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Phyllis Diller

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox comedian

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 United States, credited as an influence by Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr and Ellen DeGeneres, among others.<ref name="people">Phyllis Diller Dies; Groundbreaking Comedian Is Dead at 95, People, Stephen M. Silverman, August 20, 2012, retrieved November 4, 2015</ref> She had a large gay following.<ref name="queerty"/> She was also one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the cosmetic surgery industry.<ref name="plastic"/>

Diller contributed to more than 40 films, beginning with Splendor in the Grass (1961). 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, CHiPs, 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 lifeEdit

Diller was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio on July 17, 1917, the only child of Perry Marcus Driver,<ref name="famousfolks/phyllisd"/> an insurance agent, and Frances Ada (née Romshe).<ref name="famousfolks/phyllisd"/><ref name=nytimes>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>The censuses from 1920 and 1930 state that the Driver family lived on West Mark Street, in Lima</ref> She had German and Irish ancestry (the surname "Driver" had been changed from "Treiber" several generations earlier).<ref name="famousfolks/phyllisd">

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</ref> She was raised Methodist but was a lifelong atheist, even in childhood.<ref>"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.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=lampshade2005>Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name=zinoman2012>Zinoman, Jason. "Phyllis Diller and Her Comic Craft," The New York Times, August 22, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref>

Diller attended Lima's Central High School, discovering early on she had comic gifts. Later, Diller observed, "I was always a pro— even as a little tiny kid. I was an absolutely perfect, quiet, dedicated student in class. But outside of class, I got my laughs."<ref name=Smithsonian2015>"The Phyllis Diller Gag File," Smithsonian Institution – Albert H. Hall Documents Gallery. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> Diller studied piano for three<ref name="interviews.televisionacademy/diller-95">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> years at the Sherwood Music Conservatory of Columbia College Chicago, 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, and transferred to Bluffton College where she studied literature, history, psychology and philosophy.

CareerEdit

1930s–1950sEdit

In 1939, she met Sherwood Diller, the brother of a classmate at Bluffton,<ref name="interviews.televisionacademy/diller-95" /> and they eloped,<ref name="latimes/2012-aug-21-la-me-diller"/> marrying in Bluffton on November 4, 1939.<ref name="famousfolks/phyllisd"/> Diller did not finish college and was primarily a homemaker, taking care of their five children (a sixth child died in infancy).<ref name="famousfolks/phyllisd"/><ref name=cleveland2012>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Ellis, Kate. "Lima's Funniest Lady: Phyllis Diller still remembered as one funny local," Template:Webarchive The 419, Ohio, July 13, 2015. Retrieved on November 24, 2015.</ref>

During World War II, Sherwood worked at the Willow Run B-24 Bomber Plant, in Ypsilanti Charter Township, Michigan.<ref name="latimes/2012-aug-21-la-me-diller">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1945, Sherwood Diller was transferred to Naval Air Station Alameda<ref name="vpnavy/nats_history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Alameda, California,<ref name="mercurynews/alameda-hello-new">Template:Cite news</ref> where he was an inspector.<ref name="Nachman/Comedians-1950s-1960s">Template:Cite book</ref>

Diller began working as the women's editor at a small newspaper,<ref name="smh.au/20120821-24kew"/> and as an advertising copywriter for an Oakland department store.<ref name="mercurynews/alameda-hello-new"/>

In 1952, Diller began working in broadcasting at KROW radio in Oakland, California. In November of that year, she filmed several 15-minute episodes of Phyllis Dillis, the Homely Friendmaker—dressed in a housecoat to offer absurd "advice" to homemakers.<ref name="tralfaz/mrs-fang">

