Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, whether singing or for comedic effect.
Carol Channing
January 15, 2019
(aged 97)
- Actress
- comedian
- singer
- dancer
1941–2017
1
Channing originated the lead roles in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949 and Hello, Dolly! in 1964, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the latter. She revived both roles several times throughout her career, playing Dolly on Broadway for the final time in 1995. She was nominated for her first Tony Award in 1956 for The Vamp, followed by a nomination in 1961 for Show Girl. She received her fourth Tony Award nomination for the musical Lorelei in 1974.
As a film actress, she won the Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). Her other film appearances include The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) and Skidoo (1968). On television, she appeared as an entertainer on variety shows. She performed The White Queen in the TV production of Alice in Wonderland (1985), and she had the first of many TV specials in 1966, titled An Evening with Carol Channing.[1]
Channing was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981 and received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995.[2] She continued to perform and make appearances well into her 90s, singing songs from her repertoire and sharing stories with fans, cabaret-style. She was one of the "legends" interviewed in the award-winning documentary, Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.[3] She released her autobiography Just Lucky I Guess in 2002, and Larger Than Life was released in 2012, a documentary film about her career.[4]
Career[edit]
Stage[edit]
Channing was introduced to the stage while helping her mother deliver newspapers to the backstage of theatres.[b]
Her first job on stage in New York City was in Marc Blitzstein's No for an Answer, starting January 1941, at the Mecca Temple (later New York City Center). She was 19. She moved to Broadway for Let's Face It!, where she was an understudy for Eve Arden, who was 13 years older than Channing. Much later, in 1966, Arden was hired for the title role in Hello Dolly! in a road company when Channing left to star in the film Thoroughly Modern Millie.[23] Channing won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago's theatres in 1966 (Eve Arden won the next year).[24]