Carol Burnett facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carol Burnett
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Burnett in November 2014
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| Born |
Carol Creighton Burnett
April 26, 1933 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
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| Education | University of California, Los Angeles |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1955–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Don Saroyan
(m. 1955; div. 1962)Joe Hamilton
(m. 1963; div. 1984)Brian Miller
(m. 2001) |
| Children | 3, including Carrie Hamilton and Erin Hamilton |
| Comedy career | |
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| Notable works and roles | The Carol Burnett Show Miss Agatha Hannigan in Annie Eunice Harper Higgins on Mama's Family See also full list |
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is a famous American comedian, actress, and singer. She is best known for her comedy-variety TV show, The Carol Burnett Show. This show was one of the first of its kind to be hosted by a woman. Carol Burnett has performed on Broadway, in movies, and on television. She has won many important awards, including seven Golden Globe Awards, seven Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award. She also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2013. In 2019, the Golden Globes even created an award named after her!
Carol Burnett: A Comedy Legend
Carol Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her family later moved to Hollywood, California. She went to Hollywood High School and then studied theater at UCLA. After college, she performed in nightclubs in New York City.
Early Life and Dreams
Carol Creighton Burnett was born on April 26, 1933, in San Antonio, Texas. Her mom wrote publicity for movie studios, and her dad managed movie theaters. When her parents divorced, Carol moved with her grandmother to a small apartment in Hollywood, California. They lived in a boarding house with Carol's younger half-sister, Chrissie.
When Carol was in second grade, she made up an imaginary twin sister named Karen. She even tried to trick people by quickly changing clothes! When she was nine, she taught herself the famous "Tarzan yell". This yell later became a fun part of her shows. Carol loved movies, and her grandmother often took her and her sister to see them. These movies later inspired many funny sketches on The Carol Burnett Show.
Carol once worked as an usher at the Warner Brothers Theater. She was fired for telling two customers to wait for the next movie showing. Years later, when she became famous, she chose to have her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame placed right in front of that old theater.
After high school, Carol went to UCLA. She first thought about studying journalism. But she soon changed her mind to theater arts and English. She wanted to become a playwright, which meant writing plays. To do this, she had to take an acting class. She found out she really loved acting!
During her time at UCLA, Carol performed in many plays. People quickly noticed how funny and talented she was at singing. In 1954, a kind stranger offered Carol a $1,000 loan to move to New York City. He asked her to repay it within five years and to help other young artists if she became successful. Carol took the offer and moved to New York to follow her acting dreams.
Becoming a Star
In New York, Carol worked as a hat-check girl at first. She also performed in a show with other young actresses. This helped her get noticed by agents and famous stars. In 1955, she got a small role on a children's TV show. Then she starred in a short TV comedy called Stanley.
Carol became very popular performing in nightclubs. She was known for a funny song called "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles". She performed this song on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.
Her big break came in 1959 on Broadway in the musical Once Upon a Mattress. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her role. That same year, she paid back the mysterious person who loaned her money. She also joined The Garry Moore Show as a regular performer. She stayed on the show until 1962 and won her first Emmy Award for her work there. She played many funny characters, including a cleaning woman.
In 1962, Carol starred with her friend Julie Andrews in a TV special called Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall. This show also won an Emmy Award. Carol also appeared on other shows, like The Twilight Zone.
Carol became good friends with actor Jim Nabors. She even appeared on his show, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.. Jim Nabors later became the first guest on her own variety show every season. She thought he brought her good luck!
Lucille Ball, another famous comedian, became Carol's friend and mentor. Lucille Ball even offered Carol a chance to star in her own TV comedy. Carol declined, but they remained close friends until Lucille Ball passed away in 1989.
Carol also made her first movie in 1963, a comedy called Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?. She later said she preferred performing live for an audience.
The Carol Burnett Show: A TV Hit
In 1967, CBS offered Carol her own weekly comedy show. She had a special part in her contract that let her choose the type of show. She decided to create an hour-long music and comedy variety show. This became The Carol Burnett Show, which started in September 1967.
The show was a huge success! It won 23 Emmy Awards and many Golden Globe Awards during its 11 years on air. The cast included talented comedians like Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and Vicki Lawrence. Carol discovered Vicki Lawrence when she was a teenager and helped her become a star.
The Carol Burnett Show was a true variety show. It had funny sketches, songs, and dances. They often made fun of movies, TV shows, and commercials. One very popular sketch was "The Family". This sketch later became its own TV show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.
Carol often started her shows by answering questions from the audience. She was great at making up funny answers on the spot. She would also do her famous Tarzan yell when asked.
She ended every show by tugging on her left ear. This was a secret message to her grandmother, letting her know that Carol was doing well and loved her. Even after her grandmother passed away, Carol continued this tradition. The show stopped making new episodes in 1978. But edited half-hour episodes, called Carol Burnett and Friends, were shown for many years and were very popular.
In 2001, a special show about The Carol Burnett Show was watched by 30 million people! Carol also wrote a book about the show called In Such Good Company.
Later Career and Honors
After her show ended, Carol took on many different acting roles. She appeared in serious TV movies like Friendly Fire. She also acted in comedy movies such as A Wedding (1978), The Four Seasons (1981), and Annie (1982), where she played Miss Hannigan.
