For Ed Asner, his “Mary Tyler Moore” co-star, Cloris Leachman, was “always a source of energy”.
The Oscar winner, who played the self-centered landlord Phyllis Lindstrom on the hit show in the 1970s, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94.
Asner, 91, played Mary’s boss Lou Grant in the series and had a close friendship with Leachman off the set.
“She was a love,” the actor told ETOnline on Thursday about his beloved friend. “The kind woman she was. But we became very friendly and we loved each other very much. When we started the show, she made me not bother to read the teleprompter, rewind the script … We did it with improvisation and it worked well.”
CLORIS LEACHMAN: A LOOK AT HER BIGGEST ROLES, FROM ‘YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN’ TO ‘THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW’
Actress Cloris Leachman (pictured here with Ed Asner) passed away on Wednesday at the age of 94.
(Photo by Ann Clifford / DMI / The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
In her life, Leachman won eight Emmys, tying her to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She also won an Oscar for the 1971 film “The Last Picture Show”.
“She used what was there,” said Asner of Leachman’s unmistakable talent. “She didn’t cry over it. She was proud of herself and didn’t like being subject to any rules and regulations. She was a free cat. She was just wonderful, a wonderful actress. And she would come up with some wonderful ideas. “
“I’m going to take my memories to the grave,” Asner told the outlet. “I loved her. She was a sweet mother.”
Leachman’s most indelible role was that of Phyllis in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”.
CLORIS LEACHMAN, LEGENDARY ACTRESS, DEAD AT 94
Phyllis used to visit Mary’s apartment, bringing regrets about her husband Lars and caustic comments about Mary and especially about her opponent, another tenant, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper).
Honored Ed Asner (L) and actress Cloris Leachman participate in The Humane Society of The United States’ Los Angeles Beneficial Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 16, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
(Photo by Michael Kovac / Getty Images for The Humane Society of The US)
Phyllis was so unexpectedly engaging that Leachman starred in a series of his own spinoff, “Phyllis”, which was shown on CBS from 1975 to 1977.
Leachman, who started as Miss Chicago at the Miss America pageant, gladly accepted comic and unglamorous roles during his reign in Hollywood.
“Basically, I don’t care how I look, ugly or beautiful,” she told an interviewer in 1973. “I don’t think that’s beauty. In a single day, any one of us is ugly or beautiful. I am with the heart I can’t be the witch in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. But I would also like to be the good witch. Phyllis combines the two. “
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“I’m kind of like this in life,” she continued. “I am a magician and I believe in magic. There must be a point in life when you shouldn’t continue to believe that. I am not there yet.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.