For Ed Asner, his ‘Mary Tyler Moore’ co-star Cloris Leachman was ‘always an energy source’.
The Oscar winner, who played the self-absorbed housewife Phyllis Lindstrom in the 70s series, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94.
Asner, 91, played Mary’s boss Lou Grant in the series and had a close friendship with Leachman.
“She was a treasure,” the actor told ETOnline on Thursday about his beloved friend. “The friendly woman she was. But we had a great time, and we dug into each other a lot. When we first started the show, she encouraged me not to worry about reading the cutter, the script rewind … We did it with improvisation and it worked well. ‘
CLORIS LEACHMAN: A LOOK BACK TO HER BIGGEST ROLE, FROM ‘JONG FRANKENSTEIN’ TO ‘THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW’
Actress Cloris Leachman (pictured with co-star Ed Asner) passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94.
(Photo by Ann Clifford / DMI / The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
In her lifetime, Leachman won eight Emmies and connected her to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She also received an Oscar for the 1971 film “The Last Picture Show”.
“She used what was there,” Asner said of Leachman’s unmistakable talent. “She did not cry about it. She was proud of herself and she did not like to be bound by any rules and regulations. She was a free cat. She was just amazing, an amazing actress. And she would with some come up with great ideas. ‘
“I will carry my memories to my grave,” Asner said. “I loved her. She was a sweet mom. ‘
Leachman’s most indelible role was that of Phyllis in ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’.
CLORIS LEACHMAN, legendary actress, dies at 94
Phyllis visited Mary’s apartment regularly and complained about her husband Lars and biting remarks about Mary and especially about her opponent, another tenant, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper).
Honoree Ed Asner (L) and actress Cloris Leachman attend The Humane Society Of The United States’ Los Angeles Benefit Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 16, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
(Photo by Michael Kovac / Getty Images for The Humane Society of the US)
Phyllis was so unexpectedly captivating that Leachman starred in his own spin-off series, ‘Phyllis’, which aired on CBS from 1975 to 1977.
Leachman, who began as Miss Chicago in the Miss America pageant, accepted reluctant, comic films during her reign in Hollywood.
“I really don’t care what I look like, ugly or pretty,” she told an interviewer in 1973. ‘I do not think that’s what beauty is. One day one of us will be ugly or pretty. sad I can not be the witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. ‘But I also want to be the good witch. Phyllis combines them both. ‘
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“I’m like that in life,” she continues. “I am magic, and I believe in magic. There must be a point in life when you must not believe it. I have not achieved it yet.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.