1930s–1950s In 1939, she met Sherwood Diller, the brother of a classmate at Bluffton, During World War II, Sherwood worked at the
Willow Run B-24 Bomber Plant, in
Ypsilanti Charter Township, Michigan. In 1945, Sherwood Diller was transferred to
Naval Air Station Alameda Alameda, California, where he was an inspector. Diller began working as the women's editor at a small newspaper, The 15-minute series was a
Bay Area Radio-Television production, directed for television by ABC's Jim Baker. and a vocalist for a music-review TV show called
Pop Club, hosted by
Don Sherwood. At age 37, on March 7, 1955, at the
North Beach, San Francisco basement club,
The Purple Onion, she made her professional stand-up debut. Up until then, she had only tried out her jokes for fellow PTA members at nearby Edison Elementary School.
Maya Angelou, who was already performing at the club, wrote that Diller "would not change her name because when she became successful she wanted everyone to know it was, indeed, her herself". Her first professional show was a success and the two-week booking stretched out to a record Diller had found her calling and eventual financial success while her husband's business career failed. She explained, "I became a stand-up comedian because I had a sit-down husband." She wrote her own material and kept a file cabinet full of her gags, honing her nightclub act.
Sid Caesar,
Milton Berle and
Jonathan Winters were early influences, but Diller developed a singular comedic persona — a
surreal version of femininity. This absurd caricature with garish baggy dresses and gigantic, clownish hair made fun of her lack of sex appeal while brandishing a cigarette holder (with a wooden cigarette because she didn't smoke), punctuating the humor with a hearty cackle to show she was in on the joke. Multiple bookings on the Jack Paar
Tonight Show led to an appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show, which brought her national prominence as she continued to perform stand-up throughout the United States. Starting in 1959 and throughout the 1960s, she released multiple comedy albums, including the titles
Wet Toe in a Hot Socket!,
Laughs,
Are You Ready for Phyllis Diller?, and
The Beautiful Phyllis Diller.
1960s ,
Thailand, 1966 From 1961 to 1965, Phyllis Diller lived in
Webster Groves, Missouri, a
suburb of St. Louis. Several of her children had stayed with Sherwood's relatives in St. Louis, and the oldest, Peter, attended
Washington University. They worked together in films such as
Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966),
Eight on the Lam (1967), and ''
The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell'' (1968), all critically panned, but did well at the box office. Diller accompanied Hope to
Vietnam in 1966 with his
USO troupe near the height of the
Vietnam War. She appeared regularly as a special guest on many television programs including
The Andy Williams Show. She was a Mystery Guest on ''
What's My Line?'' but the blindfolded panel (including
Sammy Davis Jr.) discerned Diller's identity in three guesses. Diller made regular cameo appearances, making her trademark wisecracks on ''
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Self-deprecating to a fault, a typical Diller joke had her running after a garbage truck pulling away from her curb. "Am I too late for the trash?" she would yell. The driver's reply: "No, jump right in!" She became a semi-regular on
The Hollywood Squares, starting in 1967, appearing in 28 episodes until 1980. Diller continued to work in film, making an appearance as
Texas Guinan, the wisecracking nightclub hostess in
Splendor in the Grass (1961). Throughout the 1960s, she appeared in more than a dozen, usually low-budget, films. She also began a career in voice work, providing the voice of the Monster's Mate in
Mad Monster Party? (1967). Diller also starred in the short-lived television series
The Pruitts of Southampton (1966–1967); later retitled
The Phyllis Diller Show, a half-hour sitcom on
ABC. She received a Golden Globe nomination in 1967 for her role in
Pruitts. Diller hosted a variety show in 1968 titled
The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. Beginning December 26, 1969, she had a three-month run in
Hello, Dolly! (opposite
Richard Deacon), as the second to last in a succession of replacements for
Carol Channing in the title role, which included
Ginger Rogers,
Martha Raye,
Betty Grable, and
Pearl Bailey. After Diller's stint,
Ethel Merman took over the role until the end of the show's run in December 1970.
1970–2012 Diller continued working in television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, appearing as a judge on premiere and subsequent episodes of
The Gong Show and as a panelist on the
Match Game PM show. She also guest-starred in
The Mouse Factory,
Night Gallery,
Love American Style,
The Muppet Show,
CHiPs and
The Love Boat. In 1978, she hosted a
Showtime comedy special which featured
Robin Tyler, who became the first out lesbian on U.S. national television. Between 1999 and 2003, she played roles in
7th Heaven and
The Drew Carey Show. Her successful career as a voice actor continued when Diller guested as herself in "A Good Medium is Rare," a 1972 episode of
The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1998, Diller provided the voice of the Queen in ''
A Bug's Life. Among her other animated films are The Nutcracker Prince (1990, as Mousequeen), Happily Ever After (1990, as Mother Nature), and Casper's Scare School'' (2006, as Aunt Spitzy). She voiced characters in several television series, including
Robot Chicken,
Family Guy,
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home,
Captain Planet,
Cow and Chicken,
Hey Arnold! as Arnold's grandpa's sister Mitzi,
The Powerpuff Girls,
Animaniacs,
Jimmy Neutron as Jimmy's grandmother,
The Wild Thornberrys and
King of the Hill. Although retired from the stand-up circuit, Diller never fully left the entertainment industry. In 2005, she was featured as one of many contemporary comics in the documentary
The Aristocrats. Diller, who avoided
blue comedy, did a version of an old, risqué vaudeville routine, in which she describes herself passing out when she first heard the joke, forgetting the actual content of the joke. On January 24, 2007, Diller appeared on
The Tonight Show and performed stand-up before chatting with
Jay Leno. Leno has stated that Diller would infrequently call him to contribute jokes during his time as the host of
The Tonight Show. That same year, she had a cameo appearance portraying herself in an episode of
Boston Legal. In 2011, she appeared in an episode of her friend
Roseanne Barr's reality show ''
Roseanne's Nuts''. In January 2012, she recorded a version of
Charlie Chaplin's song "
Smile" with
Pink Martini's
Thomas Lauderdale for the album
Get Happy.
Author Publishing her first best seller in 1966 and releasing more throughout the decade, Diller's books on domestic life featured her self-deprecating humor. The titles include ''Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints
, Phyllis Diller's Marriage Manual
, and The Complete Mother''. Between 1971 and 1981, Diller appeared as a piano soloist with symphony orchestras across the country under the stage name Dame Illya Dillya. Her performances were spiced with humor, but she took the music seriously. A review of one of her concerts in
The San Francisco Examiner called her "a fine concert pianist with a firm touch."
Artist A self-taught artist, Diller began painting in 1963. She worked in acrylics, watercolors, and oils throughout the 1970s and filled her Brentwood, California home with her portraits and still lifes. In 2003, at age 86, she held the first of several "art parties", selling her artwork along with her stage clothes and costume jewelry. ==Personal life==