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Paying tribute to the great Carol Channing
I took this photo of Carol Channing about nine years ago at the West Hollywood Book Fair and it’s a sweet memory of a showbiz legend who has died at the age of 97.
This national treasure was a testament to remaining passionate and forever young.
She, of course, was best known for her Tony Award winning role of Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly which ran on Broadway forever then was a sensation in several later revivals.
But we also loved her in her Oscar-nominated role in Thoroughly Modern Millie and in her many hilarious talk show and sitcom guest appearances.
She was a force of nature and I hope she knew how many people appreciated her for sharing her great talent and energy with us for all these years and for all the work she and her beloved late husband, Harry Kullijian, have done to keep the arts in schools.
She had said the arts are like ‘fertilizer for the brain.’
Below is Miss Channing’s hilarious appearance on What’s My Line, her channeling Marlene Dietrich, a trailer for a fabulous documentary about her life that is a must-see as well her performing the wonderful ballad Before the Parade Passes By from her biggest hit show Hello Dolly. I’ve also included a memorable scene from the 1985 TV movie Alice and Wonderlandand, of course, her most famous line: ‘Rasberries!’.
We will never forget this great and enduring star.
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bob says:
Carol doing Marlene. Dietrich was not amused, which is a bit disappointing. My cousin, who was an actress in her youth, went to see Marlene at the Fountainebleu because her husband was playing lead trumpet for the show and she thought she’d give the old girl some support. Needless to say, the moment Marlene hit the stage, my cousin realized “the old girl” didn’t need any help from her or anyone else. I saw her at her lowest point, when she had the beginnings of a dowager’s hump and was a bit stiff while moving around, but at one point she just leaned up again the side of the stage, her arm raised above her head, and her face was magically transformed into what it had been 40 years earlier. Real stars don’t get there and stay there by way of the casting couch or just sheer luck.