Some celebrity deaths hit you harder than others. Sometimes it is because you feel a personal connection or great admiration for them as a person. Sometimes you were just hoping to see them soon in another movie or TV show. It was the last mentioned reason when I heard today that Cloris Leachman had passed away.
I loved Leachman as Phyllis, first on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, then on her spin off. To this day, I know all the words to the theme song of the latter.
It was in the ’90’s that I heard Leachman was doing a one-woman show about Grandma Moses. Steven and I would have loved to have seen that but did not get the chance.
Of course one of Leachman’s finest performances is as Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein. I did an homage to her in a murder mystery once with the line, “Say it! He! Was! My! Boyfriend!”
I say, thanks for the laughs, Ms. Leachman. Rest in peace.
Mohawk Valley Girl 