Cloris Leachman

Swathed in a blue and pink shawl, Cloris Leachman waltzed into the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena earlier this week like a madcap fairy godmother. The Oscar-winning actress is the grand marshal of the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade this morning. "Never in my most un-lucid moments had I imagined it," she said in between applications of pink lipstick. "I'm a great-grandmother, and I'm shocked they were even aware of me in this regard."

Cloris Leachman was convinced she was dead. "I felt the outlines of my body and nothing was in it," she recalls. "I had no brains, no guts, no heart, no bones. This was heaven and I was dead and I was standing there." Of course, she'd just been flung horizontally into the air -- gripped by a single arm and leg -- and twirled around by her dance partner, Corky Ballas, in an encore performance of their "Dancing With the Stars" routine on the talk show "The View."

Cloris Leachman: An article about Cloris Leachman in Thursday's Calendar section said the actress had competed in the Miss America Pageant in 1964. She was a contestant in 1946.

Cloris Leachman was relishing the opportunity to play Tea Leoni's mother, Evelyn -- a retired, alcohol-soaked jazz singer in the new dysfunctional-family comedy "Spanglish" -- because "I thought I was going to be drunk and sing." But instead of getting a number to herself, you know, something boozily melodic and fabulous to show off her musical training, writer-director James L.

Three veteran actresses from the 1970-77 CBS sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" will compete against one another as best guest actress in a comedy series: Georgia Engel for "Everybody Loves Raymond," Cloris Leachman, left, for "Malcolm in the Middle" and Betty White for "Yes, Dear." Leachman has won seven Emmys; White has won four; Engel has been nominated three times and has never won. "MTM" won 29 Emmys during its seven seasons. Only "Frasier" has won more, 30 in its first nine seasons.

Don't say the F-word (or the E- or D-words) in front of Cloris Leachman. "Throw out words like 'fitness,' 'exercise,' 'diet,' " the actress advised during a phone interview. "All those good words--'physically fit'--I've gotten so sick of those words. It sucks. "I like that word: Suck up life, suck up good stuff. Throw out all those other boring, dead, overused, meaningless words. This is my interview. I hope you like it so far."