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IMDbPro

Carol Burnett(I)

  • Actress
  • Producer
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,0001134
Carol Burnett
Take a closer look at the legendary career of actress, comedienne, and singer Carol Burnett.
Play clip1:43
Carol Burnett | Career Retrospective
99+ Videos
99+ Photos
The entertainment world has enjoyed a six-decade love affair with comedienne/singer Carol Burnett. A peerless sketch performer and delightful, self-effacing personality who rightfully succeeded Lucille Ball as the carrot-topped "Queen of Television Comedy," it was Burnett's traumatic childhood that set the stage for her comedy.

Carol's rags-to-riches story started out in San Antonio, Texas, on April 26, 1933, where she was born to Ina Louise (Creighton) and Joseph Thomas "Jodie" Burnett, both of whom suffered from acute alcoholism. As a child, she was left in the care of a beloved grandmother, who shuttled the two of them off to Hollywood, California, where they lived in a boarding house and shared a great passion for the Golden Age of movies. The plaintive, loose-limbed, highly sensitive Carol survived her wallflower insecurities by grabbing attention as a cut-up at Hollywood High School. A natural talent, she attended the University of California and switched majors from journalism to theater. Scouting out comedy parts on TV and in the theater, she first had them rolling in the aisles in the mid-1950s performing a lovelorn novelty song called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (then Secretary of State) in a nightclub act. This led to night-time variety show appearances with Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan and where the career ball really started rolling.

Carol's first big TV breaks came at age 22 and 23 as a foil to a ventriloquist's dummy on the already-established The Paul Winchell Show (1950) in 1955, and as Buddy Hackett's gawky girlfriend on the short-lived sitcom Stanley (1956). She also developed an affinity for game shows and appeared as a regular on one of TV earliest, Stump the Stars (1947) in 1958. While TV would bring Carol fans by the millions, it was Broadway that set her on the road to stardom. She began as the woebegone Princess Winnifred in the 1959 Broadway musical "Once Upon a Mattress" which earned her first Tony Award nomination. [She would later appear in three TV adaptations - Once Upon a Mattress (1964), Once Upon a Mattress (1972) and Once Upon a Mattress (2005).] This, in turn, led to the first of an armful of Emmy Awards as a repertoire player on the popular variety series The Garry Moore Show (1958) in 1959. Burnett invented a number of scene-stealing characters during this time, most notably her charwoman character. With the phenomenal household success of the Moore show, she moved up quickly from second banana to headliner and appeared in a 1962 Emmy-winning special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962) co-starring close friend Julie Andrews. She earned the Outer Critics Circle Award for the short-lived musical "Fade Out, Fade In" (1964); and made her official film debut opposite Bewitched (1964) star Elizabeth Montgomery and Dean Martin in the lightweight comedy Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963).

Not surprisingly, fellow redhead Lucille Ball, who had been Carol's treasured idol growing up, subsequently became a friend and mentor to the rising funny girl. Hilarious as a guest star on The Lucy Show (1962), Carol appeared as a painfully shy (natch) wallflower type who suddenly blooms in jaw-dropping fashion. Ms. Ball was so convinced of Carol's talent that she offered Carol her own Desilu-produced sitcom, but Burnett had her heart set on fronting a variety show. With her own team of second bananas, including character crony Harvey Korman, handsome foil Lyle Waggoner, and lookalike "kid sister" type Vicki Lawrence, the The Carol Burnett Show (1967) became an instant sensation, and earned 22 Emmy Awards during its 11-year run. It allowed Carol to fire off her wide range of comedy and musical ammunition--whether running amok in broad sketch comedy, parodying movie icons such as Gloria Swanson, Shirley Temple, Vivien Leigh or Joan Crawford, or singing/gushing alongside favorite vocalists Jim Nabors, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé. She managed to bring in huge stars not known at all for slapstick comedy, including Rock Hudson and even then-Governor Ronald Reagan while providing a platform for such up-and-coming talent as Bernadette Peters and The Pointer Sisters In between, Carol branched out with supporting turns in the films Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974) and Robert Altman's A Wedding (1978).

