOR 25470605. Retrieved September 16, 2020. There is also evidence in the [Diller archive…at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.] file suggesting that Diller appropriated from other sources [apart from herself and her writing team], including newspaper comic strips and comedy books. For example, a number of Diller’s jokes about her dysfunctional marriage to her fictional husband ‘Fang’ appear to have been inspired by a comic strip, ‘The Lockhorns,’ that Diller followed obsessively over the course of nearly a decade. The Diller joke files contain hundreds of ‘Lockhorns’ panels cut out of newspapers and mounted on index cards.
  45. ^ "Phyllis Diller gets the last laugh". EW.com.
  46. ^ McGlynn, Katla. (May 25, 2011). "Anderson Cooper: 'Queens Of Comedy' Kathy Griffin, Joy Behar, Phyllis Diller & Joan Rivers Talk Betty White, OWN & More," The Huffington Post. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.
  47. ^ Severo, Richard; Keepnews, Peter (August 20, 2012). "Laughs Were on Her, by Design". The New York Times.
  48. ^ Buerger, Megan (August 20, 2012). "Phyllis Diller, comedian, dies at 95". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  49. ^ Duke, Alan (August 22, 2012). "Comedian Phyllis Diller dies 'with a smile on her face'". CNN. Retrieved November 14, 2012.
  50. ^ Donnelly, Liza. "The Power Of Comedy And Phyllis Diller," Forbes, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  51. ^ Pioneers of Television – Phyllis Diller, PBS. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  52. ^ Jump up to: a b Barr, Roseanne. "Roseanne Barr Hails the Comedic Genius of Phyllis Diller," The Daily Beast, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  53. ^ Oliar, Dotan; Sprigman, Christopher (2008). "There's No Free Laugh (Anymore): The Emergence of Intellectual Property Norms and the Transformation of Stand-Up Comedy". Virginia Law Review. 94 (8): 1848. JSTOR 25470605. Retrieved September 16, 2020. There is also evidence in the [Diller archive…at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.] file suggesting that Diller appropriated from other sources [apart from self-creation or using her writing team], including newspaper comic strips and comedy books. For example, a number of Diller's jokes about her dysfunctional marriage to her fictional husband 'Fang' appear to have been inspired by a comic strip, 'The Lockhorns,' that Diller followed obsessively over the course of nearly a decade. The Diller joke files contain hundreds of 'Lockhorns' panels cut out of newspapers and mounted on index cards.
  54. ^ Hernandez, Greg. "Gays mourn the passing of legendary comic Phyllis Diller at age of 95," GayStarNews, August 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  55. ^ Karpel, Ari. "Ladies We Love: Phyllis Diller, Out, March 18, 2011. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  56. ^ "Comedy Legend Phyllis Diller Dead at 95," Queerty, August 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
  57. ^ Gilbert, Joanne R. (2004). "Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender, and Cultural Critique," p. 118. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI. ISBN 0814328032.
  58. ^ Phyllis Diller Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  59. ^ Phyllis Diller Biography, WIC.
  60. ^ Phyllis Diller – American comedienne and actress Encyclopædia Britannica.
  61. ^ "The Webster Groves housewife who made us all laugh," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 4, 2015.
  62. ^ "Phyllis Diller". St. Louis Walk of Fame. Archived from the original on August 23, 2012. Retrieved April 25, 2013.
  63. ^ "Past Recipients". Women in Film Los Angeles. Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  64. ^ "San Diego Film Festival". cinema.com.
  65. ^ "Award Winners". August 28, 2010. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved September 23, 2019.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""