Phyllis Diller

Born Phyllis Ada Driver, Phyllis Diller has been in show business for five decades. She is known for her outrageous wit -- matched only by her hair and her laugh. Her loud-mouthed, rapid-fire (and notably clean) delivery picks on everything from her husband (Fang) to the agonies of being a poor, self-deprecating housewife. The bulk of her performing career has been spent in dinner clubs around the world and on-stage (as a piano virtuoso) with over more than 100 orchestras. She has appeared on countless television sitcoms and dramas throughout the past 50 years, including The Carol Burnett Show, The Love Boat, and 7th Heaven. Diller has also appeared in scores of films, television specials, and Broadway productions. She co-starred in three of Bob Hope's movies, recorded five comedy albums, and published four books. She won a Lifetime Achievement Award in comedy from the American Comedy Awards in 1992 and a Lucy Award in 2000. She is an avid humanitarian.
Diller started her career when she was 37 years old. She was a contestant on the '50s television gameshow You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. After that, she was booked at The Purple Onion nightclub in San Francisco for two weeks -- and extended her stay for 87 more. She went on tour from there.
Diller was educated at the Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago and at Bluffton College in Ohio. She has five children and has been married and divorced twice. She lives in Los Angeles, CA. ~ Sandy Lawson, All Music Guide