ACTOR
Carol Burnett
- Known for
- Annie (1982), Noises Off... (1992), The Four Seasons (1981), Palm Royale (2024)
23 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Carol Burnett is an actor best known for Annie, Noises Off... and The Four Seasons.
All facts (23)
- #001
On the morning of April 26, 1989, her 56th birthday, her close friend Lucille Ball died. That afternoon, Burnett received the flowers Ball had ordered for her birthday.
- #002
Burnett successfully sued the National Enquirer for libel after the paper ran an article claiming she had been drunk in public during an altercation at a Washington restaurant in 1976. The case remains a landmark in the study of celebrity libel suits, although 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 case because, as the daughter of two deceased alcoholics, the tabloid's fabrication had hurt her emotionally and because the paper needed to be punished for its irresponsibility in writing lies about celebrities.
- #003
She regarded Jim Nabors as a good luck charm. He guest-starred in the first episode of The Carol Burnett Show (1967), and once the series began she brought him back for the first episode of every season.
- #004
Bob Mackie is her favorite designer. He designed all the costumes for The Carol Burnett Show (1967).
- #005
She lost her daughter Carrie Hamilton to lung and brain cancer on January 20, 2002.
- #006
She once worked as an usher at the Warner (now Pacific) Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. One night, Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), which Carol had seen and loved, was playing. She advised a couple who arrived late to wait until the next showing, because the film was so good it had to be watched from beginning to end. The manager overheard her, rudely fired her on the spot and humiliated her by tearing the epaulets off her usher's uniform. Years later, when she was to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked her where she wanted the star placed. Carol asked that her star be placed in front of the Pacific Theatre. In her memoir "One More Time," she names the manager who fired her so rudely, followed by an epithet that will not be repeated here.
- #007
She is the godmother of Emma Walton Hamilton, the daughter of her closest friend, Dame Julie Andrews.
- #008
On November 9, 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. Other recipients included Frank Robinson, Muhammad Ali, General Richard Myers, Paul Rusesabagina, Andy Griffith, Aretha Franklin, Vint Cerf and his Internet co-developer Robert Kahn, Jack Nicklaus, Alan Greenspan and former congressman G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery.
- #009
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- #010
She sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, invasion of privacy and misappropriation of name and likeness over an episode of Family Guy (1999) that used an altered version of her signature closing song and a depiction of her charwoman character. The suit was dismissed by a federal judge. The judge used Hustler Magazine v. Falwell as the general basis for the ruling and found the cartoon to be an acceptable parody of a well-known person.
- #011
She is best known to children as the booze-swilling Miss Hannigan in the film Annie (1982).
- #012
She is one of five people to receive the Kennedy Center Honor; the other recipients were James Brown, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols and Itzhak Perlman.
- #013
On May 21, 2013, she was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the Kennedy Center.
- #014
She attended and graduated from Hollywood High School in Hollywood, California.
- #015
She attended the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television but did not complete her degree.
- #016
Her daughter Erin Hamilton was Miss Golden Globe.
- #017
She is the older sister of Chrissie Burnett.
- #018
She broke her right leg while playing softball.
- #019
On her 90th birthday, she was honored with an NBC special titled Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love, in which various collaborators and artists paid tribute to her. These included Julie Andrews, Vicki Lawrence, Lily Tomlin, Steve Carell, Amy Poehler, Ellen DeGeneres, Bob Odenkirk and Cher, among others.
- #020
Carol Burnett is the former sister-in-law of Will Hutchins, Dave Geisel and Kipp Hamilton.
- #021
Carol Burnett is the former stepmother of Jeffrey Hamilton.
- #022
Carol Burnett was born at 4:00 a.m. CST.
- #023
Carol Burnett is the mother-in-law of Kurt West.
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