An irrepressible lady with an outrageous laugh, Phyllis Diller is acclaimed as the world's only female stand-up comic of international stature.
A working housewife and mother of five, Miss Diller first walked on stage when she was 37 years old. She was also a newspaper columnist, publicist, and writer for a San Francisco radio station.
Her first appearance took place on March 7, 1955, at San Francisco's Purple Onion. Opening for two weeks, she stayed for 89!
She then went on tour; polishing her act, dropping impersonations, developing the housewife
and daily life routines that made her the high-priestess of the ridiculous.
She opened in New York at The Blue Angel.
That led to television-The Jack Paar Show-and her career rocketed.
In a scant five years she made it to Carnegie Hall!
Miss Diller has headlined at virtually every major supper club on the nitery circuit, as well as in concert halls in Canada, Australia, the Bahamas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and London.
She also added movies and TV series to her impressive list of credits.
She has made 18 movies, and has co-starred in three films with Bob Hope, who is one of her biggest boosters.
She accompanied him to Vietnam for one of his annual Christmas trips, and has made many appearances on his TV specials.
Phyllis Diller added another milestone to her career playing Dolly Gallagher Levi on Broadway in Hello Dolly! Later, she added yet another dimension to her career by making the first of many appearances with symphony orchestras as a serious concert pianist.
She returned to the stage in 1988 playing the feisty Mother Superior in Nunsense in San Francisco.
As busy off-stage as on, Miss Diller has written four, best-selling books for Doubleday: Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, Phyllis Diller's Marriage Manual, The Complete Mother, and The Joys Of Aging And How To Avoid Them.
A poem she wrote entitled "My Prayer" has been set to music by Alvin Mills.
Born in Lima, Ohio, as Phyllis Ada Driver, she graduated from Central High School and studied music for three years at the Sherwood Music School in Chicago and continued to major in music at Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio.
Miss Diller has won many awards for her talents and philanthropies.
Among them are the Golden Apple from the Hollywood Women's Press Club; the TV Radio Mirror Award for best comedienne on TV; she was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Humane Letters from National Christian University in Dallas; and received Ohio's Governor Award.
She is on the board of the National Parkinson Foundation, has her own star on Hollywood Boulevard, and was given the Mark Twain Award from the International Platform Association.
She is the recipient of a recent award from the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery for "the tremendous breakthrough in acceptance for our field, when she was the first person to have the courage to proclaim her surgery and show her results publicly."
She's the spokesperson for donated, cosmetic surgery grants.
Miss Diller writes most of her own material.
On stage, she is the personification of the housewife's lament.
Although she enjoys kidding herself-her hair, her wardrobe, and her housekeeping abilities-in private life, she is the antithesis of her funny, professional image.
Properly coiffed and dressed with flair and subtlety, she is a fabulous cook, a gifted painter (her paintings have been on exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum of Art), and a devoted mother and grandmother.
As famous for her all-natural, home-made Philli Dilli Chili as she is for her king-size laugh, she now markets Canned Beef Chili and Chicken Chili as well as microwaveable Philli Dilli Chicken Chili and Philli Dilli Chili with Beans ... all under the Diller label.
She is the international spokesperson for La Vie facial care products and La Vie clothing.
She has a line of jewelry-Phyllis Diller Creations.
These products are sold on the Home Shopping Network and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada.
In March, 1990, she was named Celebrity Businesswoman of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners. In 2002, Miss Diller is still touring, appearing on Television and Film entertaining audiences around the world.
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