|CitationClass=web }} </ref> The 15-minute series was a Bay Area Radio-Television production, directed for television by ABC's Jim Baker.<ref name="nypl/research/b15454072">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="tralfaz/mrs-fang"/> Diller also worked as a copywriter, later, director of promotion and marketing,<ref name="latimes/2012-aug-21-la-me-diller"/> at KSFO radio in San Francisco<ref name=Stern2005>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.</ref> and a vocalist for a music-review TV show called Pop Club, hosted by Don Sherwood.<ref name="YouTube=8xNgmaKBVyE">Template:YouTube</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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At age 37, on March 7, 1955, at the North Beach, San Francisco basement club,<ref name="alexhaley/phyllis-diller">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Purple Onion, she made her professional stand-up debut.<ref name="smh.au/20120821-24kew">Template:Cite news</ref> Up until then, she had only tried out her jokes for fellow PTA members at nearby Edison Elementary School.<ref name=levaux2014>Levaux, Janet. "Alameda: Fans organize Phyllis Diller Day on Island," Contra Costa Times, July 16, 2014. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> Maya Angelou, who was already performing at the club, wrote that Diller "would not change her name because when she became successful she wanted everyone to know it was, indeed, her herself".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Her first professional show was a success and the two-week booking stretched out to a record<ref name="latimes/2012-aug-21-la-me-diller"/> 89 consecutive weeks.<ref name=Horowitz1997>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. Template:ISBN.</ref> Diller had found her calling and eventual financial success while her husband's business career failed. She explained, "I became a stand-up comedian because I had a sit-down husband."<ref name=Smithsonian2015 />

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.<ref name=FreshAir2012>Fresh Air Remembers Comedian Phyllis Diller, 1986 interview with Terry Gross, NPR, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> 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.<ref name=Smithsonian2015 /> At the time, Diller said, "They had no idea what I was. It was like—'Get a stick and kill it before it multiplies!'"<ref name=Horowitz1997 />

Her first national television appearance was as a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life in 1958.<ref name=Weatherford2012>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.</ref> 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 United States.<ref name=Horowitz1997 /><ref>Template:YouTube</ref>

Starting in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, she released multiple comedy albums, including the titles Wet Toe in a Hot Socket!, Laughs, Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller?, and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller.<ref>Phyllis Diller Records and CDs MusicStack.com</ref>

1960sEdit

File:Comedienne Phyllis Diller smiles for the camera as the Bob Hope Christmas show arrives at Korat Air Base, Thailand... - NARA - 542302.jpg
Diller at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, 1966

From 1961 to 1965, Phyllis Diller lived in Webster Groves, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis.<ref name="stlmag/St-Louis-Homes-Phyllis-Diller">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="stltoday/obituaries/the-webster-groves-housewife">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="stltoday/1966-phyllis-diller-carries-on">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="timesnewspapers/diller-1917-2012">Template:Cite news</ref> Several of her children had stayed with Sherwood's relatives in St. Louis, and the oldest, Peter, attended Washington University.<ref name="stltoday/obituaries/the-webster-groves-housewife"/>

In the early 1960s, Diller performed at the Bon Soir in Greenwich Village, where an up-and-coming Barbra Streisand was her opening act.<ref name=Smithsonian2015 /> 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."<ref>Coveney, Michael. "Phyllis Diller Obiturary," The Guardian August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> They worked together in films such as Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), Eight on the Lam (1967), and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968), 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

She appeared regularly as a special guest on many television programs including The Andy Williams Show. She was a Mystery Guest on What's My Line? but the blindfolded panel (including Sammy Davis Jr.) discerned Diller's identity in three guesses. Diller made regular cameo appearances, making her trademark wisecracks on Rowan & 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 would 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.<ref>Pioneers of Television – Phyllis Diller, PBS. Retrieved on November 15, 2015.</ref>

Diller continued to work in film, making an appearance as Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in Splendor in the Grass (1961). 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 television 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.<ref name="Golden Globe Awards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Diller hosted a variety show in 1968 titled The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show.<ref>Orenstein, Bernie, (interview). Posted 2016. "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show," Archive of American Television, emmytvlegends.org. Retrieved on March 1, 2017.</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=lampshade2005>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1970–2012Edit

File:Phyllis Diller Allan Warren.jpg
Diller in 1973

Diller continued working in television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a judge on premiere and subsequent episodes of The Gong Show<ref>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.</ref> and as a panelist on the Match Game PM show.<ref>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.</ref> She also guest-starred in The Mouse Factory, Night Gallery, Love American Style, The Muppet Show, CHiPs and The Love Boat. In 1978, she hosted a Showtime comedy special which featured Robin Tyler, who became the first out lesbian on U.S. national television.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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).<ref name=cartoon>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name=cartoon /> She also played Peter Griffin's mother, Thelma, on Family Guy in 2006.

