InfoAnda - Pioneering comedian Phyllis Diller dies at age 95 |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Bodies of 35 people dumped in Mexican port city | | 21 September 2011
NKorea invites US envoys for talks, report says | 26 August 2009
Google debuts in high-grade bond market with $3 billion deal | | 17 May 2011

Pakistan's Zardari in UK, meets girl shot by Taliban | | 9 December 2012

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Pioneering comedian Phyllis Diller dies at age 95 |

Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Home Business Business Home Economy Technology Media Small Business Legal Deals Earnings Social Pulse Business Video The Freeland File Aerospace & Defense Markets Markets Home U.S. Markets European Markets Asian Markets Global Market Data Indices M&A Stocks Bonds Currencies Commodities Futures Funds peHUB World World Home U.S. Brazil China Euro Zone Japan Mexico Russia India Insight World Video Reuters Investigates Decoder Politics Politics Home Election 2012 Campaign Polling Political Punchlines Supreme Court Politics Video Tech Technology Home MediaFile Science Tech Video Tech Tonic Social Pulse Opinion Money Money Home Tax Break Lipper Awards 2012 Global Investing MuniLand Unstructured Finance Linda Stern Mark Miller John Wasik James Saft Analyst Research Alerts Watchlist Portfolio Stock Screener Fund Screener Personal Finance Video Money Clip Investing 201 Life Health Sports Arts Faithworld Business Traveler Entertainment Oddly Enough Lifestyle Video Pictures Pictures Home Reuters Photographers Video Reuters TV Reuters News Article Comments (0) Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Dental health linked to dementia risk: study 20 Aug 2012 Ethiopian strongman Meles dies abroad 3:35am EDT Romney battles Obama for cash advantage in election | 12:30am EDT U.S. Army battling racists within its own ranks 1:01am EDT Nearly half of US doctors struggle with burnout: study 2:12am EDT Discussed 138 Obama’s lead over Romney grows despite voters’ pessimism 122 Romney to announce vice presidential choice Saturday 94 Analysis: Are Israelis tough enough for a long war with Iran? Sponsored Links Pictures Reuters Photojournalism Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption Seeing double A look at the world of twins. Slideshow Suicides in China A look at attempted suicides in China and their aftermath. Slideshow Pioneering comedian Phyllis Diller dies at age 95 Tweet Share this Email Print Factboxes Factbox: Reaction to death of comedian Phyllis Diller Mon, Aug 20 2012 Factbox: Phyllis Diller's self-deprecating humor Mon, Aug 20 2012 Related News Geek girls unite around games, comics and a "Buffy" sing-along Thu, Aug 9 2012 A Minute With: Kevin Nealon returning to stand-up comedy Wed, Aug 1 2012 Exclusive: IAC takes control of Newsweek Daily Beast from Harmans Mon, Jul 23 2012 Analysis & Opinion Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum: Double trouble Related Topics Entertainment » Fashion » People » Actress Phyllis Diller arrives for a memorial mass for entertainer Bob Hope in North Hollywood, California in this August 27, 2003 file photo. Diller died at age 95 according to her talent agent August 20, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES | Mon Aug 20, 2012 8:32pm EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Phyllis Diller, the former housewife whose raucous cackle and jokes about her own looks made her one of America's first female stand-up comedy stars, died in her sleep on Monday at age 95, her longtime manager said. Diller was found in her bed at her home in the affluent Brentwood section of Los Angeles by her son, Perry, who had come to visit her, manager Milt Suchin said. "She had a smile on her face, as you'd expect," Suchin told Reuters. Her publicist, Fred Wostbrock, called her "a true pioneer" and "the first lady of stand-up comedy." A friend and fellow comic, Joan Rivers, said on Monday that Diller cleared a path for a younger generation of female stand-up artists to trade on their jokes alone. "Phyllis Diller was the last from an era that insisted a woman had to look funny in order to be funny," Rivers said in a message posted through Twitter. Diller created an indelible persona with her distinctive braying laugh, a cigarette holder, teased hair, outlandish costumes and a fictional lout of a husband she called Fang. Her act consisted of rapid-fire jokes and one-liners that often spoofed social pretenses by poking fun at herself ("I went bathing nude on the beach the other day; it took me 20 minutes to get arrested") as well as a world of invented characters. In addition to husband Fang - "What would you call a man with one tooth that was 2 inches long?" - there was her mother-in-law Moby Dick, her skinny sister-in-law Captain Bligh and her neighbor Mrs. Clean. Diller prided herself on keeping her jokes tightly written and boasted that she held a world record for getting 12 laughs a minute. A late-bloomer by show business standards, Diller got her start at age 37, making her debut at San Francisco's Purple Onion in 1955 as she broke into the male-dominated comedy circuit. Her first national exposure came as a contestant on Groucho Marx's TV quiz show "You Bet Your Life." At that time Diller was a housewife who had raised five children, as well as a newspaper columnist, publicist and radio writer. She discovered a flair for stand-up jokes at school parent-teacher meetings and similar gatherings and decided to make comedy a career at the urging of her then-husband, Sherwood Diller. The couple divorced in 1965 and a second marriage to singer Warde Donovan ended 10 years later. Diller gradually adopted the props, zany wardrobe and