The Comedian
In 1955, the playground at Edison Elementary School, in Alameda, California, would have been a rollicking place. One of the moms just knew how to get a laugh, she always had the ladies rolling. She was the housewife from Ohio, the one with five kids. The one with the husband who wasn’t so great.
Soon, Mrs. Phyllis Driver Diller would be known for other things. The Gong Show, for one. Laugh-In, Hollywood Squares, those Bob Hope movies, the tv specials, the USO shows. Hell, she even had a memorable turn in Scooby-Doo. Of course, that kind of journey doesn’t just happen. It takes piano lessons, a woody station wagon, the support of the PTA, a working phone line, and a half dozen or so Sherwoods. Here, the story of how Phyllis Diller got her start.
Phyllis Diller, before fame.
Circa 1955 and her first appearances at The Purple Onion
Stalker Way, site of the Encinal Housing Projects.
In 1952. At home in Alameda, with Peter, Sally, Suzanne, Stephanie, and Perry.
With first husband Sherwood Diller.
That sweet tie was wasted on him.
Too cool for school, The Purple Onion.
Holding her own with a bunch of fun guys.
Playing the sax with Jimmy Stewart, Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty, and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, 1964.
With second husband, Warde Donovan Tatum.
She disguised her sexiness (and her many skills and talents) in order to get laughs. “I pity any pretty woman who is starting out as a standup comic,” she said.
With her mentor and hero, Bob Hope.
The Kraft Music Hall, 1967.
Not weird at all. Starring as herself on Scooby-Doo in 1972.
Post plastic surgery, dancing with Steve Rubell at Studio 54.
June 11, 1978.
The Rockingham house. Her dream home, where she would spend most of her life.
The house would appear in the 2006 Kate Winslet/Cameron Diaz film, The Holiday, as the home of Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach).
With Bob Hastings, the love of her life.
