A character actor of extraordinary range, Leachman defied typecasting. In her early television career, she appeared as the mother of Timmy on the Lassie series. She played a frontier prostitute in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a crime spree family member in Crazy Mama, and Blücher in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, in which the very mention of her name made horses whinny. Her most indelible role was Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Her Emmy haul over the years totaled eight, including two trophies for Moore’s sitcom, tying her with Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the top Emmy winners among performers. She was 94.
