Steve Martin leads tributes to ‘comic genius’ Cloris Leachman

Mel Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres also remembered star

Cloris Leachman (Rex Features)

Steve Martin has led tributes to Cloris Leachman, the Oscar-winning actor who died this week aged 94.

Leachman, who reportedly died of natural causes, memorably played self-absorbed neighbour Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Martin, who starred alongside Leachman in The Muppet Movie in 1979, tweeted: “Salute to Cloris Leachman, who brought comedy's mysteries to the big and small screen.”

Mel Brooks remembered Leachman as an "insanely talented" actress who could "make you laugh or cry at the drop of a hat”.

Ed Asner shared a photo of himself with Leachman from the last time they saw each other: “Nothing I could say would top the enormity of my love for you. Until we meet again darling,” he wrote.  

Novelist and playwright Paul Rudnick added: “RIP Cloris Leachman, a comic genius and a fine actress. Audiences cherished her, as Phyllis Lindstrom or Frau Blucher and so many more indelible characters. 

“Her instincts were impeccable and she's irreplaceable. Bea Arthur and Madeline Kahn are welcoming her to comedy heaven.”

Leachman won a supporting actress Oscar for her role in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 feature The Last Picture Show. She would later reprise her role in the 1990 sequel Texasville.

Starring in projects that spanned theatre, TV, and film, Leachman won eight primetime Emmy awards over the course of her career.

In the 1970s, she also appeared in Mel Brooks comedies including High Anxiety and Young Frankenstein.

She worked steadily throughout the 1980s and 1990s, featuring in the 1993 big-screen adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies, The History of the World Part I, and Walk Like a Man.

In the 2000s, she played Grandma Ida in Malcom in the Middle, and she popped up in movies like Alex and Emma and Bad Santa.

In 2011, Leachman was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

She is survived by sons Adam, George Jr, and Morgan, and her daughter, Dinah.