Bob Avian (born December 26, 1937) is an American choreographer and a theatre producer and director.

Born in New York City, Avian's spent his early career dividing his time between dancing in such Broadway shows as West Side Story, Funny Girl, and Henry, Sweet Henry and working as a production assistant on projects like I Do! I Do! and Twigs. He first met Michael Bennett when they both appeared in Nowhere to Go But Up in 1962, and over the course of the next two decades the two collaborated on Promises, Promises, Coco, Company, Follies, Seesaw, God's Favorite, A Chorus Line, Ballroom, and Dreamgirls, Avian's first credit as a solo producer. Additional Broadway credits include Putting It Together and the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line, which he directed.

In London's West End, Avian choreographed Follies, Martin Guerre, The Witches of Eastwick, Miss Saigon, and Sunset Boulevard, repeating the assignment for the Broadway productions of the latter two. He also staged Hey, Mr. Producer!, the Cameron Mackintosh tribute.

Awards and nominations[link]

Awards

• 1976 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography – A Chorus Line
• 1976 Tony Award for Best Choreography – A Chorus Line
• 1979 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography – Ballroom
• 1979 Tony Award for Best Choreography – Ballroom
• 1997 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography – Martin Guerre

Nominations

• 1979 Tony Award for Best Musical – Ballroom
• 1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical – Dreamgirls
• 1982 Tony Award for Best Musical – Dreamgirls
• 1991 Tony Award for Best Choreography – Miss Saigon
• 1995 Tony Award for Best Choreography – Sunset Boulevard

References[link]

• "Bob Avian Biography". filmreference. 2008. http://www.filmreference.com/film/1/Bob-Avian.html. Retrieved 2008-08-13. 
• Kelly, Kevin(1990),One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story, Zebra, ISBN 0-8217-3310-9
• Mandelbaum, Ken (1990), A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett, St. Martins Press, ISBN 0-312-04280-9
• Stevens, Gary (2000), The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line, Applause Books, ISBN 1-55783-221-8
• Flinn, Denny Martin (1989), What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line", Bantam, ISBN 0-553-34593-1
• Viagas, Robert (1990), On the Line - The Creation of A Chorus Line, Limelight Editions, ISBN 0-87910-336-1

External links[link]

• Bob Avian at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bob Avian at the Internet Movie Database

Baayork Lee (born December 5, 1946) is an Asian-American actress, singer, dancer, choreographer, theatre director, and author.

Early life and career[link]

Lee was born in New York City's Chinatown to an Indian mother and Chinese father. She started dancing at an early age, and she made her Broadway debut at the age of five as Princess Ying Yawolak in the original production of The King and I in 1951. Yul Brynner, the original king, was like a second father to her. After she outgrew the show, she first collected unemployment at age eight. With further dance study in ballet, modern, and afro-Cuban, she appeared in George Balanchine's original production of The Nutcracker, where she met another idol, ballerina Maria Tallchief, whom she hoped to emulate.^[1]

While attending the High School for Performing Arts, she met fellow student Michael Bennett, and appeared in Flower Drum Song, in which she was taught to walk in high heels. When reaching her full height of four foot, ten inches (147 cm), her dreams of becoming a ballerina were dashed because she was deemed too short. Next, when offered a scholarship to Juilliard, Lee instead chose to further her career and Broadway appearances included Mr. President, Golden Boy, and Here's Love. Her next three shows were all choreographed by her old friend, Michael Bennett: A Joyful Noise, Henry, Sweet Henry, and Promises, Promises (in which she performed the famous dance Turkey Lurkey Time with Donna McKechnie and Margo Sappington). Lee was dance captain for Promises, Promises, and recreated the choreography for subsequent touring productions, starting her future path as choreographer.

In 1973, she travelled to Israel to film Norman Jewison's version of Jesus Christ Superstar.

[edit] A Chorus Line and Michael Bennett

In 1973, she appeared in Bennett's Seesaw and was featured opposite Tommy Tune. Again assisting with the choreography, if Bob Avian was Bennett's right hand, Lee had become his left.

In 1975, Lee was invited by Michael Bennett to participate in the workshops from which A Chorus Line was developed. The role of "Connie Wong" was in large part, based upon her own life. Her bubbly and vibrant energy^[2] and "dynamo" personality were reflected in her brief solo, although Lee reports her mother disliked her daughter's singing. Lee laughingly blamed the notes. (Her "Four foot, ten" solo, long missing from the album, was finally heard on a re-release in the late 1990s). Along with the cast, she won the 1976 Theatre World Award for Ensemble Performance for the show. Over the years she has directed or choreographed more than thirty-five international productions of the musical, including the most recent Broadway revival in 2006. Fifteen years later, along with cast member Thommie Walsh and Robert Viagas, she documented the evolution of A Chorus Line in the book On the Line: the Creation of A Chorus Line, published in 1990. The 2008 feature documentary "Every Little Step" chronicles the casting process of A Chorus Line's 2006 revival, which was choreographed by Lee, and, in the course of the film, the saga of the original production is re-told as well, through the use of old film clips and revealing interviews from the original collaborators, including Lee.

Lee had become one of Bennett's closest collaborators and helped develop the choreography in many of his shows.

Choreography and Directing Career[link]

Starting in the 1970s, Lee stepped out on her own choreographing Where's Charley? in New Jersey. Since then, she has directed national and international tours of The King & I, Bombay Dreams, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Barnum, Porgy and Bess, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Carmen Jones. She was Associate Choreographer for Tommy Tune. She also has choreographed several productions for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. She also choreographed the ill-fated Marilyn: An American Fable when Kenny Ortega was fired during rehearsals. Other projects include becoming a talent scout for Tokyo Disneyland, opening a musical theater school in Seoul, South Korea, and producing.

Lee was the recipient of the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Asian Woman Warrior Award from Columbia College Chicago.^[3]

Watch[link]

• Turkey Lurkey Time from Promises, Promises (Miss Wong), 1969 Tony Award Show

References and sources[link]

• Flinn, Denny Martin, What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line, Bantam, 1989, ISBN 0-553-34593-1
• Viagas, Robert, Baayork Lee, Thommie Walsh, On the Line: the Creation of A Chorus Line, Morrow, 1990, ISBN 0-688-08429-X
• Baayork Lee's website
• Baayork Lee on IMBD

Michael Bennett (April 8, 1943 – July 2, 1987) was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven.

Bennett choreographed Promises, Promises, Follies and Company. In 1976, he won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Choreography for the Pulitzer Prize–winning phenomenon A Chorus Line. Bennett, under the aegis of producer Joseph Papp, created A Chorus Line based on a precedent-setting workshop process which he pioneered. He also directed and co-choreographed Dreamgirls with Michael Peters.

Early life and career[link]

Bennett was born Michael Bennett DiFiglia in Buffalo, New York, the son of Helen (Ternoff), a secretary, and Salvatore Joseph DiFiglia, a factory worker.^[1] His father was Roman Catholic and his mother was Jewish.^[2] He studied dance and choreography in his teens and staged a number of shows in his local high school before dropping out to accept the role of Baby John in the US and European tours of West Side Story.

Bennett's career as a Broadway dancer began in the 1961 Betty Comden–Adolph Green–Jule Styne musical Subways Are For Sleeping, after which he appeared in Meredith Willson's Here's Love and the short-lived Bajour.^[3] In the mid-1960s he was a featured dancer on the NBC pop music series Hullabaloo, where he met fellow dancer Donna McKechnie.^[4]

Bennett made his choreographic debut with A Joyful Noise (1966), which lasted only twelve performances, and in 1967 followed it with another failure, Henry, Sweet Henry (based on the Peter Sellers film The World of Henry Orient).^[3] Success finally arrived in 1968, when he choreographed the hit musical Promises, Promises on Broadway. With a contemporary pop score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, a wisecracking book by Neil Simon and Bennett's well-received production numbers, including "Turkey Lurkey Time", the show ran for 1,281 performances.^[5] Over the next few years, he earned praise for his work on the straight play Twigs with Sada Thompson and the musical Coco with Katharine Hepburn.^[3] These were followed by two Stephen Sondheim productions, Company and Follies co-directed with Hal Prince.^[3]

