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Stella Adler Center for the Arts Home
  • Login
  • Events
  • Support
  • About
    • Overview
    • Administration
    • History
    • Facilities
    • Policies
    • News
    • Library
  • Actor Training
    • Stella Adler Studio – NY
    • Art of Acting Studio – LA
    • Stella Adler Studio Online
  • Center for the Arts
    • Events
    • Lecture Series
    • Poetry & Language
    • David Oppenheim Music Center
    • Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company
    • Movement & Dance Theater
    • Playwrights Division
    • Ellen Adler Gallery
    • Jacob Adler Center
    • Stella Adler I-Center
    • Festival of the Arts
  • Arts Justice
    • About
    • Impact
    • K-12 Programs
    • Justice Involved
    • Field Programs
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Giving
    • Our Next Act: The Future of the Stella Adler Studio
    • Why Give?
    • Giving Menu
    • 75 Strong Community
    • Stella by Starlight Gala
    • Our Donors
  • Contact

Phyllis Diller

Phyllis Ada Driver (July 17, 1917 – August 20, 2012), better known as Phyllis Diller, was an American actress and stand-up comedian. She was best known for her eccentric stage persona, her self-deprecating humor, her wild hair and clothes, and her exaggerated, cackling laugh.

Diller was a groundbreaking stand-up comic—one of the first female comics to become a household name in the U.S. She paved the way for Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr, and Ellen Degeneres, among others, who credit her influence.

Diller had a large gay following and is considered a gay icon. She was also one of the first celebrities to openly champion plastic surgery, for which she was recognized by the industry.

Diller worked in more than 40 films, beginning with 1961’s Splendor in the Grass. She appeared in many television series, often in cameos, but also including her own short-lived sitcom and variety show. Some of her credits are “The Night Gallery,” “The Muppet Show,” “The Love Boat,” “Cybill,” and “Boston Legal,” plus eleven seasons of “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Her voice-acting roles included the monster’s wife in Mad Monster Party, the Queen in A Bug’s Life, Granny Neutron in “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” and Thelma Griffin in “Family Guy.”

Phyllis Diller
IMDB

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New York, NY 10006 USA

Phone: Phone: 212 689 0087

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Stella Adler Studio is accredited with the National Association of Schools of Theatre