Carol Burnett

Once worked as an usherette at the Warner (now Pacific) Theater on Hollywood Blvd. One night, the movie playing was Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), a film Carol had seen and loved. She advised a late arriving couple to wait until the next show, because the film was so good, it should be seen from beginning to end. The manager overheard her, rudely fired her on the spot, and humiliated her by ripping the epaulets off her usherette uniform. Decades later, when she was to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she was asked by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce where she would like it placed. Carol asked that her star be placed in front of the Pacific Theater. In her memoir "One More Time", she states the name of the manager who so rudely fired her, followed by an epithet that won't be repeated here. The star is at 6433 Hollywood Blvd.

Attended but did not complete her degree from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1954.

A.A. from U.C. Berkeley [1954]

Nominated for the 1960 Tony Award (New York City) for Actress in a Musical for "Once Upon a Mattress".

Was a good friend of Lucille Ball, with whom she appeared several times on "The Lucy Show" (1962).

Was forced to drop out of the 1964 Broadway musical "Fade Out, Fade In" after sustaining a neck injury in a taxi accident. The show's producers sued her for breach of contract, but the suit was later dropped.

Has appeared in three different television adaptations of "Once Upon A Mattress", the Broadway version of the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea." In the 1964 and 1972 versions, she played Princess Winnifred. 33 years later, she played Queen Aggravain in the 2005 Disney adaptation.

In 1965, Carol broke her right leg playing softball.

Considered Jim Nabors to be her good luck charm. He appeared as a guest on the first episode of "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967), and when the show took off, she had him back on the first episode of every season.

Bob Mackie is her favorite designer. He designed all of the costumes for "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967).

Received a Special Tony Award in 1969. She was also twice nominated for the Tony Award - in 1960, as Best Actress (Musical) for "Once Upon a Mattress" and in 1996, as Best Actress (Play) for "Moon Over Buffalo.".

In 1981, she successfully sued the "National Enquirer" for libel, prompted by its article describing her alleged public drunkenness during an altercation with then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger while in a Washington restaurant. The case remains a landmark in the study of libel cases involving celebrities, even though the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict (including $300,000 in personal damages and $1.3 million in "punitive" damages) was later reduced on appeal and the case was eventually settled out of court. Burnett donated the money to charity. She said she pursued the lawsuit because, as the daughter of two deceased alcoholics, the gossip paper's fabrication wounded her emotionally and that they should be punished for their irresponsibility when writing lies about celebrities.

1985: Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

On the morning of her fifty-sixth birthday, her good friend Lucille Ball died - April 26, 1989. That afternoon, Burnett received the flowers that Ball had ordered for her birthday.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy", by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 74-76. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387

Daughter Erin Hamilton was Miss Golden Globe 1993.

Nominated for the 1996 Tony Award (New York City) for Actress in a Musical for "Moon Over Buffalo".

Lost her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, on January 20, 2002 to lung and brain cancer.

One of 5 recipients of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors; other recipients were James Brown, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols and Itzhak Perlman.

Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush on 9 November 2005. Other recipients were Frank Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Gen. Richard Myers, Paul Rusesabagina, Andy Griffith, Aretha Franklin, Vint Cerf and his Internet codeveloper Robert Kahn, Jack Nicklaus, Alan Greenspan, and former congressman G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery.