Phyllis Diller

Biography

Phyllis Diller is one of the pioneers of female stand-up comedy. She created the stage character of a wild-haired, oddly-dressed housewife who was ugly but didn't realize it, and who spent her time cackling and waving a long cigarette holder while making jokes about a husband named "Fang."

A housewife, mother and advertising copywriter, she first came to public attention as a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show You Bet Your Life, in the mid-1950s. Her first husband encouraged her to try to make a living doing comedy, something she was already showing great success in, in PTA skits. A few years later, her career took off after selling out 87 straight weeks at San Francisco's legendary Purple Onion nightclub. In her heyday, Diller achieved a record that still stands today in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering 12 punch lines per minute.

Diller appeared in more than a dozen, mostly low-budget movies including The Monster Mash (1968), co-starring Boris Karloff. She also starred in two short-lived television series: The Pruitts of Southampton (1966) and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show (1968). In 1998, Diller gave voice to "The Queen" in Disney/Pixar's animated movie, A Bug's Life.

An accomplished pianist, Diller has appeared as a soloist with 100 symphony orchestras across the United States, including performances in Dallas, Denver, Annapolis, Houston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Cincinnati.

In recent years, Diller has publicly discussed her plastic surgery, which changed her persona from being deliberately ugly to being chic and attractive. Diller's efforts have drawn numerous awards and acknowledgments from plastic surgeons and medical organizations.

Married three times, she was divorced twice and widowed once. She has several children from her marriage to her first husband, on whom "Fang" was based. In the past few years, Diller has suffered serious medical problems and has officially retired from standup performance.