Phyllis Diller was born in Lima, Ohio on July 17, 1917. She was a 37-year-old homemaker when she took up comedy. She made her professional debut at the Purple Onion, a San Francisco nightclub, in 1955. Her style of stand-up comedy helped open the door for two generations of female comics.
She started making appearances on the Today Show in 1958. Her other television appearances included a recurring role on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and voice-over work on Family Guy. She also appeared in several movies including Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Eight on the Lam, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, all with Bob Hope.
She appeared on Broadway as the lead role in Hello, Dolly! for three months in late 1969 and early 1970. Between 1971 and 1981 she appeared as a piano soloist with some 100 symphony orchestras across the country under the name Dame Illya Dillya. She also wrote several books including Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, The Joys of Aging and How to Avoid Them, and Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse: My Life in Comedy. She died on August 20, 2012 at the age of 95.
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