Her program, whose last episode aired in March of 1978, was the last truly successful major network variety show to date. Carol took on new challenges to display her unseen dramatic mettle, and accomplished this amazingly in TV-movie showcases. She earned an Emmy nomination for her gripping portrayal of anti-Vietnam War activist Peg Mullen in Friendly Fire (1979), and convincingly played a woman coming to terms with her alcoholism in Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982). Neither character bore any traces of the usual Burnett comedy shtick. Though she proved she could contain herself for films, Carol was never able to acquire crossover success into movies, despite trouper work in The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982) (as the hammy villainess Miss Hannigan), and Noises Off... (1992). The last two roles had been created onstage by Broadway's Dorothy Loudon.

Carol would return from time to time to the stage and concert forums with productions of "Plaza Suite", "I Do! I Do", "Follies", "Company" and "Putting It Together". A second Tony nomination came for her comedy work in "Moon Over Buffalo" in 1995. Carol has made frequent appearances on her own favorite TV shows too, such as Password (1961) (along with Elizabeth Montgomery, Carol was considered one of the show's best players) and the daytime soaper, All My Children (1970).

During the early 1990s, Carol attempted a TV comeback of sorts, with a couple of new variety formats in Carol & Company (1990) and The Carol Burnett Show (1991), but neither could recreate the magic of the original. She has appeared, sporadically, on various established shows such as "Magnum, P.I.," "Touched by an Angel," "Mad About You" (for which she won an Emmy), "Desperate Housewives," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Emmy nomination), "Hawaii Five-0," "Glee" and "Hot in Cleveland." Befitting such a classy clown, she has received a multitude of awards over time, including the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1985. Her personal life has been valiant--tears in between the laughs. Married three times, her second union with jazz-musician-turned-variety-show-producer Joe Hamilton produced three daughters. Eldest girl, Carrie Hamilton, an actress and former teen substance abuser, tragically died of lung and brain cancer at age 38. Shortly before Carrie's death, mother and daughter managed to write a play, together, entitled "Hollywood Arms", based on Carol's 1986 memoir, "One More Time". The show subsequently made it to Broadway.

Today, at age 80 plus, Carol has been seen less frequently but still continues to make appearances, especially on TV. Most recently she has guested on the shows "Glee," "Hot in Cleveland" and the revivals of "Hawaii Five-0" and "Mad About You." As always she signs off a live appearance with her signature ear tug (acknowledging her late grandmother), reminding us all, between the wisecracks and the songs, how glad and lucky we all are to still have some of "this time together".
BornApril 26, 1933
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornApril 26, 1933
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,0001134
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 6 Primetime Emmys

Photos228

Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett in Television (1988)
Carol Burnett in The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
Carol Burnett in The Front Page (1974)
Jack Lemmon, Carol Burnett, and Austin Pendleton in The Front Page (1974)
Carol Burnett, Jon Korkes, and David Wayne in The Front Page (1974)
Carol Burnett and Betty White in The Pet Set (1971)
Carol Burnett, Ralph Helfer, and Betty White in The Pet Set (1971)
Carol Burnett, Ralph Helfer, Betty White, and Toni Helfer in The Pet Set (1971)
Dolly Parton and Carol Burnett in Dolly & Carol in Nashville (1979)
Carol Burnett and Lewis Phillips in Dolly & Carol in Nashville (1979)
Carol Burnett, Robin Ignico, and Irving Metzman in Annie (1982)
Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman in The Carol Burnett Show (1967)

Known for

The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
The Carol Burnett Show
8.7
TV Series
  • Various Characters
  • Self - Host
  • Hostess
Aileen Quinn in Annie (1982)
Annie
6.6
  • Miss Hannigan
  • 1982
Noises Off... (1992)
Noises Off...
7.5
  • Dotty Otley
  • Mrs. Clackett
  • 1992
Alan Alda and Carol Burnett in The Four Seasons (1981)
The Four Seasons
6.8
  • Kate Burroughs
  • 1981

