Cloris Leachman’s Heartbreaking ‘Last Picture Show’ Performance Is an Acting Masterclass
William Earl As Twitter tributes rolled in after Cloris Leachman’s death today, she was most remembered for a comedy career which lasted decades, cemented by iconic roles in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Phyllis” in the 1970s all the way up to last year’s “The Croods: A New Age.” But Leachman’s dramatic performance in Peter Bogdanovich’s 1971 masterpiece “The Last Picture Show” not only earned her a supporting actress Oscar, it cemented her as one of the greatest actors of her generation.The quiet heart of an indelible coming-of-age story, Leachman plays Ruth Popper, a lonely middle-aged housewife who finds solace in an affair with high school senior Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), the film’s protagonist.