1927 — 2021

on the series. She played a frontier prostitute in a crime spree and

family member in

Blücher in Mel Brooks’

in which the very mention of her name made horses whinny.

In 1989 she toured in “Grandma Moses,” a play in which she aged from 45 to 101. For three years in the 1990s she appeared in major cities as the captain’s wife in the revival of

In the 1993 movie version of she assumed the Irene Ryan role as Granny Clampett. She also had an occasional role as Ida on winning Emmys in 2002 and 2006 for that show.

And in 2008, she joined the ranks of contestants in “Dancing With the Stars,” not lasting long in the competition, but pleasing the crowds by wearing sparkly dance costumes, sitting in judges’ laps and cussing during the live television broadcast.

Although she started out as Miss Chicago in the Miss America Pageant, she willingly accepted unglamorous screen roles.

“Basically I don’t care how I look, ugly or beautiful,” she told an interviewer in 1973.

“I don’t think that’s what beauty is. On a single day, any of us is ugly or beautiful.

“I’m heartbroken I can’t be the witch in

“But I’d also like to be the good witch. Phyllis combines them both.”

“I’m kind of like that in life. I’m magic, and I believe in magic. There’s supposed to be a point in life when you aren’t supposed to stay believing that.

“I haven’t reached it yet.”

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