RetirementEdit

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."<ref name=Weatherford2012 /> 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.<ref>"Goodnight, We Love You: The Life and Legend of Phyllis Diller," The New York Times. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref>

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 documentary 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Pink Martini">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

AuthorEdit

File:Phyllis diller 2-25-2007.jpg
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.<ref name=Horowitz1997 /> In 1981, she published The Joys of Aging & How to Avoid Them.<ref name=Smithsonian2015 />

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."<ref name=Stern2005 />

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

MusicianEdit

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.<ref>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.</ref>

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."<ref>Phyllis Diller Biography Good Night We Love You, 2005. Retrieved November 2, 2015.</ref>

ArtistEdit

A self-taught artist, Diller 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.<ref>Friend, Tad. "Diller at Ninety-two," The New Yorker, January 11, 2011. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref><ref>Ryon, Ruth. "It's Still Her Dream House," Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2002. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Diller credited much of her success to a motivational book, The Magic of Believing<ref name="google/books=V6hKpG7efVQC">Template:Cite book</ref> (1948) by Claude M. Bristol, which gave her confidence at the start of her career.<ref name="legacy/159314611">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="stltoday/obituaries/the-webster-groves-housewife"/><ref>Interview with Phyllis Diller on "The Magic of Believing" by Claude M. Bristol, YouTube, November 3, 2011.</ref> 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.<ref name=lampshade2005 />

Diller's second husband was actor Warde Donovan, whom she married on October 7, 1965. She filed for divorce three months later, after discovering Donovan was bisexual and an alcoholic, but they reconciled on the day before the divorce was to become final. The couple divorced in 1975.<ref name=lampshade2005 /> Robert P. Hastings was her partner from 1985 until his death on May 23, 1996.<ref name="nytimes"/> In a 2000 interview, she called him the love of her life, saying that he admired her for being an independent person.<ref name=archive2000>Phyllis Diller interview with Fred Wostbrook, Archive of American Television, March 8, 2000. Retrieved on November 5, 2015.</ref> 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.<ref name="fang"/>

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".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name=lampshade2005 /> Her numerous surgeries were the subject of a 20/20 segment on February 12, 1993.

Illness and deathEdit

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.<ref name=archive2000 /> Approaching age 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.<ref>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.</ref>

Diller died at home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on August 20, 2012, at age 95, from heart failure. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=dillerdeathpost>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Influence and legacyEdit

File:Phyllis Diller stage costume and pump organ at the Alameda Museum, California.jpg
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.<ref>Donnelly, Liza. "The Power Of Comedy And Phyllis Diller," Forbes, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> As a pioneering woman in the stand-up field, she inspired many female comedians including Joan Rivers, Lily Tomlin,<ref name=levaux2014 /> Ellen DeGeneres,<ref>Pioneers of Television – Phyllis Diller, PBS. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> Margaret Cho and Roseanne Barr.<ref name=barr2012>Barr, Roseanne. "Roseanne Barr Hails the Comedic Genius of Phyllis Diller," The Daily Beast, August 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> Diller herself was influenced by comedy books and appropriated from sources like The Lockhorns.<ref name=fang>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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."<ref name=barr2012 />

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."<ref name=cleveland2012 />

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."<ref>Hernandez, Greg. "Gays mourn the passing of legendary comic Phyllis Diller at age of 95," GayStarNews, August 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015. Archived.</ref> An obituary in Queerty noted her popularity with gay audiences calling her a "strong-willed entertainer who challenged the status quo regarding gender and sexuality." She enjoyed the company of gay men,<ref>Karpel, Ari. "Ladies We Love: Phyllis Diller, Out, March 18, 2011. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> 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."<ref name="queerty">"Comedy Legend Phyllis Diller Dead at 95," Queerty, August 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref> In 2021, Ginger Minj portrayed Diller in the Snatch Game of Love on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

A New York Times remembrance noted that Diller's flamboyant look is echoed in Lady Gaga's concert attire and that Eddie Murphy also punctuated jokes with a loud laugh, in a style reminiscent of Diller's persona.<ref name=zinoman2012 />

