Legendary comedian and Broadway veteran Phyllis Diller has died at age 95 in Los Angeles, according to published reports.

Diller played the title role in the original Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! in 1969 and 1970.

She began working steadily in Hollywood in the 1960s, and her many film and television credits include The Phyllis Diller Show, Splendor in the Grass, Love, American Style, A Bug's Life, and The Bold and the Beautiful.

Known for her adept timing and precisely structured jokes, Diller took pride in being able to deliver as many as 12 punch lines per minute.

The first laugh came easy. With her fright-wig hair and garish attire that typically included a fake-jeweled cigarette holder, gloves and ankle boots, she merely had to walk on stage.

During her long career, she was in more than two dozen movies, including three with Bob Hope, with whom she also appeared on numerous TV specials and traveled with to Vietnam to entertain U.S. troops.

She also was the host of a 1964 TV talent show called "Show Street," starred as the widowed matriarch of a financially strapped society family in the 1966-67 situation comedy "The Pruitts of Southampton" (renamed "The Phyllis Diller Show" midway through the season), and starred in the short-lived 1968 comedy-variety series "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show."

Diller was married twice and had six children; she is survived by her son, Perry, and daughter Suzanne.