Cloris Leachman: Still Crazy After All These Years

Back in 2002, I attended the Emmys for the first time, courtesy of Frank and The Daily Show. As we entered the security screening area at the Shrine Auditorium, I noticed the woman in front of me in line, in a flowing red dress. Looking way younger than her then 76 years, it was Cloris Leachman.

In 2004, I got to go to the Emmys again -- held on my birthday -- courtesy of TV Guide. As I sat inside the magazine's party, I watched coverage on the video monitors inside of party arrivals in front of the magazine's red carpet backdrop. Cloris Leachman looked fabulous. "She's 78 and has the legs of a showgirl," I remember saying to someone, who undoubtedly took me for the gayest person ever. Knowing I should quit before they take me to be too much of a gerontophile (this was 2 years before my Golden Girls book came out!), I stopped myself before revealing my knowledge that Cloris was, after all, a former Miss Chicago.

In the fall of 2006, I finally had the opportunity to meet Cloris; we were scheduled to do a long-form interview together, face to face, at a hotel in Los Angeles. Of course, Cloris has been an icon for so long, there was so much I wanted to talk about. Where to begin? Her Oscar win for 1971's The Last Picture Show? Her iconic sitcom role as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and her own spinoff, Phyllis? Her absolutely brilliant comedic roles in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety, the latter of which, Nurse Diesel, Frank and I still imitate on an almost daily basis?

And then there are the campier pleasures: playing Ellen's mom on her second sitcom on CBS, or Beverly on The Facts of Life, or undead secretary Ellen Blunt in the cheesy telefilm Haunts of the Very Rich. And then there was Grandma Ida on Malcolm in the Middle, a role that earned Cloris her eighth primetime Emmy, setting a new record for the most wins.

Unfortunately, there wasn't time for most of that. Not just because Cloris has had such an amazing, long career -- but because when the woman finally showed up, she was almost four hours late. She was barefoot. And she was, even in person, the way she has appeared recently on TV: wacky, fun, jumpy and downright crazy.

It's obviously working. Cloris is everywhere lately. On Oprah's MTM show reunion (where she practically couch-jumped a la Tom Cruise and threatened to steal the show). In the just-released remake of The Women. In a filthy-mouthed appearance on the Comedy Central roast of Bob Saget, where her quip "For the love of God, would somebody please punch me in the face so I can see some stars" landed her in Entertainment Weekly's Sound Bites column.



At 82, is anyone else -- other than Cloris' former MTM costar, 86-year-old Betty White -- more gainfully employed in Hollywood? And does anyone else look as good as Cloris does, in the below clip from last night's Dancing with the Stars? Heck, would any other octogenarian even get cast on a show where one might be in danger of breaking a hip -- and then go on, as in the clip below, to attempt to sway the judges with an upraised leg or some down-tilted cleavage?



Cloris, I love you. Stay crazy!

The Women take Manhattan

As she introduced The Women last night at its New York premiere screening at the AMC Loews Theater at 19th St. & Broadway, the film's writer/director Diane English revealed that the film we were about to see had been 14 years in the making. That means that English first launched her dream project back in 1994, while in the midst of running her iconic sitcom, CBS' Murphy Brown.

The Women reunites English with Murphy star Candice Bergen -- and stars, as did the 1939 original film, a cadre of the hottest actresses of its day. Last night at the premiere -- which Frank and I attended courtesy of another hot woman with a meteoric career, comic Lisa Lampanelli -- we spotted many of the film's stars, including Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Ana Gasteyer and Debi Mazar.

Later, at the after party on the rooftop of the ultra-hip Gramercy Park hotel, we overheard Mazar talking about how she had first auditioned for the film over 8 years ago. And those fun lines she spouts as gossipy Saks Fifth Avenue salon manicurist Tanya, about encountering Madonna during her past life in Queens, come, at her suggestion to English, straight from Mazar's own life.

In fact, the film is full of fun touches -- including a scene stolen by Bette Midler as an updated version of the original film's "Countess" character; a winking reference to 1930s movies; and other fun moments with so many of my favorite stars like Cloris Leachman, Carrie Fisher and Debra Messing. And this is the most I've ever enjoyed both Annette Bening and Meg Ryan post-When Harry Met Sally. In fact, in moments during The Women, I felt like I could catch a glimpse of Sally again, which works perfectly here for Ryan's character of the wronged wife Mary Haines.

At some point last night, I learned that the critics had not been kind, which might be why Diane English seemed rather low-key. (Or, it could be that she preferred to talk to the likes of the film's producer Mick Jagger over me -- and who could blame her!) Personally, I really enjoyed the film. It differs in some major ways from the original -- and it may be sacrilege for a gay man to say this, but in most cases, I found the changes modern and refreshing.

Oh, and by the way, yes, I did just name drop Mick Jagger. This was one A-List event, which should say something about the film's status. At the screening, moguls like Clive Davis and designers Valentino and Dennis Basso sat among actors like Julia Stiles and Ben Shenkman and journalists Barbara Walters and Cindy Adams. At the party, Bette Midler turned up with daughter Sophie von Haselberg, Frank and I got to hang out with hilarious Jersey girl Karen Duffy aka "Duff," and Ms. Lampanelli got some much welcomed fan worship from Ms. Stiles, and from her two new apparent best friends, Crossing Jordan's Jill Hennessy and Law & Order's S. Epatha Merkerson.

The shnorrer that I am, I wondered why there were no gift bags on the way out -- especially because apparently last night's party sponsor, the makeup brand Nars, has re-created manicurist Tanya's favorite shade, "Jungle Red" -- in conjunction with the film. Oh well -- you can't have it all. Well you can, but maybe you shouldn't want it all -- at least that's what Meg's Mary Haines says in the end.

The Women

Opens today, September 12