Carol Burnett

Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas to two alcoholic parents, who left her with her grandmother, who moved to Hollywood, California. She graduated from Hollywood High School[?] and the University of California, Los Angeles, and worked her way up through bit parts on TV to success in Broadway in the 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress[?], and finally to headliner status in shows such as the 1962 special Julie and Carol and Carnegie Hall[?], also starring fellow singer/actress Julie Andrews.

The hour-long The Carol Burnett Show[?] was a huge success, garnering 22 Emmy awards[?] and continuing to 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.

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.