Custom Clothes: Phyllis Diller (Guest Host)

Phyllis Diller (Guest Host)

Phyllis Diller (born July 17, 1917) is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes self-deprecating jokes about her age and appearance, her terrible cooking, and a husband named "Fang", while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder. Diller's signature is her unusual laugh.Diller was born Phyllis Ada Driver in Lima, Ohio, the daughter of Frances Ada (née Romshe) (January 12, 1881 - January 26, 1949) and Perry Marcus Driver (June 13, 1862 - August 12, 1948), an insurance agent. She has German and Irish ancestry (the surname "Driver" had been changed from "Treiber" several generations back). Her mother was about twenty years younger than her father. Diller was raised a Methodist. Diller attended Lima's Central High School, then studied for three years at Sherwood Music Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois. She then transferred to Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, where she met fellow "Lima-ite" and classmate Hugh Downs.