Carol Burnett
American comedian and actress
| Date of Birth | : | 26 Apr, 1933 |
| Place of Birth | : | San Antonio, Texas, United States |
| Profession | : | American Actress |
| Nationality | : | American |
| Social Profiles | : |
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Carol Creighton Burnett (ক্যারল ক্রেইটন বার্নেট) is an American comedian, actress, and singer. Her groundbreaking comedy-variety show The Carol Burnett Show, which originally aired on CBS, was one of the first to be hosted by a woman.She has performed on Broadway, on television, and in film of varying genres, including dramatic and comedic roles. She has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Grammy Award, and seven Golden Globe Awards. Burnett was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2015.
Born
Burnett was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, until her family moved to Hollywood, living a block away from Hollywood Boulevard. She attended Hollywood High School and eventually studied theater and musical comedy at UCLA. Later, she performed in nightclubs in New York City and had a breakout success on Broadway in 1959 in Once Upon a Mattress, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. She soon made her television debut, regularly appearing on The Garry Moore Show for the next three years, and won her first Emmy Award in 1962. Burnett had her television special debut in 1963 when she starred as Calamity Jane in the Dallas State Fair Musicals production of Calamity Jane on CBS.
Eventually, Burnett moved back to Los Angeles and began an 11-year run as star of The Carol Burnett Show on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With its vaudeville roots, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show that combined comedy sketches with song and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many memorable characters during the show's run, and both she and the show won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. During and after her variety show, Burnett appeared in many television and film projects.
Burnett’s film roles include Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), A Wedding (1978), The Four Seasons (1981), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). She has also given performances in the dramas 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974) and Friendly Fire (1979); in guest roles such as in Mad About You, for which she won an Emmy Award; and in various specials with Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton, and Beverly Sills. She returned to Broadway in Moon Over Buffalo (1995), receiving another Tony Award nomination. She acted in the AMC drama Better Call Saul (2022).
Burnett has written and narrated several memoirs, earning Grammy nominations for almost all of them, including a win for In Such Good Company. In 2019, the Golden Globes named an award after her for career achievement in television, the Carol Burnett Award, and Burnett received her first award. She was honored with an NBC special Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love celebrating her 90th birthday.
Early Life
Carol Creighton Burnett was born on April 26, 1933, in San Antonio, Texas, to Joseph and Ina Louise Burnett. After her parents divorced in the late 1930s, Burnett moved with her grandmother, Mabel Eudora White, to a small apartment in Hollywood, California. She attended Hollywood High School, graduating in 1951.
After studying theater arts and English at the University of California, Los Angeles, as an aspiring playwright, Burnett left school early and made her way to New York City with her boyfriend, Don Saroyan, in hopes of breaking into acting.
Early Career
Burnett made her first television appearance in the early 1950s with a short stint on The Winchell-Mahoney Show, a children's TV program. Soon after, she began co-starring with Buddy Hackett on the sitcom Stanley (1956-57). In 1959, Burnett became a regular on The Garry Moore Show. Over the years, she was also featured on occasional CBS specials. Already a popular performer, she got her own comedy-variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, in 1967.
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show usually opened with a question-and-answer session with the audience, and the silliness ensued — broad comedy skits and sketches, with Burnett using her expressive face to great humorous ends. The show ran for 11 seasons, leaving the air in 1978. Burnett later returned to TV with the comedy series Carol & Company in 1990 and The Carol Burnett Show in 1991. However, neither effort lasted long.
Film and Stage Career
In addition to her hit television show, Burnett has appeared in a number of feature films, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992) and Post Grad (2009), and performed the voices of animated characters in films like The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) and Horton Hears a Who! (2008).
Burnett has also done a lot of stage work. She made her Broadway debut in the musical Once Upon a Mattress in 1959 and went on to appear in a few other Broadway shows, including Moon Over Buffalo (1995-1996) and Putting It Together (1999-2000). Her 1986 autobiography, One More Time: A Memoir, provided the source material for the play Hollywood Arms, which was performed on Broadway from October 2002 to January 2003. Burnett co-wrote the piece with her oldest daughter, Carrie Hamilton.
Over her decades-long career, Burnett has won numerous honors, including American Comedy Awards, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, the 1980 Women in Film Crystal Award, the 2006 Presidential Medal of Freedom and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Recent Projects
Burnett received a unique honor in 2009. One of her costumes from The Carol Burnett Show was added to the collection of the Smithsonian's American History Museum. The dress selected was from her famed spoof of Gone With the Wind. The following year, she looked back on her career with the autobiography This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection.
