Carol Burnett Interview: Overcoming Rejection, Finding Success & Becoming a Comedy Legend

Video Description

Carol Burnett recalls falling in love with Hollywood as a child, catching the acting bug while attending UCLA, deciding to leave college, and moving to New York City to pursue her aspirations of performing in musical comedies on Broadway. Burnett discusses how she dealt with rejection in show business, her first big break, how she eventually got her own self-titled television show, lessons she learned as a performer, and how she maintained a work and family balance. Carol Creighton Burnett was born on April 26, 1933, in San Antonio, Texas, to Joseph and Ina Louise Burnett. After her parents divorced in the late 1930s, Burnett moved with her grandmother, to a small apartment in Hollywood, California. She attended Hollywood High School, graduating in 1951. After studying theater arts and English at the University of California, Los Angeles, as an aspiring playwright, Burnett left school early and made her way to New York City in hopes of breaking into acting. Burnett made her first television appearance in the early 1950s with a short stint on The Winchell-Mahoney Show, a children's TV program. Soon after, she began co-starring with Buddy Hackett on the sitcom Stanley (1956-57). In 1959, Burnett became a regular on The Garry Moore Show. Over the years, she was also featured on occasional CBS specials. Already a popular performer, she got her own comedy-variety show, The Carol Burnett Show, in 1967. The show ran for 11 seasons, leaving the air in 1978. In addition to her hit television show, Burnett has appeared in a number of feature films, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), Annie (1982), Noises Off (1992) and Post Grad (2009). She made her Broadway debut in the musical Once Upon a Mattress in 1959 and went on to appear in a few other Broadway shows, including Moon Over Buffalo (1995-1996) and Putting It Together (1999-2000). Her 1986 autobiography, One More Time: A Memoir, provided the source material for the play Hollywood Arms, which was performed on Broadway from October 2002 to January 2003. Burnett co-wrote the piece with her oldest daughter, Carrie Hamilton. Over her decades-long career, Burnett has won numerous honors, including American Comedy Awards, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, the 1980 Women in Film Crystal Award, the 2006 Presidential Medal of Freedom and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. From the 2013 PBS Documentary “Makers: Women Who Make America”, examines how women have helped shape America over the past 150 years, striving for a full and fair share of political power and economic opportunity. Subscribe for access to interviews, series, films, and educational materials that address issues of social justice, history, politics, the arts, and culture by spotlighting relatable human stories of purpose and meaning. Learn about our work and how to support our mission here: https://www.lifestories.org/. For extended versions of these interviews and more, visit: https://www.youtube.com/@lifestoriesinterviewarchive Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifestoriesinterviews/ Carol Burnett, Actress, Comedian, Singer, and Writer Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:09 Early childhood 02:07 Parents 03:53 Childhood dreams 06:16 First taste of comedy 07:33 UCLA 09:50 Hollywood dreams 11:36 Drive to succeed 17:10 New York City 21:49 Big break 26:26 Chutzpah 27:23 The Carol Burnett Show 42:40 National Enquirer 45:52 The women’s movement 49:44 Ambition 50:32 Focus 51:44 Marriage 57:26 Self-perception 59:54 Work-life balance ©Kunhardt Productions & McGee Media. All rights reserved.