Carol Channing

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Carol Channing

Carol Channing in 2000
Born Carol Elaine Channing
January 31, 1921 (1921-01-31) (age 87)
Seattle, Washington US
Spouse(s) Harry Kullijian 2000–present
Charles Lowe 1956-1999 (his death)
Alexander Carson (1 son)
Theodore Naidish
Official website

Carol Elaine Channing (b. January 31, 1921, Seattle, Washington) is an American singer and actress. The winner of three Tony Awards (including a lifetime achievement award), a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nominee, Channing is best remembered for two roles: Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!.

She is world renowned for her reedy voice, her wide eyes and smile, and her star presence. Her distinctive voice and persona are frequently parodied.

Contents

[edit] Childhood and education

An only child, Channing was born in Seattle, Washington. Her father was George Channing, a journalist, whose newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Channing was only two weeks old; her mother was the former Carol Glaser. She went to school at Aptos Junior High School, where she met and fell in love with an Armenian-American boy named Harry Kullijian. They lost touch when she went to Lowell High School in San Francisco. At Lowell, Channing was a member of its famed Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's oldest high school debate team.

According to Channing's memoirs, when she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist whom Carol had believed was born in Rhode Island, had in fact been born in Augusta, Georgia to a German American father and an African American mother. According to Channing's account, her mother reportedly didn't want [Channing] to be surprised "if she had a black baby".[1] [2] Channing kept this a secret to avoid any problems on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, published in 2002 when she was 81 years old. Channing's autobiography, containing a photograph of her mother, does not have any photos of her father or son.[3] Her book also states that her father's birth certificate was destroyed in a fire.

[edit] Career

Carol Channing photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1956
Carol Channing photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1956

Channing was introduced to the stage while doing church work for her mother. In a 2005 interview with the Austin Chronicle, Channing recounted this experience:

"My mother said, 'Carol, would you like to help me distribute Christian Science Monitors backstage at the live theatres in San Francisco?' And I said, 'All right, I'll help you.' I don't know how old I was. I must have been little. We went through the stage door alley [for the Curran Theatre], and I couldn't get the stage door open. My mother came and opened it very easily. Anyway, my mother went to put the Monitors where they were supposed to go for the actors and the crew and the musicians, and she left me alone. And I stood there and realized – I'll never forget it because it came over me so strongly – that this is a temple. This is a cathedral. It's a mosque. It's a mother church. This is for people who have gotten a glimpse of creation and all they do is recreate it. I stood there and wanted to kiss the floorboards."[4]

Channing's first job on stage in New York was in Marc Blitzstein's No For an Answer, which was given two special Sunday performances starting January 5, 1941 at the Mecca Temple (later New York's City Center). Channing then moved to Broadway for Let's Face It, in which she was an understudy for Eve Arden. Decades later, Arden would play "Dolly" in a road company after Channing finally relinquished the role.

Five years later, Channing had a featured role in a revue, Lend an Ear. She was spotted by author Anita Loos and cast in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as Lorelei Lee, the role that brought her to prominence. (Her signature song from the production was Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.) Channing's persona was strikingly like that of the character: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve yet worldly.

Channing came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl. She was deeply disappointed when Streisand, who many believed to be far too young for the role, signed on to play the role of Dolly Levi in the film, which also starred Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford.

She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the musical Lorelei. She also appeared in two New York revivals of Hello, Dolly!, and toured with it extensively throughout the United States. She also appeared in a number of movies, including the cult film Skidoo and Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. For Millie she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and was awarded a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1966 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. During her film career she also made some TV show cameos and did voice overs in cartoons. One of her best known voice over roles was Canina LeFur in the Disney show, The Rescue Rangers.

Channing was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995[5], and an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Stanislaus in 2004.[6] She and husband Harry are active in promoting arts education in California schools.

[edit] Family life

She has been married four times. Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer. Her second, Alexander Carson, played center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team. They had one son, Channing, who took his stepfather's surname and is now a Pulitzer-prize-nominated cartoonist publishing under the name Chan Lowe.[1][7] In 1956 she married her manager and publicist, Charles Lowe. They remained married for 42 years, but she abruptly filed for divorce in 1998. He died before the divorce was finalized. After Lowe's death and until shortly before her fourth marriage, the actress's companion was Roger Denny, an interior decorator.[8]

On May 10, 2003, she married Harry Kullijian, her fourth husband and junior high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir. The two performed at their old junior high school, which had become Aptos Middle School, in a benefit for the school. At Lowell High School, they renamed the school's auditorium "The Carol Channing Theatre" in her honor. The City of San Francisco, California proclaimed February 25, 2002 to be Carol Channing Day, for her advocacy of gay rights and her appearance as the celebrity host of the Gay Pride Day festivities in Hollywood. She shared the stage with Richard Skipper, well-known Carol Channing Tribute Artist. Richard recently did a benefit for The Dr. Carol Channing-Harry Kullijian Endowment For The Arts. Carol and Harry were in attendance.

[edit] Theatre credits

Awards
Preceded by
Vivien Leigh
for Tovarich		 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1964
for Hello, Dolly!		 Succeeded by
Liza Minnelli
for Flora the Red Menace
Preceded by
Jocelyne LaGarde
for Hawaii		 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1968
for Thoroughly Modern Millie		 Succeeded by
Ruth Gordon
for Rosemary's Baby

[edit] Filmography

The handprints of Carol Channing in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
The handprints of Carol Channing in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

[edit] References in modern culture

Channing voiced herself in the Family Guy episode "Patriot Games", in which she wins a match over Mike Tyson on FOX's Celebrity Boxing. She is savagely beaten by Tyson throughout the fight but always stands up when knocked down; Tyson eventually collapses from exhaustion, giving Channing the championship belt.

Ryan Stiles often impersonated her on the American version of the improv comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway?, as did guest star Robin Williams in a single episode. Stiles once had to impersonate her 'getting stuck to things', and decided he would stick to host Drew Carey's desk. He accidentally smashed the light on the side of it with his head, getting glass stuck in his hair, but continued the sketch in character[9] Another memorable Carol Channing moment was during the game "Scenes From a Hat" when Stiles impersonated her while reciting Clint Eastwood's "Do you feel lucky?" line from Dirty Harry and the line "I'm Spartacus" from Spartacus.[10]

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Carol Channing reveals her father was Black, Jet, Nov 4, 2002, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_20_102/ai_93974696>. Retrieved on 21 April 2008 
  2. ^ CNN.com
  3. ^ Cartoonbox.slate.com
  4. ^ Faires, Robert "The Carol You Don't Know, Austin Chronicle (July 22, 2005) Online Edition. Retrieved on 2006-05-10.
  5. ^ Hodgins, Paul, "Carol Channing: A Lifetime of Experience", Orange County Register (February 4, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  6. ^ Moran, Frankie, "Carol Channing to Offer Highlights From Her Six Decade Career", North County Times (November 8, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-08-21.
  7. ^ Meet Chan Lowe, Slate, <http://cartoonbox.slate.com/chanlowe/>. Retrieved on 21 April 2008 
  8. ^ Winn, Steven (October 24, 2002), Looking swell: Carol Channing's back in the spotlight with memoir and plans for new show, San Francisco Chronicles, <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/24/DD225951.DTL>. Retrieved on 21 April 2008 
  9. ^ YouTube - Whose Line Is It Anyway - Party Quirks
  10. ^ YouTube - Whose Line Is It Anyway- Scenes From a Hat

[edit] External links