Hedley Lamarr dies

[Mike Gebert]

Harvey Korman has died at the age of 81.

The Carol Burnett Show was, I think, one of the underappreciated factors in the creation and sustaining of the movie culture in the 1960s and 1970s. Burnett came to TV from the stage with the desire to recreate classic Hollywood in her own head with herself as Bette, Hedy, Vivien, Veronica; plenty of drag queens in the 60s had the same idea, see Myra Breckinridge for more details, but only Burnett had CBS's backing, which meant, only Burnett could actually find herself playing opposite the objects of her worship on occasion. She was just good-looking enough to pass as a glamour queen, just goony enough to get laughs as it all fell apart, and Korman was her main consort-- tall and vaguely distinguished-looking, but just overripe enough to play all those 30s and 40s smoothies at the same level of deadpan preposterousness.

Her versions were Mad magazine parodies of the real thing-- in fact, some of the same writers worked on both-- but her love for the bigger life being lived on the big screen always came through, even through silliness (as in this dialogue I've carried with me for 35 years, from the sendup of Waterloo Bridge):

BURNETT AS VIVIEN LEIGH: I'm... a member of the world's oldest profession.
KORMAN AS ROBERT TAYLOR: You're a farmer?

And in the process, many of us were introduced to classic films before we even knew what they were-- I remember being quite affected by a tale of two doomed lovers acted out on her show, and only years later discovering that One Way Passage was what they'd been acting out. If all those classics stayed so familiar through those decades, the Carol Burnett Show was a big part of the reason why.

Here's Korman as Rhett Butler in the Gone With the Wind parody:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aRMZ4ePmMM

and as Stroheim in a Sunset Boulevard skit (with John Byner turning up as George Jessel, medals included):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKfBCitChcg

[Jim Roots]

His by-play with Tim Conway was teamwork incarnate.

Not so long ago I was stuck in a hotel room with a couple of hours to kill. I started channel-surfing and came upon an infomercial for a compendium of the best skits from Burnett. It was full of off-screen clips and commentary from all of the actors. Even though Korman and Conway were filmed separately, they couldn't stop ribbing each other.

Talking about the difficulty of not breaking each other up during live filming, Conway said with a deadpan, "We all tried to be so professional. Unfortunately Harvey was such a poor actor that he was constantly ruining scenes with inappropriate laughter..." Then cut to Harvey saying almost the same thing about Tim ... except Harvey couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing!

Korman was one of the really great second-bananas of all time. I miss him and Conway.

Jim

[Richard M Roberts]

Just last year, Linda and I saw Harvey Korman and Tim Conway perform live here in Phoenix, and they were terrific. They did a number of their best routines from the Carol Burnett show, including their killer dentist sketch, and the house was packed(although I think Linda and I were the youngest folk in the place). They also answered questions from the audience and both seemed in good health and spirits. I was happy that there were still a couple of great comic talents out there working who also seemed to have happy, stable lives. Now I'm really glad I saw them while I could.

Korman was not only a great supporting comic, he was also a great straight man. Not many of those left. He was also one of the last people to work with Buster Keaton, playing the Cop in the sketch Keaton performed on the CBS Stan Laurel Tribute with Lucille Ball.

We'll definitely be watching BLAZING SADDLES in his memory this weekend.

Long Live Harvey Korman!

RICHARD M ROBERTS

[rudyfan]

Saturday nights when TV was worth staying home for, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett.

Harvey was great and I can never, ever eat Rasinettes without seeing Hedly Lamarr in my minds eye. RIP Harvey, you were one funny guy.

[Cherry Malotte]

Oddly enough I saw Harvey on a re-run of ER and it made me wish he'd done way more 'straight' roles. He was great as a demanding pain in the ass patient.

Thanks to Harvey for the voodoo that he did so well.

[Spiny Norman]

Harvey in a Fawlty Towers remake. Not really his fault that it didn't work well.

[dede]

I only discovered today that Buster Keaton plays a character called Hedley Lamar in General Nusiance (1941) for Columbia. I wonder if Mel Brooks took the name from that or just took the Hedy Lamar reference? (It's funny either way).

[Mike Gebert]

By all reports, Mel Brooks knows his obscure movies. I'm sure that's a direct reference.

By the way, if you want to hear something that's almost as funny as Blazing Saddles, the episode of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast about the writing of Blazing Saddles, with Andrew Bergman and Norman Steinberg, is pretty great.

[boblipton]

Harvey in a Fawlty Towers remake. Not really his fault that it didn't work well.

Calls for Tim Conway. as Manuel.

Bob