Carol Burnett Biography

Carol Burnett was born on 26 April 1933 to two alcoholic parents, who left her with her grandmother, who raised her in Hollywood, California.

She graduated from Hollywood High School and the University of California, and worked her way up, through bit parts on TV, to success on Broadway in the 1959 musical, 'Once Upon a Mattress', leading to headliner status in shows such as the 1962 special, 'Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall', also starring fellow singer/actress, Julie Andrews.

The hour-long 'The Carol Burnett Show' on CBS was a huge success, garnering 22 Emmy awards, and continuing its success in syndicated re-runs. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, and Vicki Lawrence, who was cast partly because she looked like a younger Burnett. It ran from 1967 to 1978.

Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the National Enquirer for libel, after the tabloid newspaper described her alleged public drunkenness.

The case is a landmark in the study of libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict was reduced on appeal, and the case was eventually settled out of court.

Since then she has continued to appear in both TV shows and films. Between 1983 and 1984, she played Eunice Higgins in comedy series 'Mama's Family' and has taken on several roles in 'All My Children' starting in 1983. Her most recent appearance in this show occurred in 2011.

Burnett has also appeared in a few episodes of 'Magnum PI' (1984 to 1988) and 'Mad About You' from 1996 to 1999. Her most recent TV appearances were in 'Desperate Housewives' in 2006 and 'Glee' in 2010.

In the 1980s, Burnett played the villain in the musical 'Annie' (1982) and appeared in several TV movies including 'Happily Ever After' (1985) and 'Hostage' in 1988.

She has also returned to Broadway several times over the years, appearing in 'Moon Over Buffalo' (1995-1996) and 'Putting It Together' in 1999 to 2000.

Burnett also co-wrote the play 'Hollywood Arms', which were based on her 1986 memoirs 'One More Time: A Memoir', with her daughter Carrie Hamilton. It was staged on Broadway from October 2002 to January 2003.

She has been married three times. Firstly to Don Saryon between 1955 and 1962. In 1963 Burnett wed Joe Hamilton, with whom she had three children, before they divorced in 1984. In 2001, she married Brian Miller.