Carol Channing trivia: 55 facts about the famous actress!

Carol Channing, the legendary Broadway actress, is one of the most well- known actresses and you need to find out some facts about her.

1. Her full name is Carol Elaine Channing
2. She was born on January 31, 1921
3. She was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian
4. Carol Channig was a well- known for starring in Broadway and in film musicals
5. Her characters typically radiated a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, whether singing or for comedic effect
6. Channing also studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City.
7. She began as a Broadway musical actress
8. She starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949
9. And Hello, Dolly! in 1964
10. For that play she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical
11. She revived both roles several times throughout her career
12. Carol Channing most recently played Dolly in 1995
13. Channing was nominated for her first Tony Award in 1956 for The Vamp
14. She was also nominated in 1961 for Show Girl
15. She received her fourth Tony Award nomination for the musical Lorelei in 1974
16. As a film actress, she has won the Golden Globe Award
17. Carol was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
18. She was nominated for her performance as Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie
19. Other film appearances include The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) and Skidoo (1968)
20. On television, she appeared as an entertainer on variety shows
21. She had a standout performance as The White Queen in the TV production of Alice in Wonderland in 1988
22. Carol had the first of many TV specials in 1966, An Evening with Carol Channing
23. Channing was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981
24. She has received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1995
25. She continued to perform and make appearances well into her 90s
26. She released an autobiography, titled Just Lucky I Guess, in 2002
27. In 2012, Larger Than Life, a documentay film about Channing’s life was released
28. Her father, who was multiracial (African American and German)
29. Channing attended Aptos Junior High School and Lowell High School San Francisco, graduating in 1938
30. She won the Crusaders’ Oratorical Contest and a free trip to Hawaii with her mother in June 1937
31. When she was 16, she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont
32. For her first gigs she performed at small functions or benefits, including some in the Catskill resorts
33. Her first job on stage in New York was in Marc Blitzstein’s No for an Answer, starting January 5, 1941
34. Carol Channing was 19 years old
35. In January 1950, Time magazine ran a cover story about her becoming a new star on Broadway
36. In 1961, Channing became one of the few performers nominated for a Tony Award for work in a revue (rather than a traditional book musical)
37. She also worked in Macy’s bakery
38. Carol Channing was introduced to the stage while helping her mother deliver newspapers to the backstage of theatres
39. Channing was married four times
40. Her first husband was Theodore Naidish, whom she married when she was 20 in 1941
41. Her second husband Alexander Carson played center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team
42. They had one son named Channing Carson
43. In 1956, Channing married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe
44. Their marriage lasted for 42 years
45. After Lowe’s death and until shortly before her fourth marriage, the actress’s companion was Roger Denny, an interior decorator
46. Carol Channing rekindled her romance with her junior high school sweetheart, Harry Kullijian, and they married on May 10, 2003
47. The recording of Carol’s autobiography has never been publicly released
48. Carol Channing had unique dietary habits
49. Carol Channing died on January 15, 2019 of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, sixteen days shy of her 98th birthday
50. In 1970, Channing was the first celebrity to perform at a Super Bowl halftime
51. In 1981, Channing was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame
52. In 1988, The city of San Francisco, California, proclaimed February 14 to be “Carol Channing Day”
53. In 2004, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Stanislaus
54. In 2004, she received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre
55. In December 2010, Channing was honored at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Gypsy of the Year competition