Leachman ups the ante on ‘Hope’

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

“Vanity” is a word that seems missing from Cloris Leachman’s play book.

This, of course, is no surprise to those who have savored this veteran actress-comedian in her anything-but-self-admiring performances the past six decades. (Does snooty Phyllis Lindstrom on “The Mary Tyler Moore” and her own spinoff sitcom ring a bell? Or Teutonic terror Frau Blucher in “Young Frankenstein”? Or Leachman’s starkly noncomedic portrayal of a forlorn coach’s wife in “The Last Picture Show,” for which she won the 1972 best-supporting actress Oscar?)

Now the 84-year-old Leachman fires jolts of unbridled daffiness on Fox’s “Raising Hope,” which airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

She plays Maw Maw, the dementia-addled, wildly inappropriate senior cared for by her granddaughter Virginia (Martha Plimpton) and Virginia’s husband, Burt (Garret Dillahunt). Their son Jimmy (Lucas Neff) also shares the chaotic homestead, along with his baby daughter, Hope.

Moments of lucidity are few and far between for Maw Maw, who may be found removing her top and bolting out the front door bare-chested; forcing a “Christmas cookie” on Burt that she made from dirt and pebbles; or, when seated beside someone’s desk, popping off with a chipper, “Thank you for having me on the show, Johnny!”

As Leachman reflects on Maw Maw’s antics, she trills an appreciative chuckle.

“I just hang on and say, ‘What am I gonna do now?’ I really trust Greg Garcia,” she says, referring to the series’ creator. “And he trusts me.”

Any doubts about Leachman’s gung-ho attitude were dashed two years ago when she was a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.”

She didn’t win the trophy, but with moxie and sass, she outlasted the likes of singer Toni Braxton, chef Rocco DiSpirito and reality star Kim Kardashian.

“Gosh, I wish I knew what I did!” says Leachman. “I just came out and did a dance.”

A native of Iowa who grew up outside Des Moines in an isolated home without running water, she began piano lessons as a child.

She briefly studied theater at Northwestern University and competed in the Miss America pageant in 1946.

She landed in New York soon thereafter, won roles in the theater and in the emerging world of live TV drama, as well as film.