BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Cloris Leachman has a method to her madness on the new Fox comedy “Raising Hope.” “I took care of my mother-in-law for the last three years of her life, and she had Alzheimer’s disease,” says Leachman, who steals scenes as a demented great-grandmother, simply called “Maw Maw” on the sitcom (9 p.m. Tuesdays).
“So I know all about Alzheimer’s.”
Leachman’s late mother-in-law was actress Mabel Albertson, better known as Darrin Stephens’ mother on the ABC sitcom “Bewitched.” “I loved her,” Leachman says. “She’d feed her dog 40 times a day. She’d try to feed it kitty litter.”
| ON TV |
| ‘Raising Hope’ |
| » When: 9 p.m. Tuesday |
| » Channel: Fox |
| » Info: fox.com |
While Leachman, who is 84, realizes Alzheimer’s is nothing to laugh about — and the series has never addressed whether her character actually has the disease — she is drawing from her late mother-in-law’s behavior for her character.
“She was so darling and so lovely and always kept her sense of humor,” Leachman says. “She never lost her [comedic] timing.”
Playing such an outrageous character is nothing new for Leachman. Her resume spans more than 60 years and includes politically incorrect moments — from the zaniness of Mel Brooks comedies (“Young Frankenstein” and “High Anxiety”) to her recent stint on “Dancing With the Stars” (in which she lifted her leg high in the air to reveal a bit too much of herself to the judges).
Maw Maw lives in the past and often walks around without a shirt, much to the dismay of family members, who have to pull her in and ask her to put the blouse back on.
Oddness is a forte for the real Leachman.
During the day of this interview, she rode a luggage cart at a high-end Beverly Hills hotel as an employee pushed her down a hallway. Later that night, she drew a crowd at the Santa Monica Pier by attempting a climbing wall and jumping on a trampoline.
“It’s like working with a hurricane,” says “Raising Hope” star Lucas Neff of Leachman.
Does the novice star ask her for advice?
“I don’t have to ask her,” he says with a smile. “She’ll give it to you.”
At this stage of her career, Leachman looks at acting as child’s play anyway. “It’s not work,” she says.
“It’s not work when you have as much fun as I have with it. It’s just fun.”