stage persona that would become her trademark. FROM HOUSEWIFE TO COMIC "If I showed you my opening night photo, I looked like the woman next door," Diller once said. "And it took me a while to realize that people don't pay to see the woman next door. They can look at her for nothing." A series of TV appearances followed and Diller soon became an instantly recognized star. She made her movie debut in 1961 with a small part in Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass" and played the title role in a 1970 Broadway production of "Hello Dolly!" Diller also developed a close friendship with the late comedy great Bob Hope and co-starred with him in three movies. She was a frequent guest on his television shows and accompanied him on a Christmas visit to U.S. troops in Vietnam. Another contemporary of Diller, stand-up veteran Don Rickles, saluted her as a "great comedienne" whose "memorable teaming with Bob Hope brought female comics to the forefront." Ellen DeGeneres tweeted that Diller was "the queen of the one-liners" and Whoopi Goldberg called her a "true original." Diller, who was an accomplished pianist, built a career around lampooning her looks but she also spent a fortune perfecting them. By her count, she had more than 20 plastic surgeries. Diller, who titled her 2005 autobiography "Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse," counted her ability to laugh at herself as one of her greatest comic assets. In a 2004 interview with Reuters she said she regarded her audiences as her greatest teacher. "I let them laugh with me, at me, which makes the audience very comfortable," she said. "I've learned everything from them. ... You're a comic and you're not a success until you hear laughter." In later years, she suffered from heart problems and fractured her pelvis in a fall but continued to work in clubs and on television well into her 80s. She provided the voice of an insect in the 1998 animated movie "A Bug's Life, appeared in the 2005 comedy documentary "The Aristocrats" and supplied the voice of Peter's mother in 2006-2007 episodes of the cartoon TV series "Family Guy." Suchin said she made a guest appearance last year on the daytime drama "The Bold and the Beautiful." Diller and her first husband had five children. (Additional reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Will Dunham and Bill Trott) Entertainment Fashion People Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Edition: U.S. Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom Back to top Reuters.com Business Markets World Politics Technology Opinion Money Pictures Videos Site Index Legal Bankruptcy Law California Legal New York Legal Securities Law Support & Contact Support Corrections Connect with Reuters Twitter Facebook LinkedIn RSS Podcast Newsletters Mobile About Privacy Policy Terms of Use AdChoices Copyright Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance Our next generation legal research platform Our global tax workstation Thomsonreuters.com About Thomson Reuters Investor Relations Careers Contact Us Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Analysis: Afghanistan's peace hopes may rest on Taliban captive |
Obama deeply concerned over Afghan insider attacks |
Car bomb kills eight near Turkey's border with Syria |
Court seen reinstating Romanian president in referendum ruling |
Malta's former prime minster Dom Mintoff dies at 96 |
Seven arrested over attack on East Jerusalem Arab |
U.S. seizes $150 million from Lebanese bank in laundering scheme |
Britain's best bet to handle Assange: sit and wait |
Apple becomes most valuable company of all time |
Google list of paid bloggers not sufficient, judge says |
Judge rejects Facebook settlement over ad feature |
Shoparoo app helps raise money for schools |
Pioneering comedian Phyllis Diller dies at age 95 |
Rihanna admits she still loves Chris Brown |
Fox promotes broadcast TV executive Kevin Reilly |
Rosie O'Donnell says lucky to be here after heart attack |
Happily Divorced actress Tichina Arnold is wed |
Top U.S. general's aircraft damaged by rockets in Afghanistan |
Ethiopian strongman Meles dies abroad |
Exclusive: Iran looks to Armenia to skirt bank sanctions |
Obama warns Assad U.S. could act |
Analysis: Afghanistan's peace hopes may rest on Taliban captive |
Kurdish militant group says not behind Turkey bomb |
Iran unveils new missile, other weapons |
Gunfire outside Yemeni intelligence HQ in Aden |
Lonmin says sacking striking miners could lead to more violence |
Japan hints at economic action in South Korea island feud |
Samsung to invest $4 billion in U.S. plant to make more mobile chips |
Apple's market value exceeds Microsoft's during 1999 bubble |
Apple, Samsung CEOs talk but no trial settlement reached |
Facebook director Thiel sold 20 million shares after lockup |
Ailing startup OnLive slashes staff, seeks more funding |
Clues sought in suicide of film director Tony Scott |
Pioneering comedian Phyllis Diller dies at age 95 |
Michael J. Fox to star in TV comedy as dad with Parkinson's |
San Francisco flower power singer Scott McKenzie dead at 73 |
Fox studio to distribute Dreamworks Animation films |
Iran unveils new missile, starts air defense site |
Four dead in Lebanon clashes that echo Syria conflict |
U.S., Japan follow EU, slam Argentine protectionism at WTO |
Assange asylum seen as travesty of justice in Sweden |
Ukraine stays extradition of Putin murder plot suspect |
Three religions meet in suburban Paris prayer space |
Hackers target website of Russian court that jailed Pussy Riot |
Infosys rises after whistleblower lawsuit dismissed |
India cracks down on Internet after communal violence |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01