Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, 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, Carol 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 ranged from film parodies to character pieces. Burnett created many endearing characters during the show's television run.
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 9th season),[10] Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young 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.[11] She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.
A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ( Went With the Wind as a parody of Gone With the Wind), television ( As the Stomach Turns parodying of the soap opera As the World Turns) and commercials. Burnett and 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.
The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She 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]
