Carol Channing

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Carol Channing

Carol Channing in 2000
Born Carol Elaine Channing
January 31, 1921 (1921-01-31) (age 88)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Occupation Actress/Singer
Years active 1950–present
Spouse(s) Theodore Naidish (div.)
Alexander Carson (1953-1956)
Charles Lowe (1956-1999)
Harry Kullijian (2003-)
Official website

Carol Elaine Channing (born January 31, 1921) is an American singer and actress. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards (including one for lifetime achievement), a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Channing is best remembered for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!

Contents

[edit] Childhood and education

Channing was born in Seattle, Washington, to George and Carol née Glaser, and was their only child. Her father was a journalist whose newspaper career took the family to San Francisco when Channing was only two weeks old. Her father George Channing CSB later became a very successful Christian Scientist Practitioner, Lecturer, Editor and Teacher. She attended Aptos Middle School and 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 who 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. (The November 4 2002 issue of Jet (magazine) reported, based on her autobiography, that Carol Channing's father was African-American.)

[edit] Career

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 well. 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 – Motion Picture.

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 Chip 'n Dale 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] That same year, she received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.[7] She and husband Harry are active in promoting arts education in California schools. The couple resides in the Central Valley, California city of Modesto.

[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.[8] 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.[9]

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, a Carol Channing tribute artist.

Channing and her husband currently reside in Modesto, CA.

[edit] Theatre credits

[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.

[edit] References in modern culture

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.

The red satin, sequin-bedecked costume, designed by Freddy Wittop, that Channing wore during Hello, Dolly! was donated to the Smithsonian by Channing and theatrical producer Manny Kladitis, following the thirtieth anniversary tour of the show. It is currently on display at the National Museum of American History.[10]

An outspoken liberal, Channing's name was included in Republican President Richard Nixon's now-famous "enemies list", and she has said that was the highest honor in her career.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Carol Channing reveals her father was Black". Jet. November 4, 2002. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_20_102/ai_93974696. Retrieved 2008-04-21. 
  2. ^ CNN.com
  3. ^ Cartoonbox.slate.com
  4. ^ "Faires, Robert "The Carol You Don't Know, Austin Chronicle (July 22, 2005) Online Edition". http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-07-22/arts_feature.html. Retrieved 2006-05-10. 
  5. ^ "Hodgins, Paul, "Carol Channing: A Lifetime of Experience", Orange County Register (February 4, 2006)". http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/atoz/article_982986.php. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 
  6. ^ "Moran, Frankie, "Carol Channing to Offer Highlights From Her Six Decade Career", North County Times (November 8, 2006)". http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11/14/entertainment/theater/12_00_2611_8_06.txt. Retrieved 2007-08-21. 
  7. ^ Gans, Andrew (2004-05-13). "Carol Channing Honored By York Theatre Company". Playbill.com. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86130.html. Retrieved 2008-09-21. 
  8. ^ "Meet Chan Lowe". Slate. http://cartoonbox.slate.com/chanlowe/. Retrieved 2008-04-21. 
  9. ^ 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 2008-04-21. 
  10. ^ ""Hello, Dolly" Dress". National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=116. Retrieved 2008-06-19. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts by Carol Channing (Simon & Schuster, 2002)
  • Diary of a Mad Playwright: Perilous Adventures on the Road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing by James Kirkwood, Jr., about production of the play "Legends" (Dutton, 1989)

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

Rita Moreno (1961) · Angela Lansbury (1962) · Margaret Rutherford (1963) · Agnes Moorehead (1964) · Ruth Gordon (1965) · Jocelyne LaGarde (1966) · Carol Channing (1967) · Ruth Gordon (1968) · Goldie Hawn (1969) · Karen Black/Maureen Stapleton (1970) · Ann-Margret (1971) · Shelley Winters (1972) · Linda Blair (1973) · Karen Black (1974) · Brenda Vaccaro (1975) · Katharine Ross (1976) · Vanessa Redgrave (1977) · Dyan Cannon (1978) · Meryl Streep (1979) · Mary Steenburgen (1980)

Complete List · (1943–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001–present)
v • d • e
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Grace Hartman (1948) · Nanette Fabray (1949) · Mary Martin (1950) · Ethel Merman (1951) · Gertrude Lawrence (1952) · Rosalind Russell (1953) · Dolores Gray (1954) · Mary Martin (1955) · Gwen Verdon (1956) · Judy Holliday (1957) · Thelma Ritter/ Gwen Verdon (1958) · Gwen Verdon (1959) · Mary Martin (1960) · Elizabeth Seal (1961) · Anna Maria Alberghetti/ Diahann Carroll (1962) · Vivien Leigh (1963) · Carol Channing (1964) · Liza Minnelli (1965) · Angela Lansbury (1966) · Barbara Harris (1967) · Patricia Routledge/ Leslie Uggams (1968) · Angela Lansbury (1969) · Lauren Bacall (1970) · Helen Gallagher (1971) · Alexis Smith (1972) · Glynis Johns (1973) · Virginia Capers (1974) · Angela Lansbury (1975)
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