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.<ref name=Horowitz1997 /> 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."<ref>Gilbert, Joanne R. (2004). "Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender, and Cultural Critique," p. 118. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI. Template:ISBN.</ref> The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery gave her an award for bringing plastic surgery "out of the closet."<ref name="plastic">Phyllis Diller Comedienne & Humanitarian, Women's International Center. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.</ref>

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.<ref name=Smithsonian2015 />

Awards and honorsEdit

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  • 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Scripps Howard MVP Award - 2009
  • Lifetime Achievement Award from hometown Lima, Ohio – 2012.<ref name="cleveland2012" />
  • Diller's July 17 birthday is officially "Phyllis Diller Day" in Alameda, California, where she got her start in radio and television.<ref name=levaux2014 />
  • Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters from Kent State />
  • Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters from National Christian University />
  • Honorary Doctorate degree in Humane Letters from Bluffton College />

FilmographyEdit

FilmEdit

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Splendor in the Grass Texas Guinan film debut
1966 The Fat Spy Camille Salamander
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! Lily
1967 Mad Monster Party? The Monster's Mate Voice
Eight on the Lam Golda
1968 The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell Nurse Nellie Krause
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
Happily Ever After Mother Nature Voice
1990 The Nutcracker Prince The Mouse Queen Voice
1991 The Boneyard Miss Poopinplatz
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
The Nuttiest Nutcracker Sugar Plum Fairy Voice, Direct-to-Video
2000 Everything's Jake Victoria Pond
2002 The Last Place on Earth Mrs. Baskin
Hip! Edgy! Quirky! Mrs. Higgenbothen
2004 Motocross Kids Louise
West from North Goes South The Cashier
2005 The Aristocrats Herself
2006 Unbeatable Harold Mrs. Clancy
Forget About It Mrs. Hertzberg
2008 Light of Olympia Pelops Voice
2009 The Hipsters unknown role
Family Dinner Grandma Liz O'Connell Short; Uncredited

