First husband of famed comedienne Phyllis Diller. He was commonly called Sherry.
He was the son of Waldo Diller and Maude Anderson Diller. He met Phyllis Driver when she was a senior at Bluffton College in Ohio. They eloped to Kentucky on November 9, 1939. Within the next year, the first of what was to become a brood of 5 children arrived. Peter was born in September 1940, he died of cancer in 1998; next was the couple's first daughter, Sallee, arriving in November 1944; followed by Suzanne in March 1946; daughter Stephanie was born in October 1948, she died of a stroke in 2002; and their last child, a son, Perry, came along in February 1950. (In her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, Phyllis Diller revealed she and Sherry had 6 children. She states, "we lost the second shortly after he was born...a blue baby who lived just two weeks in an incubator." Ms. Diller described the child as having a deformity of the hands and possibly being blind. She said he was given her father's name of Perry, a name that would later be given to their youngest child.)
The Diller's eventually made their way west to California where Sherwood worked as an inspector at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Over the next decade, he changed jobs numerous times and at one point was a refrigerator salesman at Sears Roebuck. Phyllis Diller recounted in her book that in a period of one year, Sherry changed jobs 17 times after losing a job he held for 3 years.
It was Sherwood who suggested in 1955 that Phyllis audition for San Francisco's Purple Onion night club. She was a smash and was on stage there for the next 89 weeks--a record. As her show business career skyrocketed, he acted as her manager for the first few years. They divorced September 3, 1965 in Los Angeles, California.
Less than 4 weeks before his 80th birthday, he died. He was living at the time in Ventura, California.
Shortly after Sherwood and Phyllis Diller divorced, she remarried. Her marriage to actor Warde Donovan lasted 10 years. Phyllis Diller survived Sherwood by 19 years. She died peacefully at her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California on the morning of August 20, 2012.
He was the son of Waldo Diller and Maude Anderson Diller. He met Phyllis Driver when she was a senior at Bluffton College in Ohio. They eloped to Kentucky on November 9, 1939. Within the next year, the first of what was to become a brood of 5 children arrived. Peter was born in September 1940, he died of cancer in 1998; next was the couple's first daughter, Sallee, arriving in November 1944; followed by Suzanne in March 1946; daughter Stephanie was born in October 1948, she died of a stroke in 2002; and their last child, a son, Perry, came along in February 1950. (In her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, Phyllis Diller revealed she and Sherry had 6 children. She states, "we lost the second shortly after he was born...a blue baby who lived just two weeks in an incubator." Ms. Diller described the child as having a deformity of the hands and possibly being blind. She said he was given her father's name of Perry, a name that would later be given to their youngest child.)
The Diller's eventually made their way west to California where Sherwood worked as an inspector at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Over the next decade, he changed jobs numerous times and at one point was a refrigerator salesman at Sears Roebuck. Phyllis Diller recounted in her book that in a period of one year, Sherry changed jobs 17 times after losing a job he held for 3 years.
It was Sherwood who suggested in 1955 that Phyllis audition for San Francisco's Purple Onion night club. She was a smash and was on stage there for the next 89 weeks--a record. As her show business career skyrocketed, he acted as her manager for the first few years. They divorced September 3, 1965 in Los Angeles, California.
Less than 4 weeks before his 80th birthday, he died. He was living at the time in Ventura, California.
Shortly after Sherwood and Phyllis Diller divorced, she remarried. Her marriage to actor Warde Donovan lasted 10 years. Phyllis Diller survived Sherwood by 19 years. She died peacefully at her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California on the morning of August 20, 2012.
First husband of famed comedienne Phyllis Diller. He was commonly called Sherry.
He was the son of Waldo Diller and Maude Anderson Diller. He met Phyllis Driver when she was a senior at Bluffton College in Ohio. They eloped to Kentucky on November 9, 1939. Within the next year, the first of what was to become a brood of 5 children arrived. Peter was born in September 1940, he died of cancer in 1998; next was the couple's first daughter, Sallee, arriving in November 1944; followed by Suzanne in March 1946; daughter Stephanie was born in October 1948, she died of a stroke in 2002; and their last child, a son, Perry, came along in February 1950. (In her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, Phyllis Diller revealed she and Sherry had 6 children. She states, "we lost the second shortly after he was born...a blue baby who lived just two weeks in an incubator." Ms. Diller described the child as having a deformity of the hands and possibly being blind. She said he was given her father's name of Perry, a name that would later be given to their youngest child.)
The Diller's eventually made their way west to California where Sherwood worked as an inspector at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Over the next decade, he changed jobs numerous times and at one point was a refrigerator salesman at Sears Roebuck. Phyllis Diller recounted in her book that in a period of one year, Sherry changed jobs 17 times after losing a job he held for 3 years.
It was Sherwood who suggested in 1955 that Phyllis audition for San Francisco's Purple Onion night club. She was a smash and was on stage there for the next 89 weeks--a record. As her show business career skyrocketed, he acted as her manager for the first few years. They divorced September 3, 1965 in Los Angeles, California.
Less than 4 weeks before his 80th birthday, he died. He was living at the time in Ventura, California.
Shortly after Sherwood and Phyllis Diller divorced, she remarried. Her marriage to actor Warde Donovan lasted 10 years. Phyllis Diller survived Sherwood by 19 years. She died peacefully at her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California on the morning of August 20, 2012.
He was the son of Waldo Diller and Maude Anderson Diller. He met Phyllis Driver when she was a senior at Bluffton College in Ohio. They eloped to Kentucky on November 9, 1939. Within the next year, the first of what was to become a brood of 5 children arrived. Peter was born in September 1940, he died of cancer in 1998; next was the couple's first daughter, Sallee, arriving in November 1944; followed by Suzanne in March 1946; daughter Stephanie was born in October 1948, she died of a stroke in 2002; and their last child, a son, Perry, came along in February 1950. (In her autobiography, Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse, Phyllis Diller revealed she and Sherry had 6 children. She states, "we lost the second shortly after he was born...a blue baby who lived just two weeks in an incubator." Ms. Diller described the child as having a deformity of the hands and possibly being blind. She said he was given her father's name of Perry, a name that would later be given to their youngest child.)
The Diller's eventually made their way west to California where Sherwood worked as an inspector at the Alameda Naval Air Station. Over the next decade, he changed jobs numerous times and at one point was a refrigerator salesman at Sears Roebuck. Phyllis Diller recounted in her book that in a period of one year, Sherry changed jobs 17 times after losing a job he held for 3 years.
It was Sherwood who suggested in 1955 that Phyllis audition for San Francisco's Purple Onion night club. She was a smash and was on stage there for the next 89 weeks--a record. As her show business career skyrocketed, he acted as her manager for the first few years. They divorced September 3, 1965 in Los Angeles, California.
Less than 4 weeks before his 80th birthday, he died. He was living at the time in Ventura, California.
Shortly after Sherwood and Phyllis Diller divorced, she remarried. Her marriage to actor Warde Donovan lasted 10 years. Phyllis Diller survived Sherwood by 19 years. She died peacefully at her home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California on the morning of August 20, 2012.
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