In 1973, Bennett was asked by producers Joseph Kipness and Larry Kasha to take over the ailing Cy Coleman–Dorothy Fields musical Seesaw. In replacing the director Ed Sherin and choreographer Grover Dale, he asked for absolute control over the production as director and choreographer and received credit as "having written, directed, and choreographed" the show.^[6]

[edit] A Chorus Line and the 1980s

Bennett's next project was A Chorus Line. The musical was formed out of hundreds of hours of taped sessions with Broadway dancers. Bennett was invited to the sessions originally as an observer but soon took charge.^[7] He co-choreographed and directed the production, which debuted in May 1975 off-Broadway. It won nine Tony Awards and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He later claimed that the worldwide success of A Chorus Line became a hindrance, as the many international companies of that musical demanded his full-time attention.^[8] Bennett would later become a creative consultant for the 1985 film version of the musical but left due to creative differences. He always sought creative control over his projects, but Hollywood producers were unwilling to give him the influence he demanded.^[9]

Although the film version was but a pale imitation of the original, there are some filmed records which testify to the show's initial power. Television talk-show host Phil Donahue devoted an entire program to the original cast, during which they reminisce and recreate some of the musical numbers. The 2008 feature-length documentary "Every Little Step" chronicles the casting process of A Chorus Line's 2006 revival, with re-created choreography by Bennett's long-time associate Baayork Lee, and, in the course of the film, the saga of the original production is re-told as well, through the use of old film clips and revealing interviews from the original collaborators, including Lee, Bob Avian (who was the show's original co-choreographer with Bennett and the director of the revival), composer Marvin Hamlisch and the original's leading lady, Donna McKechnie.

Bennett's next musical was an admired project about late-life romance called Ballroom. Although financially unsuccessful, it garnered 7 Tony Award nominations, and Michael won one for Best Choreography. He admitted that any project that followed A Chorus Line was bound to be an anti-climax.^[10] Bennett had another hit in 1981 with Dreamgirls, a backstage epic about a girl-group like The Supremes and the expropriation of black music by a white recording industry. In the early 1980s, Bennett worked on various projects, one of which was titled The Children's Crusade based on a legendary story Children's Crusade, but none of them reached the stage.^[11]

He always collaborated with his assistant Bob Avian, who was a lifelong friend.^[12]

In 1985, Bennett abandoned the nearly-completed musical Scandal, by writer Treva Silverman and songwriter Jimmy Webb, which had been developing for nearly five years through a series of workshop productions.^[13] The show was sexually daring, and apparently Bennett's best work, but the conservative climate and the growing AIDS panic made it unlikely commercial material.^[14] He was then signed to direct the West End production of Chess but had to withdraw in January 1986 due to his failing health, leaving Trevor Nunn to complete the production using Bennett's already commissioned sets.^[15][16]

Analysis[link]

Unlike his more famous contemporary Bob Fosse, Bennett was not known for a particular choreographic style. Instead, Bennett's choreography was motivated by the form of the musical involved, or the distinct characters interpreted.^[17]

In Act 2 of Company, Bennett defied the usual choreographic expectations by deliberately taking the polish off the standard Broadway production number. The company stumbled through the steps of a hat and cane routine ("Side By Side") and thus revealed to the audience the physical limitations of the characters' singing and dancing. Bennett made the audience aware that this group had been flung together to perform, and that they were in over their heads. He intended the number to be not about the routine, but rather the characters behind it.^[18]

The song "One" from A Chorus Line functions in a different way. The various phases of construction/rehearsal of the number are shown, and because the show is about professional dancers, the last performance of the song-and-dance routine has all the gloss and polish expected of Broadway production values. Bennett's choreography also reveals the cost of the number to the people behind it.^[19]

Bennett was influenced by the work of Jerome Robbins. "What Michael Bennett perceived early in Robbins' work was totality, all the sums of a given piece adding to a unified whole".^[20] In Dreamgirls, Bennett's musical staging was described as a "mesmerizing sense of movement":

The most thrilling breakthrough of the extraordinary show is that whereas in A Chorus Line Michael Bennett choreographed the cast, in Dreamgirls he has choreographed the set.... Bennett's use of [the plexiglass towers that dominated the set] was revolutionary. The towers moved to create constantly changing perspectives and space, like an automated ballet.... They energized the action, driving it forcefully along. It's why there were no set-piece dance routines in the show: Dance and movement were organic to the entire action. But Bennett had made the mechanical set his dancers."^[21]

Personal life[link]

In his younger days, Bennett had a relationship with Larry Fuller, a dancer, choreographer and director.^[22]

He had a long professional and personal relationship with the virtuoso dancer Donna McKechnie, who danced his work in both Promises, Promises and Company and finally won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in the role he had created for her in A Chorus Line. They got married on December 4, 1976, but after only a few months they separated and eventually divorced in 1979.^[23]

In the late 1970s he began an affair with Sabine Cassel, the then-wife of French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel.^[24] She left her family in Paris to live with Bennett in Manhattan, but the relationship soured.^[25]

Bennett's addictions to alcohol and drugs, notably cocaine and quaaludes, severely affected his ability to work and affected many of his professional and personal relationships. His paranoia grew as his dependency did. Worried by his celebrity and his father's Italian background, he began to suspect he might fall victim to a Mafia hit.^[26]

Bennett's last lover was Gene Pruitt. In 1986 both Pruitt and friend Bob Herr lived with Bennett for the last eight months of his life in Tucson, Arizona, where he received care at the Arizona Medical Center. Bennett died from AIDS-related lymphoma at the age of forty-four.^[27] He left a portion of his estate to fund research to fight the epidemic.^[28][29] Bennett's memorial service took place at the Shubert Theatre in New York (the home at that time of A Chorus Line) on September 29, 1987.^[30]

Awards and nominations[link]

Other media[link]

A Class Act—A Musical About Musicals (2001). Bennett and lyricist Ed Kleban are portrayed in this partly ficionalized life story of Kleban, using some of Kleban's unpublished songs. A Chorus Line's number "One" is included in this musical.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hadleigh, Boze (2007). Broadway Babylon. Back Stage Books. ISBN 0-8230-8830-8.
• Kantor, Michael (2004). "Choreographer, Directors & Producers: Michael Bennett". Broadway: The American Musical. Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/bennett_m.html. Retrieved 2008-05-21. 
• Kelly, Kevin (1990). One Singular Sensation: The Michael Bennett Story. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-26125-X. 
• Long, Robert Emmet (2001). Broadway, the Golden Years: Jerome Robbins and the Great Choreographer-directors: 1940 to the Present. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1462-1.
• Mandelbaum, Ken (1990). A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett. St. Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-03061-4.
• McKechnie, Donna (2006). Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-5520-8.
• Shea, Tom (2004). Broadway's Most Wanted:The Top 10 Book of Dynamic Divas, Surefire Showstoppers, and Box Office Busts. Brassey's. ISBN 1-57488-596-0.
• Webb, Jimmy (1999). Tunesmith:Inside the Art of Songwriting. Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8488-6.
• Zadan, Craig (1987). Sondheim & Co.. Pavilion Books. ISBN 1-85145-190-0.

Further reading[link]

• Chapin, Ted (2005). Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies. Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-653-1.
• Flinn, Denny Martin (1989). What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line". Bantam, ISBN 0-553-34593-1.
• Hamlisch, Marvin (1992). The Way I Was (1st edition). Scribner's. ISBN 0-684-19327-2.
• Stevens, Gary (2000). The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line. Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-221-8.
• Viagas, Robert (1990). On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line (2nd edition). Limelight Editions. ISBN 0-87910-336-1.

External links[link]

• Michael Bennett at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael Bennett at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Michael Bennett at the Internet Movie Database

Carol Burnett
At the White House in 2005
Born	Carol Creighton Burnett (1933-04-26) April 26, 1933 (age 79) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, comedian, singer, dancer, writer
Years active	1955–present
Spouse	Don Saroyan (m. 1955–1962) «start: (1955)–end+1: (1963)»"Marriage: Don Saroyan to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett) Joe Hamilton (m. 1963–1984) «start: (1963)–end+1: (1985)»"Marriage: Joe Hamilton to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett) Brian Miller (m. 2001) «start: (2001)»"Marriage: Brian Miller to Carol Burnett" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Carol_Burnett)
Children	Carrie Hamilton Jody Hamilton Erin Hamilton

Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Burnett moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show which combined comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many characters during the show's television run.

Early life[link]

Carol and Chrissy on Person to Person, 1961.

Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Ina Louise (née Creighton), a publicity writer for movie studios, and Joseph Thomas Burnett, a movie theater manager.^[1][2] Both of her parents suffered from alcoholism, and at a young age she was left with her grandmother, Mabel Eudora White. Her parents divorced in the late 1930s, and Burnett and her grandmother moved to an apartment near her mother’s in an impoverished area of Hollywood. There, they stayed in a boarding house with her younger half-sister Chrissy.^[3]

When Burnett was in the second grade, she briefly invented an imaginary twin sister named Karen, with Shirley Temple-like dimples. Motivated to further the pretense, Burnett recalled fondly that she "fooled the other boarders in the rooming house where we lived by frantically switching clothes and dashing in and out of the house by the fire escape and the front door. Then I became exhausted and Karen mysteriously vanished."^[4]

For a while, she worked as an usherette at what is now the Hollywood Pacific Theatre (the forecourt of which is now the location of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; see the section in the theatre's article for more information). After graduating from Hollywood High School in 1951, Burnett won a scholarship to UCLA, where she initially planned on studying journalism. During her first year of college, Burnett switched her focus to theater arts and English, with the goal of becoming a playwright. She found she had to take an acting course to enter the playwright program; "I wasn't really ready to do the acting thing, but I had no choice."^[5] She followed a sudden impulse in her first performance; "Don't ask me why, but when we were in front of the audience, I suddenly decided I was going to stretch out all my words and my first line came out 'I'm baaaaaaaack!'"^[5] The audience response moved her deeply:

They laughed and it felt great. All of a sudden, after so much coldness and emptiness in my life, I knew the sensation of all that warmth wrapping around me. I had always been a quiet, shy, sad sort of girl and then everything changed for me. You spend the rest of your life hoping you'll hear a laugh that great again.^[5]

During this time, Burnett performed in several university productions, garnering recognition for her comedic and musical abilities. Her mother disapproved of her acting ambitions:

She wanted me to be a writer. She said you can always write, no matter what you look like. When I was growing up she told me to be a little lady, and a couple of times I got a whack for crossing my eyes or making funny faces. Of course, she never, I never, dreamed I would ever perform.^[4]

The young Burnett, always insecure about her looks, described her reaction to her mother's advice of "You can always write, no matter what you look like", in her 1986 memoir One More Time: "God, that hurt!"

In 1954, during her junior year, a professor invited Burnett and some other students to perform at a black-tie party. A man and his wife approached her afterward, as she was putting cookies in her purse to take home to her grandmother.^[6] Instead of reprimanding her, the man complimented Burnett's performance and asked about her future plans. When he discovered that she wanted to go try her luck with musical comedy in New York, but did not have enough money, he offered her^[6] and her boyfriend Don Saroyan each a $1000 interest-free loan on the spot. The conditions were that it was to be paid back in five years, his name was never to be revealed, and if she became a success, she would help others attain their dreams.^[6] Burnett took him up on his offer. She and Saroyan left college and moved to New York to pursue acting careers. That same year, Burnett's father died of causes related to his alcoholism.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

After spending her first year in New York working as a hat-check girl and failing to land acting jobs, Burnett along with other girls living at The Rehearsal Club, a boarding house for women seriously pursuing an acting career, put on The Rehearsal Club Revue on March 3, 1955. They mailed invitations to agents, who showed up along with stars like Celeste Holm and Marlene Dietrich, and this opened doors for several of the girls. Burnett was cast in a minor role on The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show in 1955. She played the girlfriend of a ventriloquist’s dummy on the popular children’s program. This role led to her starring role opposite Buddy Hackett in the short-lived sitcom Stanley from 1956 to 1957.

After Stanley, Burnett found herself unemployed for a short time. She eventually bounced back a few months later as a highly popular performer on the New York circuit of cabarets and night clubs, most notably for a hit parody number called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" (Dulles was Secretary of State at the time). In 1957, Burnett performed this number on both The Tonight Show, hosted by Jack Paar, and The Ed Sullivan Show. Burnett also worked as a regular on one of television's earliest game shows, Pantomime Quiz, during this time. In 1957, just as Burnett was achieving her first small successes, her mother died.

Burnett and Larry Blyden from The Garry Moore Show, 1960.

Burnett's first true taste of success came with her appearance on Broadway in the 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress. The same year, she became a regular player on The Garry Moore Show, a job that lasted until 1962. She won an Emmy^[7] that year for her "Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series" on the show. Burnett portrayed a number of characters, most memorably the put-upon cleaning woman who would later become her signature alter-ego. With her success on the Moore show, Burnett finally rose to headliner status and appeared in the 1962 special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, co-starring her friend Julie Andrews. The show was produced by Bob Banner, directed by Joe Hamilton, and written by Mike Nichols and Ken Welch.^[8] Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music. Burnett also guest-starred on a number of shows during this time, including The Twilight Zone episode "Cavender is Coming" and a recurring role as a tough female Corporal, later Gunnery Sergeant in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Burnett became good friends with the latter show's star, Jim Nabors, who would later be her first guest every season on her variety show.^[9]

In 1963, Lucille Ball became a friend and mentor to Burnett, and after having the younger performer guest star on The Lucy Show a number of times, Ball reportedly offered Burnett her own sitcom called "Here's Agnes", to be produced by Desilu Productions. Burnett declined the offer, however, deciding instead to put together a variety show. The two remained close friends until Ball's death in 1989. Ball sent flowers every year on her birthday. When Burnett awoke on the day of her 56th birthday in 1989, she discovered via the morning news that Ball had died. Later that afternoon, flowers arrived at Burnett's house with the note "Happy Birthday, Kid. Love, Lucy."^[10]

In 1964, Burnett was cast opposite Caterina Valente and Bob Newhart on the variety show The Entertainers which ran for only one season. She also starred in the Broadway musical Fade Out - Fade In, but was forced to quit after sustaining a neck injury in a taxi accident. The show’s producers sued the actress for breach of contract, but the suit was later dropped.

[edit] The Carol Burnett Show

The hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the ninth season),^[11] Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a younger Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety, but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make.^[12] She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes.

A true variety show, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers. Among other things, it parodied films ("Went With the Wind" for Gone With the Wind), television ("As the Stomach Turns" for the soap opera As the World Turns) and commercials. Musical numbers were also a frequent feature. Burnett and her team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.

Burnett opened most shows with an impromptu question and answer session with the audience, lasting a few minutes, during which she often demonstrated her ability to humorously ad lib. On numerous occasions, she obliged when asked to perform her trademark^[13] Tarzan yell.

Burnett ended each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to her grandmother who had raised her. This was done to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her. During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On an Intimate Portrait episode on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider, but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"^[14] Burnett continued the tradition of tugging her ear.

The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show.^{[citation needed]} It continues to have success in syndicated reruns.

Other roles[link]

Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.

Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri, in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password, an association she maintained until the early 1980s. She was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.^[15]

In the 1980s and 1990s, Burnett made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's "The Family" sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. She returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You, playing Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).

Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds) and causing trouble for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo appearance as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005, episode which celebrated the show's 35th anniversary. Burnett reprised her role as Grubbs in September 2011 as part of the series' finale.

In 2008, Burnett had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan. In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. In November 2010, she guest starred on an episode of Glee as the mother of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.^[16]

Burnett was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph, and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."^[4]

Personal life[link]

The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was [her] idea of spacious."^[4]

She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer (1991). On November 24, 2001, Burnett married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.

In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother, and Michele Pawk as the mother, Louise. Pawk went on to receive the 2003 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.

Since the '60s, Burnett's been best friends with Julie Andrews. Carol is the godmother of Julie's first child Emma Walton Hamilton.

Lawsuits[link]

Burnett drew attention in 1981 when she sued the tabloid newspaper National Enquirer for libel after the Enquirer described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case, Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc., was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal. She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "cab fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.

In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her cleaning lady character "charwoman" in an episode of Family Guy.^[17] On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.^[18] The judge used Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as the general basis for the decision.^[19]

Awards and recognition[link]

Emmy Awards[link]

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6439 Hollywood Blvd. in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre (below), where she was once fired from a job as an usherette. At the time, it was known as the Warner Hollywood Theatre.

• 1962 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
• 1963 – Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
• 1969, 1970, 1971 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1972 – Outstanding Variety Series – Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
• 1972 – Nominated for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Musical – Variety and Popular Music, Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center
• 1973 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
• 1974 – Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1974 – Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
• 1975 – Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1976, 1977, 1978 – Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
• 1977 – Nominated for Outstanding Special – Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
• 1979 – Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
• 1983 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
• 1993 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
• 1995 – Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
• 1997 – Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
• 1998 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
• 2002 – Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
• 2009 – Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Golden Globe Awards[link]

• 1968 – Best TV Star – Female, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 – Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 – Nominated for Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
• 1973 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
• 1979 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
• 1982 – Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress – Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
• 1983 – Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical, Annie
• 1983 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
• 1991 – Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company

Other[link]

• Burnett received a Peabody Award in 1962.
• She was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1980.^[20]
• In 1997, she was awarded the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.^[21]
• She was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors.
• President George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.^[22]
• She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
• She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
• On December 1, 2009, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.
• Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., in front of the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.

Work[link]

Television[link]

• The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
• Stanley (1956–1957)
• Omnibus (October 1956)
• The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
• Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
• The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode "Cavender Is Coming" – 1962)
• An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
• Calamity Jane (1963)
• Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
• The Entertainers (1964–1965)
• The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
• Carol + 2 (1967)
• Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
• The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
• The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
• Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
• Sesame Street (1971) giving a lecture about noses
• Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
• 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
• Out to Lunch (1974)
• Twigs (1975)
• Cher (1975)
• Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
• All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, 2005, and 2011)
• Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
• The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
• Friendly Fire (1979)
• Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
• The Tenth Month (1979)
• The Muppet Show (1980) (Guest star Season 5, Episode 15)
• Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
• Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice (1982)
• Between Friends (1983)
• Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
• Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
• Magnum, P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
• The Laundromat (1985)
• Follies in Concert (1986)
• Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
• Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
• Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
• Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
• Hostage (1988)
• Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
• Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
• The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
• The Larry Sanders Show (1992) - episode The Spider Episode
• The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
• Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
• Seasons of the Heart (1994)
• Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
• Mad About You (Theresa Stemple, 1996–1999)
• Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
• The Marriage Fool (1998)
• Putting It Together (2000)
• Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
• The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
• Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
• Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
• American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance^[6])
• The Bonnie Hunt Show (2010) (Special guest)
• Glee (2010) (Special guest star)^[16]
• Conan (2012)

Filmography[link]

• Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
• Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
• Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
• Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
• The Front Page (1974)
• A Wedding (1978)
• Health (1980)
• The Four Seasons (1981)
• Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
• Annie (1982)
• Noises Off (1992)
• Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
• Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
• The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
• Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2004) (documentary)
• Once Upon a Mattress (2005)
• Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
• Post Grad (2009)
• The Secret World of Arrietty (2012) (voice)

Stage[link]

• Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
• Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
• Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
• Putting It Together (1999)

References[link]