TelevisionEdit

Year Title Role Notes
1958 You Bet Your Life Herself (Nightclub Performer) Episode: "#8.19"
1961-1970 The Ed Sullivan Show Herself (Guest) 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
Match Game Herself (Team Captain) 20 episodes
1964-1971 The Bob Hope Show Herself (Guest) 10 episodes
1965-1971 The Andy Williams Show Herself (Guest) 5 episodes
1965-1974 The Dean Martin Show Herself (Guest) 8 episodes
1966 Batman Scrubwoman Episode: "The Minstrel's Shakedown"
uncredited
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) 6 episodes
1967 The Carol Burnett Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#1.6"
1967-1980 The Hollywood Squares Herself (Panelist) 28 episodes
1968 The Red Skelton Hour Greta Gargoyle Episode: "Dial M for Moron"
It Takes Two Herself Episode: "Pilot"
The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show Herself (Host) 4 episodes
1968-1973 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In Herself (guest) 6 episodes
1969 The Red Skelton Hour Bobo Van Beacon Episode: "Beauty Is Only Skin Deep, Unless You're a Banana"
That's Life unknown role Episode: "Chalk Can Be Sexy"
Love, American Style Daphanie Daniels Episode: "Love and the Phonies"
The Liberace Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#5.23.1969"
Get Smart Maxwell Smart Episode: "Pheasant Under Glass" (uncredited)
The Good Guys Lilli Resphighi Episode: "No Orchids for the Diner"
1970 Swing Out, Sweet Land Belva A. Lockwood Television Movie
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians Herself Voice, Television Movie
1971 Night Gallery Pamela Voice, episode: "Pamela's Voice"
Love, American Style Bella Episode: "Love and the Heist"
Love, American Style Edna Episode: "Love and the Vacation"
The Reel Game Herself (Celebrity Guest) Episode: "#1.18.1971"
The Red Skelton Hour Herself (Killer Diller) Episode: "Sheriff Hater"
The Sonny & 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"
Love, American Style Sally Walker Episode: "Love and the Comedienne"
The Bobby Darin Show Herself (Guest) Episode: "#1.10"
1974 Tattletales Herself 11 episodes
Celebrity Roast Herself Episode: "Bob Hope/Telly Savalas"
1975 Uncle Croc's Block Witchy Goo-Goo Series regular; 16 episodes
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"
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"
CHiPs Wanda Episode: "Crack-Up"
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"
Madame's Place Herself Episode: "But Please, No Jokes"
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"
Comedy Roast Herself Episode: "Joan Collins"
1984-1985 Body Language Herself (Panelist) 15 episodes
1985 The Jeffersons Herself Episode: "You'll Never Get Rich"
Tales from the Darkside Nora Mills Episode: "The Trouble with Mary Jane"
Glitter unknown role Episode: "Rock 'n' Roll Heaven"
1987 Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge Jonathan's Mother Television film
Alice Through the Looking Glass The White Queen Voice, television film
1987-1989 Super Password Herself (Celebrity Contestant) 25 episodes
1988 Full House Herself Episode: "But Seriously, Folks"
Night Heat Mrs. Malik Episode: "Better Part of Valor"
1989 Family Feud Herself (Contestant) Episode: "The Funny Men vs.the Funny Women"
Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration Herself Television film
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 film
1993 Dream On Mrs. Barish Episode: "Oral Sex, Lies and Videotape"
1993-1994 Blossom Mrs. Peterson/Herself 4 episodes
1994 Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle unknown role Episode: "The Never-Want-To-Go-To-Bedders Cure"
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 Sunshine Squirrels"
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"
Cow and Chicken Red's Mom / Cop Voice, episode: "Professor Longhorn Steer/I.M. Weasel: He Said, He Said/A Couple of Skating Fools"
I Am Weasel Red's Mother Voice, episode: "I Am Artiste"
The Wild Thornberrys Samantha Voice, episode: "Two's Company"
Hey Arnold! Mitzi Voice, episode: "Grandpa's Sister"
7th Heaven Mabel Episode: "Nobody Knows"
2000 Hollywood Off-Ramp unknown role Episode: "Unfunny Girl"
2001 Arli$ Herself Episode: "As Others See Us"
Kiss My Act Herself Television film
The Test Herself (Panelist) Episode: "The Cajones Test"
2001-2002 Titus Grandma Titus 2 episodes ("Grandma Titus" and "Houseboat")
2002 The Drew Carey Show Bebe Episode: "Look Mom, One Hand!"
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
Hollywood Squares Herself (Panelist) recurring role; 30 episodes
2003 Life with Bonnie Phyllis Frost Episode: "It's a Wonderful Job"
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"
Robot Chicken Herself / Various Voice, recurring role; 3 episodes
2006 Casper's Scare School Aunt Spitzy Voice, Television film
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"

Music videosEdit

Year Title Artist(s) Role Template:Abbr
2001 "Love You Madly" Cake Herself <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Video gamesEdit

Year Title Voice
1996 You Don't Know Jack Volume 2 Herself

DiscographyEdit

AlbumsEdit

Year Title Label Format Notes
1959 Wet Toe in a Hot Socket Mirrosonic/London/Hallmark vinyl/CD with The Three Flames at the Bon Soir, CD reissued 2016
1961 Laughs Verve vinyl at the Bon Soir NY March 1961
1962 Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller? Verve vinyl produced by Jim Davis
1968 Born to Sing Columbia vinyl/streaming produced by David Rubinson
2001 Live From San Francisco Laugh.com CD/streaming recorded 2000
2009 On Comedy Laugh.com CD/streaming interviewed by Kelly Carlin

CompilationsEdit

Year Title Label Format Notes
1964 Great Moments of Comedy Verve vinyl Celebrity Series
1967 The Best of Phyllis Diller Verve/Laugh.com vinyl/CD/streaming CD reissued 2002
1968 The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Verve vinyl/streaming Celebrity Series, photography by Roddy McDowall
1968 What's Left Verve vinyl/CD Celebrity Series

Home videosEdit

Year Title Studio Format
1977 On Location with Phyllis Diller HBO/Standing Room Only broadcast / DVD 2006
1987 How to Have a Moneymaking Garage Sale J2 Communications VHS
2001 Live in Concert Laugh.com DVD
2004 Goodnight, We Love You: The Life and Legend of Phyllis Diller Mansfield Avenue Productions/Image Entertainment theatrical / DVD 2006
2007 Not Just Another Pretty Face MPI Media Group DVD / streaming

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Video
Audio

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