"American Masters"
Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character (2007)

Director:

Kyra Thompson

Writer:

Kyra Thompson (written by)

TV Series:

"American Masters" (1983)

Original Air Date:

5 November 2007

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music | Romance

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship

Cast

Carol Burnett	...	Herself
Betty White	...	Herself
Kenny Solms	...	Himself
Tim Conway	...	Himself
Dick Deneut	...	Himself
Florence Henderson	...	Herself
Mitzie Welch	...	Herself
Ken Welch	...	Himself
Pat Lillie-Whelan	...	Herself
Phyllis Diller	...	Herself
Garry Moore	...	Himself (archive footage)
Don Crichton	...	Himself
Bob Mackie	...	Himself
Carl Reiner	...	Himself
Lyle Waggoner	...	Himself

Carol Burnett: A Woman of Character is another great episode of "American Masters"

A few weeks ago, I watched this wonderful documentary about the life and career of one the most talented comediennes ever: Carol Burnett. From her early life growing up with her grandma watching various movies to her early live performances on "The Garry Moore Show" and Broadway to her defining moments on her 11-year classic run of her own variety program "The Carol Burnett Show", Ms. Burnett shows us how consistently entertaining she has been over four decades. We also see clips of "Once Upon a Mattress" her breakthrough Broadway triumph as first taped in black-and-white by CBS in the early '60s. Among the interviewees besides Carol are, of course, many of her show's regulars: Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, Vicki Lawrence, and Tim Conway. Also interviewed: costume designer Bob Mackie, Tracy Ullman-who played Carol's role in the recent version of "Once Upon a Mattress" with Ms. Burnett playing the mean queen, Richard Kind-who appeared on a couple of failed attempts at reviving Carol's variety show, Garry Shandling-who had Burnett as a guest on "The Larry Sanders Show", old friend Florence Henderson, Carl Reiner-a frequent guest on Carol's show, and many others I can't remember right now. One of the most valuable of clips here is one from "The Garry Moore Show" when Ms. Burnett first did a fall on live television: It was Neil Simon sketch with Carol as Jill who follows Jack after he falls out of a hospital window. After Carol did her fall on a mattress, she revealed to us she gasped a sign of relief which revealed to everyone within earshot she had never done this thing before contrary to what she told the producers. We then see her take several falls afterward in quick clips which shows how expert she became on this sort of thing. Also shown are clips of her movies like Pete 'n' Tillie and Annie. For Carol fans, I highly recommended this to them as well as anyone curious about this great lady's versatility and attitude as well as entertainment ability!