Cloris Leachman Movies

Handsome actor Paul Ross (Charles S. Carlson) breaks up a romance between his housekeeper, Caroline Hardy (Cloris Leachman), and another man, simply because he doesn't want Caroline to leave his employ. What Paul doesn't know is that Caroline is madly in love with him -- and that she has a distinct taste for revenge. Later on, Paul is horribly scarred in an explosion, whereupon Caroline calmly informs him that he is too disfigured ever to appeal to women again...except, of course, Caroline. A perverse twist caps this final episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents' seventh season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Martin Balsam essays the title role in this episode as nightclub owner Benjy Leemer. Caught in the middle of a turf war between slot-machine "czar" Joe Bohman (Tom Drake) and gambler Porker Davis (Gavin MacLeod), Leemer ends up with his business burned to the ground and his songstress wife Julie (Cloris Leachman) out of a job. Amidst several symbolic scenes with a pair of "tame" rats, Benjy quietly plots vengeance against both Bohman and Davis--while Julie appears to cross over to the enemy by becoming Bohman's main squeeze. Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore Show will be impressed by the noncomic performances of that series' "Murray" and "Phyllis"...even though Gavin MacLeod and Cloris Leachman never appear together in the same scene.. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Rod Serling from a story by Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life" stands the test of time as one of the best-ever Twilight Zone episodes -- not to mention one of the series' most frightening efforts. The terrified citizens of Peaksville, Ohio, are held in thrall by a "monster" in the form of angelic-looking youngster Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy). Possessed with the ability to read minds, coupled with mysterious destructive powers, Anthony bristles whenever he senses that someone is thinking bad thoughts -- and whenever he bristles, something really bad happens (yes, this is the one with the cornfield and the jack-in-the-box). Understandably, this episode has always been a favorite of youngsters, who would give anything to wield Anthony Fremont's awesome powers over their own parents. First telecast November 3, 1961, "It's a Good Life" was later reworked in the 1983 theatrical film Twilight Zone: The Movie -- and a few years after that, it was delightfully lampooned on one of The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In one of the series' eeriest episodes, American photographer Rita Wallace (Cloris Leachman) sets up shop in Paris, hoping to capture the "soul of France" in her pictures. Advertising for a model, Rita ends up using a strange, reclusive little man (Marcel Dalio) with a haunted look in his eyes. Not long afterward, A few nights later, Rita is attacked and nearly strangled to death by a mysterious intruder--and only after she carefully scrutinizes her recent photographs does she even begin to grasp the significance of this inexplicable assault. If "The Dark Room" seems to have a Hitchcock flavor, it may be because the episode was written by "Hitch"'s frequent collaborator Francis Cockrell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Korean conflict of the early '50s saw widespread use of psychological torture by the North Korean communists on enemy prisoners of war. That young American GIs cracked under this brainwashing at higher rates than the troops of our allies led to much soul searching within the military and the nation during that era. In Hollywood, this was most famously reflected in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and lesser-known films like Time Limit (1955) and The Rack. The failure of all three films at the box office suggests that the public didn't care to be reminded of this painful issue. Paul Newman stars as Captain Edward W. Hall Jr., a career soldier being tried by a military court for collaborating with the enemy. As the son of a highly distinguished career officer (Walter Pidgeon), and with a brother who had been killed in the war, he is especially tormented by the accusations which have been brought against him. Although reluctant to take the case, Major Sam Moulton (Wendell Corey) elicits incriminating testimony from Hall, comparing him unfavorably with soldiers like Captain John Miller (Lee Marvin), who were able to withstand similar punishment. But defending attorney Lt. Colonel Frank Wasnick (Edmond O'Brien), makes the case that this new type of torture is a new and barely understood weapon, to which some will be more innately immune than others. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide

Regarded by many critics as the ultimate film noir, and by many more as the finest movie adaptation of a book by Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly stars Ralph Meeker as Spillane's anti-social private eye Mike Hammer. While driving down a lonely road late one evening, Hammer picks up a beautiful blonde hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman), dressed in nothing but a raincoat. At first, Hammer assumes that the incoherent girl is an escaped lunatic; his mind is changed for him when he and the girl are abducted by two thugs. The men torture the girl to death as the semiconscious Hammer watches helplessly. He himself escapes extermination when the murderers' car topples off a cliff and he is thrown clear. Seeking vengeance, Hammer tries to discover the secret behind the girl's murder. Among those who cross his path in the film's tense, tingling 105 minutes are a slimy gangster (Paul Stewart), a turncoat scientist (Albert Dekker), and the dead woman's sexy roommate (Gaby Rodgers). All clues lead to a mysterious box -- the "Great Whatsit," as Hammer's secretary Velda (Maxine Cooper) describes it. Both the box and Velda are stolen by the villains, at which point Hammer discovers that the "Whatsit" contains radioactive material of awesome powers. The apocalyptic climax is doubly devastating because we're never quite certain if Hammer survives (he doesn't narrate the story, as was the case in most Mike Hammer films and TV shows). Director Robert Aldrich and scriptwriter Jack Moffit transcend Kiss Me Deadly's basic genre trappings to produce a one-of-a-kind melodrama for the nuclear age. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide