Carol Black is an American television producer and writer. She is best known for work on the television series Growing Pains, The Wonder Years and Ellen (all with her husband, fellow television producer/writer Neal Marlens). Black also wrote the 1986 feature film Soul Man.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carol Black at the Internet Movie Database

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Rose Royce
Rose Royce in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California in 2005
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Soul, R&B
Years active	1973-present
Labels	Whitfield, Epic, Streetwave, Omni
Associated acts	Yvonne Fair The Undisputed Truth
Website	rose-royce.com
Members
Gwen Dickey (aka Rose Norwalt) Kenny Copeland Kenji Brown Lequeint "Duke" Jobe Victor Nix Henry Garner Freddie Dunn Michael Moore Terry Santiel Michael Nash

Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B artist. She is best known for several hit singles including "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," "I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore".

Career[link]

The Los Angeles-based artist orignally comprised Henry Garner (drums), Terral "Terry" Santiel (congas), Lequeint "Duke" Jobe (bass), Michael Moore (saxophone), Kenny Copeland (trumpet, lead vocals), Kenji Brown (guitar, lead vocals), Freddie Dunn (trumpet), and Victor Nix (keyboards). The group began in the early 1970s, when members of several backup bands from the Watts and Inglewood areas of Los Angeles united under the name Total Concept Unlimited. In 1973, this collective toured England and Japan behind Motown soul star Edwin Starr. Starr introduced them to Norman Whitfield, Motown's 'psychedelic shaman' who was responsible for bringing a progressive funk-rock slant to the company, via such productions as Starr's "War", The Undisputed Truth's "Smiling Faces Sometimes" and The Temptations "Papa Was A Rolling Stone".^[1]

Whitfield, after a decade at Motown, wanted to start a company of his own. He took the T.C.U. octet under his wing and signed them to his label. The group, now called Magic Wand, began working with Yvonne Fair and became the studio and concert band for The Undisputed Truth. During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris stumbled upon a singer named Gwen Dickey, then a member of a local group called The Jewels. Harris informed Whitfield of his discovery and Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition. In Dickey, Whitfield found the ingredient he felt was missing in Magic Wand: a charismatic female singer. He gave her the stage name Rose Norwalt. The original band lineup, now complete, prepared their debut album.

During this time Whitfield was contacted by film director Michael Schultz, fresh from the success of his first feature Cooley High. Schultz offered Whitfield the opportunity to score his next picture Car Wash. Whitfield would utilize the film to launch his new group, and began composing music based on script outlines. He and the band visited the film set, soaking up the atmosphere. This was one of the rare instances in Hollywood in which the music was composed concurrently with the picture instead of after the fact. In the spirit of the soundtrack, the band's name was changed one final time to 'Rose Royce'. The name not only referenced the movie's automotive theme, but it also placed Gwen "Rose" Dickey, front and center. Further, it hinted at a touch of class the band strove to bring to 1970s soul-funk.^[2]

The movie Car Wash and the soundtrack were great successes, bringing the group national fame. Released in late 1976, the soundtrack featured three Billboard R&B Top Ten singles: "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," and "I'm Going Down." The first of these was also a number one single on the Billboard popular music charts, and "I Wanna Get Next to You" reached number ten.

The group's follow-up album, Rose Royce II: In Full Bloom, produced two Top Ten singles, "Do Your Dance" and "Ooh Boy". It also included "Wishing on a Star", which for Rose Royce was a top-10 hit only in the UK; it became notable elsewhere through its cover versions, including The Cover Girls' Top Ten single in 1992.

During 1978, they released their third album, entitled Rose Royce III: Strikes Again!, and it featured "I'm in Love (And I Love the Feeling)" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Both singles entered the Billboard R&B Top Five. "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" also gained greater exposure thru its cover versions, most notably by Madonna in 1984 and 1995.

The group followed with a series of modest successes that reached the charts, but never gained the status that their previous songs did. Dickey left the group in April 1980 and the band temporarily disbanded.^[3] However, the remaining members regrouped, adjusted the line-up, and kept the group somewhat popular in the UK and remain a marquee attraction there.

Rose Royce was featured in the TV One's seasonal series, Unsung during the spring of 2010. The story featured the successes and internal bickering of the group. Dickey, Copeland, Jobe, Moore and Garner were the only members of the band who gave interviews throughout the program. Dickey now performs as a solo artist in the UK, but mentioned during the interview that she would not mind performing with the group once again.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Soundtrack albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Singles[link]

Cover versions[link]

• "I'm Going Down" (Mary J. Blige, Y?N-Vee)
• "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (Morrissey-Mullen, Madonna, I'm Talking, Joe Cocker, Jimmy Nail, Patti LaBelle, Faith Evans, Jully Black, City and Colour and Seal,)
• "Wishing on a Star" (The Cover Girls, Teena Marie, Beyoncé, Randy Crawford, Paul Weller, Bic Runga, En Vogue, Jordin Sparks, Miriam Stockley, Seal, X Factor United Kingdom Finalists 2011)
• "I Wanna Get Next To You" (Christion, Raja-Nee', Double Trouble)
• "Car Wash" (Christina Aguilera)
• "Wishing On A Star is the next X-Factor single ^[20]

In addition, Jay-Z recorded his own song, also called "Wishing on a Star", for which Gwen Dickey re-recorded some of her original lyrics and was credited as a featured artist. And the song "Theme from S-Express" by S-Express uses a substantial portion of "Is It Love You're After"" as a sample.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rose Royce official website
• Rose Royce at Allmusic
• Rose Royce on Soul Tracks

Carroll Gibbons (January 4, 1903 - May 10, 1954) was an American-born musician, bandleader and composer who made his career primarily in England during the British dance band era.

Early life and career[link]

He was born and raised in Clinton, Massachusetts. In his late teens he travelled to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1924 he returned to London with the brassless Boston Orchestra for an engagement at the Savoy Hotel in the Strand. He liked Britain so much that he settled there and later became the co-leader (with Howie Jacobs) of the Savoy Orpheans and the bandleader of the New MayFair Orchestra, which recorded for the Gramophone Company on the HMV label. In 1929 Gibbons appeared in the British film Splinters (as Carroll Gibbons and His Masters Voice Orchestra).

The 1930s[link]

Gibbons made occasional return trips to the United States but settled permanently in England, though he did spend a couple of years (1930–1931) in Hollywood, where he worked as a staff composer for MGM films. He took exclusive leadership of the Savoy Hotel Orpheans, which recorded hundreds of popular songs (many of which were sung by Anne Lenner) between June 1932 and his death in 1954.

As a composer, Gibbons's most popular songs included "A Garden in the Rain" (1928) and "On The Air" (1932). The latter was covered by Rudy Vallee in 1933 and by Lud Gluskin in 1936. Gibbons' instrumental numbers "Bubbling Over" and "Moonbeam Dance" were also quite successful in the United Kingdom. Gibbons had a weekly show on Radio Luxembourg in the 1930s, sponsored by Hartley's Jam.

Death[link]

Carroll Gibbons died in London at the early age of 51. He is one of several famous musicians buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England. He was buried near the chapel in plot 124.

External links[link]

Biography portal

• *"Internet Archive Search: Carroll Gibbons - archive.org (multimedia content in the public domain)". http://archive.org/search.php?query=%22Carroll%20Gibbons%22. Retrieved 29 April 2012. 
• "British Pathé Search: Carroll Gibbons - britishpathe.com". http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/Carroll+Gibbons. Retrieved 2 May 2012. 
• "An Extraordinary Town, How one of America's smallest towns shaped the world" A book on Carroll Gibbon's hometown with an extensive section on the life and contributions of Carroll Gibbons. Written jointly with The Savoy in London.
• Carroll Gibbons at the Internet Movie Database
• Carroll Gibbons at Find a Grave

Lewis Black
Black, December 2007
Birth name	Lewis Niles Black
Born	(1948-08-30) August 30, 1948 (age 63) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, theatre
Nationality	American
Years active	1981 – present
Genres	Satire, news satire, political satire, observational comedy, black comedy, rant
Subject(s)	American politics, American culture, current events, pop culture
Influences	George Carlin,[1] Lenny Bruce,[1] Richard Pryor,[1] Lily Tomlin, Bill Hicks, Bob Newhart,[1] Shelley Berman[1]
Influenced	Dara Ó Briain[2]
Notable works and roles	Back in Black on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Carnegie Hall Performance Lewis Black's Root of All Evil Stark Raving Black
Website	lewisblack.com
Grammy Awards
Best Comedy Album 2007 The Carnegie Hall Performance 2011 Stark Raving Black
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic 2001

Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena. He hosted the Comedy Central series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and makes regular appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart delivering his “Back in Black” commentary segment. When not on the road performing, he resides in Manhattan. He also maintains a residence in Chapel Hill, N.C. He is currently the spokesman for Aruba Tourism, appearing in television ads that aired in late 2009 and 2010. He was voted 51st of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time by Comedy Central in 2004; and was voted 5th in Comedy Central's Stand`Up Showdown in 2008 and 11th in 2010.

Early life[link]

Black is the son of Jeannette, a teacher, and Sam Black, an artist and mechanical engineer.^[3] He was born and raised in a middle-class Jewish family in Silver Spring, Maryland,^[4] graduating from Springbrook High School in 1966, summa cum laude.

Black recounts in his book Nothing's Sacred that he scored highly on the math section of his SAT exam and later applied to Yale, Princeton, Brown, Amherst, Williams, and Georgetown. Every college he applied to except Georgetown rejected him, and by that point he had decided he didn't want to go there, so he spent a year at University of Maryland before transferring to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There, he studied playwriting and was a brother of Pi Lambda Phi International fraternity and a member of Student Congress.^[5] He earned an MFA degree at the Yale School of Drama in 1977, and was once married for less than a year.^[6]

Black's career began in theater as a playwright. He served as the playwright in residence and associate artistic director of Steve Olsen's West Bank Cafe Downstairs Theatre Bar in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, where he collaborated with composer and lyricist Rusty Magee and artistic director Rand Foerster on hundreds of one-act plays from 1981 to 1989. Also with Rusty Magee, Black wrote the musical The Czar of Rock and Roll, which premiered at Houston's Alley Theatre in 1990.

Black's stand-up comedy began as an opening act for the plays; he was also the master of ceremonies. After a management change at the theater, Black left and began working as a comedian, as well as finding bit parts in television and films.

Comedic style[link]

Black's style of comedy is that of a man who, in dealing with the absurdities of life and contemporary politics, is approaching his personal limits of sanity. Sarcasm, hyperbole, profanity, shouting and trademark angry finger-shaking bring emphasis to his topics of discussion. He once described his humor as "being on the Titanic every single day and being the only person who knows what is going to happen." He claims that he doesn't write his jokes down, he merely starts talking about something that makes him angry until he has to move on before he has a stroke.^{[citation needed]}

Black has described his political affiliation as: "I'm a socialist, so that puts me totally outside any concept...the Canadians get it. But seriously, most people don't get it. The idea of capping people's income just scares people. 'Oh, you're taking money from the rich.' Ooh, what a horrifying thing. These people really need $200 million".^[7]

Black lists his comedic influences as George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, Bill Hicks, Bob Newhart and Shelley Berman.^[1]

Career[link]

Comedy Central Presents[link]

In 1998, Black starred in his first comedy special on the series Comedy Central Presents. He starred in two additional episodes of the series in 2000 and 2002. He starred in another special for the network in 2002, titled Taxed Beyond Belief.

Hosting[link]

Since 2003, Black has hosted the World Stupidity Awards ceremony at Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy festival for the three years the awards were presented.

Black hosted the Comedy Central television series The Root of All Evil in 2008. The show pitted two people or pop-culture topics against each other as a panel of comedians argued, in the style of a court trial, which is more evil, e.g., "Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney" and "Internet Porn vs. YouTube". After hearing arguments from both sides, Black, acting as judge, made the final decision as to which is more evil.^[8]

Black hosted Comedy Central's Last Laugh '07, which aired on December 2, 2007 along with Dave Attell and D.L. Hughley.

On February 18, 2008, Black hosted History of the Joke with Lewis Black,^[9] a 2-hour comedy-documentary on The History Channel.

At the end of 2009, Black returned to the History Channel to host Surviving the Holidays with Lewis Black, in which he discussed the year-end pressures of Thanksgiving, Channukah, Christmas, and New Year's.

Stand-up shows[link]

In 2004, he had an HBO stand-up special titled Black on Broadway.

On April 21, 2006, Black performed at the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC for an HBO special, Red, White, and Screwed. It aired on June 10, 2006, and a DVD was released October 3, 2006. When explaining his choice of venue, Black said that "some asshole" was paid to count the number of times the word "fuck" was said from his previous HBO special, Black On Broadway, and that the original location, the Kennedy Center, wanted him to cut back on its use. Black was told the number was 42, when actually it was approximately 78.^{[citation needed]}

On February 11, 2007, Black received a Grammy award for "Best Comedy Album" for his album The Carnegie Hall Performance.^[10]

Comedy Central's "Stand-Up Month" in January 2008 features specials originally presented on HBO by Black, along with programs featuring Dane Cook and Chris Rock.

In January 2008, as part of Comedy Central's "Stand-Up Month", Black's routine finished at #5 on "Stand-Up Showdown 2008", a viewer-based countdown of the top "Comedy Central Presents" routine. Black. also was voted 11th in 2010.

On August 2, 2009, Black filmed two shows at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit, MI. These shows were the basis for a concert film called Stark Raving Black, which appeared in theaters for a limited time in October. It was released on June 15, 2010 .^[11]

Film and television career[link]

Black appeared in episode 25 "Aria" (1991) of Law and Order as porn director Franklin Frome, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Obscene" (2004) as a shock jock, and in The Big Bang Theory episode "The Jiminy Conjecture" (2009) as an entomologist. He also released his autobiography, Nothing's Sacred, in 2005. Since November 9, 2005, Black has been making appearances in small segments on The Weather Channel. In December 2005, he appeared in an animated holiday special The Happy Elf, as the voice of the extremely tightly wound elf, Norbert.

In the film Accepted, a film about high school graduates who create a college when they fail to get accepted into any, he played Dean Ben Lewis of the school "South Harmon Institute of Technology". He also appeared in the 2006 films Man of the Year and Unaccompanied Minors. Black hosted Comedy Central's Last Laugh '06, which aired on December 10, 2006.

Voice acting[link]

Black was the voice of "Manobrain" during the third season of the Cartoon Network series "Duck Dodgers". He was the inventor of a diet pill which was stolen while he was in college. He blamed the theft on his college friend Dr. I. Q. High, not realizing that the actual thief was Duck Dodgers. The theft set Manobrain on the path of evil.

Black provided the voice of the Deadly Duplicator in four episodes of the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and in the video game based on the show.

Black did the voice-over for an oxpecker named Ted in Cartoon Network series My Gym Partner's a Monkey, appearing in "Hornbill and Ted's Bogus Journey." The character is portrayed in the same fashion as his comedy shows, though without the profanity. In addition, the bird's clothes, looks, and mannerisms match those of Black himself. Black currently voices Mr. E/Ricky Owens in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

Tours[link]

On June 18, 2007 he sat in with Southern rock/Jam band Gov't Mule at the 6th annual Bonnaroo music festival, where he had performed earlier that weekend, for what was to be a quick joke. A member of the audience threw a bottle at Black, which struck him. Black was upset and he encouraged the audience to boo the heckler before leaving the stage in disgust, while shouting obscenities at the heckler. This act was seen in an episode of "Lewis Black's Root of All Evil" titled "YouTube vs. Porn".

On June 29, 2007, Black gave a benefit show at Springbrook High School, his alma mater, in the school's auditorium for 1,100 alumni, faculty, and students. He performed in his usual style, stopping at points to remark how good it felt to use that language on that particular stage. At the end of the show he was given a Springbrook football jersey, and cursed at one teacher for giving him a B and causing him not to graduate first in his class.

In mid December 2007, Black went with Robin Williams, Kid Rock, Lance Armstrong and Rachel Smith, Miss USA 2007, on a USO trip to support the troops in Iraq and Kuwait. They then wrapped it up on Dec 22nd at the U.S Naval Station in Rota, Spain.

Black helped create the annual Carolina Comedy Festival at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[12]

In 2008 Black went on tour touting his book Me of Little Faith.^[13] He is also currently doing a stand-up tour called "Let Them Eat Cake".

Beginning in January 2010, Black embarked on a new tour called "In God We Rust".

Legal troubles[link]

In 2000, Black and fellow comedian Jim Norton were arrested for their involvement with "The Naked Teen Voyeur Bus",^[14] a specially designed bus with acrylic glass walls containing numerous 18 and 19 year old topless women. This bus rode around Manhattan while being broadcast on the Opie and Anthony radio show. Unfortunately, radio station management did not inform the O&A show that the bus's route was also the route that President Clinton was taking that same day. Twenty-eight hours after the arrest, Black and Norton were released. Black appeared on The Daily Show the following night where he stated he was exercising his constitutional rights. He then joked that the location of this particular right was unclear, but that it was "between 'all men are created equal' and 'don't shit where you eat.'"^[15] Additionally, at a fundraising event for New York Attorney General candidate Mark Green on June 28, 2006, Black talked about how he was unable to attend a previous fundraising event for Green because the arrest occurred shortly before.

Lewis Black after being released

Published works[link]

• Nothing's Sacred (2005)
• Nothing's Sacred (audio book) (2006)
• Nothing's Sacred (softcover version) (2007)
• Me of Little Faith (2008) (New York: Riverhead Books -- Penguin Group) 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-59449-994-5.
• Me of Little Faith (paperback version with added content) (2009)
• I'm Dreaming of a Black Christmas (2010)

Media releases[link]

CDs[link]

• The White Album (2000)
• Revolver (EP) (2002)
• The End of the Universe (2002)
• Rules of Enragement (2003)
• Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues (2005)
• The Carnegie Hall Performance (2006)
• Anticipation (2008)
• Stark Raving Black (2010)
• The Prophet (2011)

DVDs[link]

• Unleashed (compilation of his four Comedy Central specials plus his appearances on The Daily Show: Indecision 2000) (2002)
• Black on Broadway (2003 HBO Special) (2004)
• A Pair of Lewis Black Shorts (Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick Story and The Gynecologists) (2006)
• Red, White, and Screwed (2006 HBO Special)
• History of the Joke with Lewis Black (2008 History Channel special)
• Surviving the Holidays with Lewis Black (2009 History Channel special)
• Stark Raving Black (2010)
• In God We Rust (2012 Epix Special)

Filmography[link]

• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Jacob's Ladder (1990)
• The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd (1990–1991) (TV series)
• Law & Order, "Aria" (1991)
• The Hard Way (1991)
• Homicide: Life on the Street, "Deception" (1997)
• Mad About You (Season 6, Episode 7: Played "The Pizza Slice") (1997) (TV series)
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, "Obscene" (2004)
• The Happy Elf (2005)
• Accepted (2006)
• Man of the Year (2006)
• Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
• Farce of the Penguins (2007)
• Falling for Grace (2007)
• History of the Joke (2008) (Documentary) History Channel
• Lewis Black's Root of All Evil (2008) (TV series) Comedy Central
• The Big Bang Theory, "The Jiminy Conjecture" (2009) (TV series) CBS
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (2010) (TV series) Cartoon Network
• The Penguins of Madagascar, "Arch-Enemy" (2011) (TV series) Nickelodeon

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lewis Black

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lewis Black

• Lewis Black's lewisblack.com
• Lewis Black on Twitter
• Lewis Black on MySpace
• Lewis Black at the Internet Movie Database
• Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
• InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse: Lewis Black (TV Interview)
• Lewis Black Interview on NPR's Fresh Air (April 7, 2005)
• Lewis Black Interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation (January 29, 2003)
• Lewis Black Interview with the Village Voice (September 23, 2008)
• Onion A.V. Club Interview
• Lewis Black Interview by Maurie Sherman
• Stand Up! Records
• Lewis Black Interview, Real Detroit Weekly (November 13, 2007)
• "Straight Talk" Interview in Submerge Magazine, (Sept. 2008)
• Lewis Black rants about Michele Bachmann, Farmville, Twitter - Citypages.com 5/4/2011

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)