In 1995, she returned to Broadway in the play Moon Over Buffalo. She was nominated for another Tony Award. She also appeared in the musical Putting It Together.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Carol tried to start new variety shows. She also appeared on Mama's Family as her funny character, Eunice Higgins. She reunited with Julie Andrews for a TV special called Julie & Carol: Together Again. Carol also guest-starred on the TV show Mad About You, winning an Emmy Award for her role.
Carol loved the soap opera All My Children. In 1983, she got to play a character named Verla Grubbs on the show. She made several appearances on the soap opera over the years.
Recent Work and Tributes
Carol Burnett has also lent her voice to animated movies. She was in The Trumpet of the Swan (2001), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and Toy Story 4 (2019), where she voiced a talking chair!
In 2012, she voiced the character Hara in the Disney version of The Secret World of Arrietty. She also appeared in TV shows like Desperate Housewives and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. From 2013 to 2016, she played Aunt Debbie on Hawaii Five-0.
Carol Burnett has received many special honors for her amazing career. In 2013, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Many famous friends and comedians came to celebrate her. In 2017, CBS aired The Carol Burnett Show: 50th Anniversary Special. Carol talked about how people initially thought only men could host variety shows. But she proved them wrong!
In 2019, the Golden Globes created the Carol Burnett Award for lifetime achievement in television. Carol was the very first person to receive this award. The Hollywood Foreign Press said she had been "breaking barriers while making us laugh" for over 50 years.
In 2022, Carol guest-starred in the TV drama series Better Call Saul. She was a big fan of the show and its creators. She loved working on it, even saying she would have been there for just one sentence!
On her 90th birthday, April 26, 2023, NBC aired a special called Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love. Many stars, including Julie Andrews, Cher, and Ellen DeGeneres, came to celebrate her. The special won an Emmy Award, and Carol accepted it as an executive producer. She also presented an Emmy Award to Quinta Brunson, who was very emotional to receive it from Carol.
In March 2024, Carol co-starred in the Apple TV+ comedy series Palm Royale. Critics praised her performance, with one calling her "the funniest convalescent you'll ever meet." Carol has said this might be her last acting role, but she still plans to work on projects as a writer or producer.
Acting Credits and Awards
Carol Burnett has been nominated for 23 Primetime Emmy Awards and has won 6 of them. These wins were for her work on The Garry Moore Show, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, The Carol Burnett Show, and Mad About You. In 2024, at age 91, she became the oldest person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Palm Royale.
She has also been nominated for 18 Golden Globe Awards, winning 7 of them, mostly for The Carol Burnett Show. She has received 3 Tony Awards nominations and 3 Grammy Awards nominations, winning one of each.
Carol Burnett has also received many other honors. These include 2 Peabody Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2003, she was honored at the Kennedy Center. In 2005, President George W. Bush gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2013, she received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2019, she was the first person to receive the Carol Burnett Lifetime Achievement Award for Television, which is named after her.
On her 90th birthday, she was honored with an NBC TV special called Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love. Many friends and performers, like Julie Andrews, Vicki Lawrence, Lily Tomlin, and Cher, paid tribute to her.
Personal Life
Family
Carol Burnett married her college boyfriend, Don Saroyan, in 1955. They divorced in 1962.
In 1963, Carol married TV producer Joe Hamilton. He produced The Carol Burnett Show. They had three daughters:
- Carrie Hamilton (1963–2002), who was a writer and actress. She passed away at age 38.
- Jody Hamilton (born 1967), a film producer.
- Erin Hamilton (born 1968), a singer.
Carol and Joe Hamilton divorced in 1984. Joe Hamilton passed away in 1991.
In 2001, Carol married drummer Brian Miller.
Carol has been close friends with many famous people, including Lucille Ball, Julie Andrews, and Betty White. She is also a mentor and close friend to Vicki Lawrence.
In 2020, Carol and her husband became temporary guardians for her teenage grandson, Dylan. They helped make decisions about his schooling.
Helping Others
Carol Burnett has always remembered the kind stranger who helped her go to New York. To keep her promise to him, she has given money to scholarship programs at UCLA and the University of Hawaii. This helps other students who need financial help to follow their dreams.
Singing Career
Carol Burnett has also released several music albums. She recorded solo albums and duets with Julie Andrews. She also sang on cast recordings for musicals like Once Upon a Mattress and Annie.
Legal Cases
Carol Burnett has been involved in a few legal cases. In 1981, she won a lawsuit against a tabloid newspaper called the National Enquirer. She sued them because they printed a false story about her. Even though the amount of money she won was reduced after appeals, it was seen as an important victory for people who are unfairly written about in tabloids.
Images for kids
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Burnett in November 2014
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Burnett (left) and her sister Chrissie on Person to Person, 1961
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Hollywood Pacific Theatre in 2010, site of Burnett's star
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1961 cast photo from The Garry Moore Show. From left to right: Garry Moore, Burnett, and Durward Kirby.
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Burnett and Larry Blyden from The Garry Moore Show, 1960
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The Bob Mackie–designed curtain dress worn by Burnett in the Went with the Wind! sketch, housed at the Smithsonian Institution
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On the left, cast members in 1967 (clockwise from the bottom): Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and Lyle Waggoner. On the right, the 1977 cast: Burnett, Tim Conway, Lawrence and Korman.
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Burnett, as her well-known charwoman character, gets a hand from guest star Rita Hayworth in 1971.
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Dolly Parton with Burnett in 1980
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President Barack Obama with Burnett and her husband Brian Miller in the Oval Office in 2013
See also
In Spanish: Carol Burnett para niños