Burnett also made a guest appearance on the hit TV series Desperate Housewives in 2006, and appeared in roles on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Glee in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
In recent years, Burnett has appeared at theaters across the country. Each performance is an unscripted event with Burnett forming a dialogue with the audience. The inspiration for this style of show comes from the question and answer session she used to do at the beginning of each episode of The Carol Burnett Show.
In 2013, Burnett won one of greatest honors bestowed on comedians. She received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center Honors held that October. Tina Fey was among those who helped celebrate Burnett's work at the event. According to the Huffington Post, Fey told Burnett that "I fell in love with sketch comedy watching your show, and you proved sketch comedy is a good place for women." Just months later in 2013, Burnett became a recipient of Kennedy Center Honors.
Personal Life
Burnett has been married three times. She first wed Don Saroyan in 1955. They split up in 1962. The following year, Burnett married Joe Hamilton. The couple had three daughters—Carrie, Jody and Erin—before divorcing in 1984. Burnett has been married to Brian Miller since 2001.
In 2002, Burnett suffered a devastating loss when her oldest daughter Carrie died of cancer. She later established the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse in her honor. More than a decade after Carrie's passing, Burnett explored her relationship with her late daughter in the 2013 memoir Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story. The book details Carrie's struggles with addiction and her valiant fight against her cancer.
Discography
Recording appearances as a singer:
Solo/duet albums
- Carol Burnett Remembers How They Stopped the Show (1961). Decca. LP, digital.
- Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall - Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (1962). Recording from Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall TV special. Columbia Masterworks. LP, CD, digital.
- Let Me Entertain You: Carol Burnett Sings (1964). Decca. LP, CD, digital.
- Carol Burnett Sings (1967).RCA. LP, CD, digital.
- Here's Carol! Carol Burnett Sings (1968). Vocalion. LP, digital.
- Together Again for the First Time - Carol Burnett and Martha Raye (1968). Tetragrammaton Records. LP.
- Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center - Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (1971).Recording from Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center TV special. Columbia Masterworks. LP, CD, digital.
- Carol Burnett Featuring 'If I Could Write a Song' (1972). Columbia. LP, CD, digital.
- Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett: The CBS Television Specials - Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett (2012). Compilation of albums Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center. Masterworks Broadway. CD, digital.
Other recordings
- Once Upon a Mattress - Original Cast Recording (1959). Kapp Records. LP, CD, digital.
- Three Billion Millionaires - Various Artists (1963). United Nations. LP.
- Fade Out – Fade In - Original Broadway Cast (1964). ABC-Paramount. LP, CD, digital.
- Annie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Various Artists (1982). Columbia. LP, CD, digital.
- Follies: In Concert - Various Artists (1985). RCA. LP, CD, digital.
- Sherry! The Broadway Musical - Studio Cast (2004). Angel Records. CD, digital.
- Annie: The Broadway Musical - 30th Anniversary Production - Various Artists (2008). Time Life. CD, digital.
Bibliography
Memoirs
Burnett and her oldest daughter, Carrie Hamilton, co-wrote Hollywood Arms (2002), a play based on Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time (1986). The show was developed at the 1998 Sundance Theatre Lab and The Goodman Theatre before arriving on Broadway, directed by Harold Prince. Sara Niemietz and Donna Lynne Champlin shared the role of Helen (the character based on Burnett), while Michele Pawk played Louise, Helen's mother, and Linda Lavin played Helen's grandmother. For her performance, Pawk received the 2003 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.The show received a staging at New York's Merkin Concert Hall in 2015.
Burnett has written and recorded three memoirs, each voice recording receiving a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.
- This Time Together (2010)
- Carrie and Me (2014)
- In Such Good Company (2016)
Books
- Mendoza, George; Burnett, Carol (1975). What I Want to Be When I Grow Up. New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0671221591.
- Burnett, Carol (1986). One More Time : A Memoir By Carol Burnett (1st ed.). New York City: Random House. ISBN 978-0394552545.
- Burnett, Carol (2011). This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection (Reprint ed.). New York City: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0307461193.
- Burnett, Carol (2014). Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story (Reprint ed.). New York City: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1476755793.
- Burnett, Carol (2016). In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox. New York City: Crown Archetype. ISBN 978-1101904657.
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