Sandy Dennis

She died from ovarian cancer in Westport, Connecticut. Further, a screenplay about Diller's early years in showbiz is in preproduction and actress Patricia Clarkson is slated to play Diller, for a film due in 2006. Her last significant film role was in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). In an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live talk show in December of 2004, Diller announced that an authorized biography of her life is in the works. An advocate of method acting Dennis was often described as neurotic and mannered in her performances, with many critics stating her style was better suited for the stage rather than the screen. Dennis also placed a higher priority on her stage work. She has since officially retired from standup performance. She followed this with well-received performances in Up the Down Staircase (1967), The Fox (1967), Sweet November (1968) and The Out-of-Towners (1970). Most recently, Diller has suffered serious medical problems which culminated in her being pronounced clinically dead for three minutes.

Born in Hastings, Nebraska, Dennis made her television debut in 1956 in The Guiding Light and her film debut in Splendor in the Grass (1961), however she was more committed to following a career in theater. She won consecutive Tony Awards for her performances in A Thousand Clowns and Any Wednesday, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Diller is a proud grandmother several times over. Sandra (Sandy) Dale Dennis (April 27, 1937 – March 2, 1992) was an American theater and film actress. She has several children from her marriage to her first husband, on whom "Fang" was based. She was divorced twice and widowed once. Phyllis Diller has been married three times.

Diller's efforts have drawn numerous awards and acknowledgments from plastic surgeons and medical organizations. Diller has publicly discussed her plastic surgery, which changed her persona from being deliberately ugly to being chic and attractive for her age. She is an accomplished pianist as well as a painter. Diller, a longtime resident of Brentwood, credits much of her success to the late Bob Hope, and keeps a framed portrait of Hope above her grand piano in the living room of her home.

In 1998, Diller parlayed her unique cackle into the vocals for "The Queen" in Disney/Pixar's animated move, A Bug's Life. Diller also starred in two short-lived television series: The Pruitts of Southampton on ABC in 1966 and the variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show on NBC in 1968. Diller also appeared in more than a dozen, generally low-budget movies, including as herself in the children's animated cult classic from 1968, The Monster Mash, co-starring Boris Karloff. Diller's film appearances include a scene-stealing cameo appearance as a wisecracking lounge act emcee in the 1961 Hollywood production of Splendor in the Grass, starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.

Her main claim to fame is her stand-up comedy act. In her heydey, Diller achieved a record that still stands today in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering 12 punchlines per minute, which is typical of her often outrageous, stacatto style of comedy. It is here that Diller honed her act. Later in the decade, her career took off after selling out 87 straight weeks at San Francisco's legendary Purple Onion nightclub.

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. Phyllis Diller (born July 17, 1917) is an American comedian who 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." She is generally considered one of the pioneers of female stand-up comedy.