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Burnett an Emmy.

CBS discovered her star qualities, and honored Burnett with a ten year contract, covering such projects as the TV special, "Julie and Carol and Carnegie Hall," which earned Burnett an Emmy for Outstanding Musical, and two other Julie/Carol specials in 1971 and 1989. Several other projects did not pan out, including the series "The Entertainers" (1964-65), and the Broadway musical "Fade Out, Fade In," which Burnett had to back out of due to an injury sustained in a taxi cab mishap. The actress was sued for breach of contract, but the lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

As 1967 unfolded, Burnett was granted by CBS her own variety program, "The Carol Burnett Show," which was to be produced by Joe Hamilton, who became Burnett's second husband in 1963 after the dissolution of the first marriage to college sweetheart, Don Saroyan.

Starting out on rocky ground, the show eventually became a fantastic success, especially when it was moved to Saturdays, late evening, and followed the popular line-up of "All in the Family," "Mash," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "The Bob Newhart Show."

The cast was one in a million, and included Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and Tim Conway. With everyone's incredible talents combined, the show accumulated twenty-two Emmy Awards by the time the show ended in March 1978, with inevitable syndication retitling it as "Carol Burnett and Friends."

As the late 1970's and early '80's approached, Burnett found considerable success in such movies as "The Wedding" (1978), and "Annie" (1984), proclaiming that the field of comedy was far more challenging to work within than drama.

Burnett's most memorable performances were found in "Pete and Tillie" (1972), with actor Walter Matthau, and the made for TV movie "Friendly Fire" (1979), about Burnett as a mother whose son is killed by friendly fire in the Vietnam War. Stage performances in the 1970's and 1980's included "I Do! I Do! with actor Rock Hudson, along with many New York and Los Angeles Stephen Sondheim productions.

"Carol and Company," debuting in 1990, was Burnett's next adventure, in which she performed in front of a live crowd with a theatre repertory group. Alas, the show was short-lived, and Burnett moved on to produce and star in a new CBS show called "The Carol Burnett Show." In 1995, after quite a long departure, Burnett returned to Broadway to appear in the comedy "Moon Over Buffalo," wowing the audiences and earning a Tony Award nomination.

Burnett

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