Phyllis Lindstrom

Phyllis Lindstrom (née Sutherland) was a fictional character on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spin-off "Phyllis." She was played by actress Cloris Leachman.

Mary's busybody friend

Phyllis was a busybody who was always sticking her nose into other people's business, whether it was warranted or not. She was an old friend of Mary Richards and despite her snobbishness and obliviousness, had only the best intentions in mind when she signed a year's lease for Mary to move into one of the best apartments in the building that she managed. As usual, Phyllis had ulterior motives. She signed the lease to keep Rhoda Morgenstern out of the apartment, which she coveted.

Rhoda and Phyllis clearly disliked one another. However, Rhoda was friends with Phyllis' young daughter, Bess. Bess called her "Aunt Rhoda," which irritated Phyllis to no end.

Besides Bess, Phyllis was married to the never seen Lars Lindstrom, who was a dermatologist. She also had a brother, Ben Sutherland, whom she tried to fix up with Mary, but he liked Rhoda, or so she thought. Ben, it turned out, was gay, and he had told Rhoda this because he trusted her with this information, and felt alienated enough from his sister that he couldn't tell her. In the end, however, Phyllis couldn't have cared less that Ben was gay; she was simply relieved to learn that he would not be marrying Rhoda.

When Bess was in high school, and after Lars had died, Phyllis decided to move out of Minneapolis, and back to her former hometown of San Francisco, California. She first worked at a photography studio owned by one Julie Erskine (Barbara Colby; Liz Torres) and then as an administrative assistant for one of the city's supervisors.

While there, she and Bess lived with Lars' mother, Audrey, and her new husband, Judge Jonathan Dexter. Phyllis' major nemesis by this time was his mother, Sally, aptly called, "Mother Dexter." She was, by far, the best of everyone at insulting Phyllis. Also, Bess had married Mark Valenti, the son of Phyllis' boss, City supervisor Carmen Valenti.

Her most famous nemesis during her days in Minneapolis, was Sue Ann Nivens, who had a cooking program called "The Happy Homemaker" on WJM-TV, the same station that Mary, Murray, Lou, and Ted worked for. Sue Ann had been at one of Mary's legendary disastrous parties, and she needed a ride home, and Lars offered her a ride, to the jealous Phyllis's dismay. She later confronted the Happy Homewrecker (as Sue Ann was derisively called) and trashed a chocolate souffle in the resultant confrontation with Phyllis devastating the fragile dessert by slamming the oven door hard. She also splattered chocolate on Sue Ann's blouse.

At the show's end, after she had heard from Lou that Mary had lost her job at the station, she, along with Rhoda, had flown back to Minneapolis to comfort her in her time of need. Time hadn't tamed the animosity between Phyllis and Rhoda, and they were still squabbling as ever. In one episode, Phyllis stated her views on Rhoda simply. "We like one another, except as people."

Phyllis tried to convince Mary to move with her back to San Francisco (supposedly to have someone on her side, when she battled with Mother Dexter), but that failed, having to compromise with Rhoda allowing Mary to remain in Minneapolis.