An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Rest In Peace
Comedienne Phyllis Diller dies in Los Angeles at 95
Phyllis Diller, the housewife turned comedienne who aimed some of her sharpest barbs at herself, punctuating her jokes with her trademark cackle, died Monday morning in her Los Angeles home at age 95.
“She died peacefully in her sleep and with a smile on her face,” her longtime manager, Milton Suchin, told The Associated Press.
Diller, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack in 1999, was found by her son, Perry Diller. The cause of her death has not been released.
She was a staple of nightclubs and television from the 1950s — when female comics were rare indeed — until her retirement in 2002. Diller built her stand-up act around the persona of the corner-cutting housewife (“I bury a lot of my ironing in the back yard”) with bizarre looks, a wardrobe to match (by “Omar of Omaha”) and a husband named “Fang.”
It’s kind of difficult to realize that all the comedic icons on your youth are dying away. It was like a ritual for whole the family to gathert around the black and white tv, watching the comics on the Ed Sullivan Show, and so many others variety type shows. These were class acts who didn’t need to use four lettered words to get a laugh. Now days, it’s almost impossible to find a comedienne who can’t get through one sentence without throwing in so many unnecessary words. Nope…they just don’t make ‘em like this lady anymore, mores the pity.
Rest in peace!
