Phyllis Diller Was Quite the Musician

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Boy, you think you know a person. Her New York Times obituary notes that throughout the 1970s, Phyllis Diller performed as Dame Illya Dillya with over 100 orchestras. Janelle Gelfand, on the Cincinnati Enquirer website, recounted a 1972 appearance with the Pops and Erich Kunzel that included not just performances of Bach and Beethoven, but also Diller singing "The Ladies Who Lunch."

In 1969, she played harpsichord with Liberace:


 Here she is playing saxophone on the Muppet Show:


If you can't read, here's NPR's report on her death.

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