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Mrs. American Pie
    • Pre-production
  • Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul (2015)
    Better Call Saul
  • Justin Timberlake, Walt Dohrn, and Anna Kendrick in Trolls Holiday in Harmony (2021)
    Trolls Holiday in Harmony
    • (voice)
  • Taylor Richardson, Auli'i Cravalho, Rhenzy Feliz, Anthony Jacques, and Gerald Isaac Waters in All Together Now (2020)
    All Together Now
  • Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser in Mad About You (1992)
    Mad About You
  • Tony Hale in Forky Asks a Question (2019)
    Forky Asks a Question
    • (voice)
  • Tom Hanks, Keanu Reeves, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Christina Hendricks, Keegan-Michael Key, Ally Maki, and Jordan Peele in Toy Story 4 (2019)
    Toy Story 4
    • (voice)
  • Jere Burns, Rashida Jones, Deon Cole, Hayes MacArthur, Andree Vermeulen, and Jagger in Angie Tribeca (2016)
    Angie Tribeca
  • Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe in Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar (2018)
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Altar
  • Household Name
  • Julie Andrews in Julie's Greenroom (2017)
    Julie's Greenroom
  • Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
    Hawaii Five-0
  • In Performance at the White House (1998)
    A Celebration of American Creativity: In Performance at the White House
  • Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White in Hot in Cleveland (2010)
    Hot in Cleveland
  • Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron, Kevin McHale, Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz, Amber Riley, and Heather Morris in Glee (2009)
    Glee
  • Kristin Booth, Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe, Eric Mabius, and Geoff Gustafson in Signed, Sealed, Delivered (2013)
    Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Producer

  • Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love
    • Pre-production
  • The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special (2017)
    The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special
  • The Wonderful World of Disney (1997)
    The Wonderful World of Disney
  • The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004)
    The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights
  • Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001)
    Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers
  • Southern Star: A Portrait of Atlanta
  • Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
    Men, Movies & Carol
  • The Carol Burnett Show (1967)
    The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion
  • The Carol Burnett Show (1991)
    The Carol Burnett Show
  • A Conversation with...
  • Plaza Suite (1987)
    Plaza Suite

Writer

  • Carol Burnett, Derek Hough, and Emmersyn Fiorentino in A Little Help with Carol Burnett (2018)
    A Little Help with Carol Burnett
  • The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special (2017)
    The Carol Burnett 50th Anniversary Special
  • Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
    Men, Movies & Carol
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos110

Carol Burnett | Career Retrospective
Clip 1:43
Carol Burnett | Career Retrospective
2019 Golden Globes Big Winners
Clip 3:20
2019 Golden Globes Big Winners
"Escaping the Cat"
Clip 1:29
"Escaping the Cat"
"Capture"
Clip 1:51
"Capture"
Post Grad
Clip 0:40
Post Grad
Post Grad
Clip 1:04
Post Grad
Post Grad
Clip 0:56
Post Grad
Post Grad
Clip 0:42
Post Grad
Post Grad
Clip 1:01
Post Grad
Post Grad
Clip 0:53
Post Grad
Post Grad
Interview 0:35
Post Grad
Post Grad
Interview 0:27
Post Grad

Personal details

Edit
    • April 26, 1933
    • San Antonio, Texas, USA
    • Brian MillerNovember 24, 2001 - present
    • Carrie Hamilton
    • Chrissie Burnett(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared (as "Princess Winnifred, Princess of Farfelot"; Broadway debut) in "Once Upon a Mattress" on Broadway. Musical comedy. Book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer, Dean Fuller. Music by Mary Rodgers. Lyrics by Marshall Barer. Music orchestrated by Hershy Kay, Arthur Beck, Carroll Huxley. Dance arrangements by Roger Adams. Musical Director: Harold Hastings [credited as Hal Hastings]. Musical Staging by Joe Layton. Directed by George Abbott. Phoenix Theatre (moved to The Alvin Theatre (from 25 Nov 1959-22 Feb 1960, then moved to The Winter Garden Theatre from 24 Feb 1960-23 Apr 1960, then moved to The Cort Theatre from 25 Apr 1960-7 May 1960, then moved to The St. James Theatre 9 May 1960-close): 11 May 1959- 2 Jul 1960 (244 performances). Cast: Joe Bova (as "Prince Dauntless, son of King Sextimus and Queen Aggravain"), Allen Case (as "Sir Harry, Knight of the Herald"), Jack Gilford (as "The King Sextimus"), Anne Jones (as "Lady Larken, a Lady in waiting"), Matt Mattox (as "Jester"), Harry Snow (as "Minstrel, a traveling player"), Robert Weil (as "Wizard"), Jane White (as "The Queen Aggravain"), Dorothy Aull (as "Lady Rowena"), Dorothy D'Honau (as "Lady Dorothy"), Christopher Edwards (as "Sir Christopher"), Luce Ennis (as "Lady Lucille"), Dorothy Frank (as "Lady Dora"), Chris Karner (as "Princess, in the Prologue" / "Lady Mabelle"), Patsi King (as "Lady Merrill"), Jim Maher (as "Prince, in the Prologue"), Tom Mixon (as "Sir Luce"), David Neuman (as "Sir Harold"), Jerry Newby (as "Sir Studley"), Howard Parker (as "Lord Howard"), Julian Patrick (as "Lord Patrick"), Ginny Perlowin (as "The Nightingale of Samarkand, a royal pet"), Dan Resin (as "Sir Daniel"), Mary Stanton (as "Princess Number Twelve"), Gloria Stevens (as "Queen, in the Prologue" / "Lady Beatrice"), Jim Stevenson (as "Sir Steven"). Standby: Will Lee (as "The King Sextimus"). Understudies: Dorothy Aull (as "Princess Winnifred"), Patsi King (as "Queen"), Tom Mixon (as "Prince Dauntless"), Jerry Newby (as "Jester" / "Wizard"), Mary Stanton (as "Lady Larken") and Jim Stevenson (as "Minstrel"). Replacement cast during Phoenix Theatre run: Joseph Carow (as "Sir Joseph"), Patti Karr (as "Lady Rowena"), Will Lee (as "The King Sextimus"), Jean Mattox (as "Lady Dora"), Marjorie Pragon (as "Lady Mabelle" / "Lady Merrill" / Princess, in the Prologue"), Dan Resin (as "Sir Harry, Knight of the Herald"), Casper Roos (as "Lord Casper"), Anthony Rossi (as "Sir Anthony"), Jack Schwartz (as "Sir Steven"). Understudies: Luce Ennis (as "The Queen Aggravain"), Patti Karr (as "Princess Winnifred"), Casper Roos (as "Sir Harry"), Anthony Rossi (as "Minstrel"), Jack Sydow (as "The King Sextimus" / "Wizard"). Replacement cast during Alvin Theatre run: Anne Fielding (as "Lady Merrill"), Dorothy Frank (as "Lady Beatrice/Queen, in the Prologue"), Stuart Hodes (as "Sir Luce"), Peter Holmes (as "Sir Nicholas"), Gene Kelton (as "Lord Howard" / "Prince, in the Prologue"), Cheryl Kilgren (as "Princess Number Twelve"), Jerane Michel (as "Lady Jerane"), Tom Mixon (as "Sir Studley"), Jerry Newby (as "Jester"), Paul Richards (as "Sir Paul"), Gina Viglione (as "The Nightingale of Samarkand, a royal pet"), Ellie Zalon (as "Lady Lucille"). Understudies: Anne Fielding (as "Lady Larken"), Stuart Hodes (as "Jester"), Patti Karr (as "The Queen Aggravain"), Paul Richards (as "Minstrel"), Gina Viglione (as "The Queen Aggravain"). Replacement cast during Cort Theatre run: none known. Replacement cast during St. James Theatre run: Dorothy Aull (as "Lady Rowena"), Edmund Balin (as "Sir Edmund"), John Baylis (as "Sir Luce"), Stuart Hodes (as "Sir Studley"), Beth Howland (as "Lady Beth"), Carla Huston (as "Lady Merrill"), Betty Linton (as "Lady Elizabeth"). Understudies: Dorothy Aull (as "Princess Winnifred"), John Baylis (as "Prince Dauntless"), Carla Huston (as "Lady Larken"). Produced by T. Edward Hambleton, Norris Houghton, William Eckart and Jean Eckart.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Biographical Movie
    • 3 Print Biographies
    • 8 Interviews
    • 14 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 12 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    On the morning of her 56th birthday, her good friend Lucille Ball died - April 26, 1989. That afternoon, Burnett received the flowers that Ball had ordered for her birthday.
  • Quotes
    [about her youth] Sometimes a guy would ask me to jitterbug, but nine times out of ten, they were not only a foot shorter than I was, but geeks to boot.
    • Tugs on her left ear during all on-camera appearances as a way of saying "Hello" to her grandmother. It was her grandmother who raised her and took her to the movies all the time.
    • The United States Steel Hour
      (1953)
      $5,000 for one show

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