P
reparing for an interview with Then, with little fanfare, (but no less
Cloris Leachman was like be-
coming Dorothy from The Wiz-
ard of Oz. Start to finish in less than
ten days. Picked up in a whirlwind of
excitement from my Kansas-like, sum-
mer existence and dropped onto the
tarmac at LAX with a thud. Then, with
barely time to get my land legs and re-
cover from the bump on the head,
there I was, standing at the front door
of Cloris Leachman’s home with my
colleagues, and all that was missing
was Toto.
One of my fondest childhood mem-
ories is an image from The Wizard Of
Oz. In black and white, Judy Garland
stands inside the doorway of her mod-
est little prairie home, having landed
somewhere over the rainbow. And as
the door slowly opens, everything on
the other side begins to glow in bril-
liant Technicolor. So it was with us.
We walked through the doorway into
an astounding world inhabited by 9
Winged Emmys, 1 stalwart and terri-
bly impressive Oscar, a single Orb of
Gold, and a diminutive Anna, Ms.
Leachman’s personal assistant. We
looked around in amazement and set
to the task of finding just the right
spots for lights, cameras and micro-
phones.
l o ri
C achmans
Le
dining table and chatted about Harold
impressive than if she had been Glinda Lloyd’s patio furniture and the Paris
floating toward us in a bubble), the Flea Market at Saint-Ouen. There was
inimitable Ms. Leachman walked into so much more we had wanted to ask.
the room and greeted us. She moved Which was her most challenging role?
to the Baby Grand and played a med- Who was the funniest actor she’d ever
ley of music from “Cloris,” her one worked with? How did she deal with
woman show. For the next 3 hours we the demands of Dancing With The
were enchanted. We listened on Stars?
speaker phone to details of planned But it was time to go home. And
premieres for her soon to be released with a wave of her hand and the
film, The Fields. We heard the best in- reminder to “just close the door
side stories from her character Maw behind you,” Cloris and Anna disap-
Maw in Raising Hope and got the ad- peared down the hall. While there was
vance scoop on an upcoming reality no Wizard, nor Yellow Brick Road, our
series with her granddaughter, Skye. crew smiled at one another and
Cloris is an engaging, charismatic headed off to see Cloris’ “Star” on the
person, and an actress of seemingly Hollywood Walk of Fame.
limitless range. She has the uncanny
ability to seize opportu-
nities that continue to
expand her repertoire.
Over and over, she
strengthens the connec-
tion with fans who’ve
loved her work for
years, while reaching
out and winning over
whole new audiences.
We taped the inter-
view but wished the
camera had continued
to roll as we sat at the