A housewife, mother and advertising copywriter, she first came to public attention as a contestant on Groucho Marx's quiz show "You Bet Your Life" in the mid-1950s.
Diller has appeared in more than a dozen, generally low-budget, movies and starred in two short-lived television series: The Pruitts of Southampton on ABC in 1966 and and the variety show The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show on NBC in 1968. Her main claim to fame is her stand-up comedy act.
In recent years, Diller has publicly discussed her plastic surgery, which has changed her persona from being deliberately ugly to chic and attractive for her age.