Posted on 05/29/2008 8:27:31 PM PDT by BOBWADE
LOS ANGELES — Harvey Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to "The Carol Burnett Show" and was seen to hilarious effect on the big screen in "Blazing Saddles," died Thursday. He was 81.
Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said. He had undergone several major operations.
"He was a brilliant comedian and a brilliant father," daughter Kate Korman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "He had a very good sense of humor in real life. "
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A natural second banana, Korman gained attention on "The Danny Kaye Show," appearing in skits with the star. He joined the show in its second season in 1964 and continued until it was canceled in 1967. That same year he became a cast member in the first season of "The Carol Burnett Show."
Burnett and Korman developed into the perfect pair with their burlesques of classic movies such as "Gone With the Wind" and soap operas like "As the World Turns" (their version was called "As the Stomach Turns").
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Darn.
R.I.P.
I am too young to have seen any of his stuff when it first aired, but I always crack up at the way Tim Conway could make him laugh and break character on the Carol Burnett show.
he really made me laugh.
RIP
he was a great actor. Perfect fit for Mel Brooks & co.
some of his quotes:
Although in Abbott and Costello, and straight man was first. That’s a very interesting concept.
Harvey Korman
And I went to New York and died; for 10 years I walked those pavements. I can’t think of New York without feeling uncomfortable and feeling like a failure.
Harvey Korman
And I’ll tell you somebody else who was a straight man and considers himself a straight man and describes himself as one, Cary Grant.
Harvey Korman
And it’s tough traveling. You know, the hotels and the airports and all that. That part, eating and getting around to the hotel room and then going on.
Harvey Korman
But there’s a lot of 50’s and a lot of boomers and a lot of kids in their 30’s that grew up with us.
Harvey Korman
Don’t - those writers used to love us. They would write these little plays, and we would take care of the comedy. It really seldom was joke jokes.
Harvey Korman
Funny is when you’re serious.
Harvey Korman
I got canceled in the middle of making the pilot.
Harvey Korman
I mean, we had on our show, we had marriages, divorces and other stuff going on. And that was just me.
Harvey Korman
I played Hamlet, I played Chekhov and Ibsen and all the classics.
Harvey Korman
I went to the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago.
Harvey Korman
I wish there was something that - I get all those wonderful letters and wonderful acknowledgments, and I wish I could be more appreciative of what I do. But it’s hard for me.
Harvey Korman
I’m not a star.
Harvey Korman
It’s not so much the club as we kind of make it into, like, theater. It’s kind of like revue, like cabaret. It’s like, you know, doing our show.
Harvey Korman
Then I got out of the service, and I was going to be a Shakespearean actor.
Harvey Korman
They say it’s good but I didn’t know what I was doing until I got into the suit and they put the moustache on me, and somehow, when I got all the drag on, it came out. It was the most amazing thing. I’m truly extraordinary.
Harvey Korman
You asked what is the secret of a really good sketch. And it is a sketch is a small play. It’s got a beginning, and a middle and an end. It should have a plot; it should have the characters, conflict. It is a little play. And in it, will be funny stuff.
Harvey Korman
You have to have a certain persona to be a star, you know, and I don’t have that. I’m a banana.
Harvey Korman
Rest in Peace, you gave me and the world a lot of laughs.
Loved him in Radio Land Murders, Blazing Saddles ....
Looks like we had the same idea, love watching Korman trying not to crack up.
awesome team they were.
Mark
"Whilst I will be risking an almost certain Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor!"
ping
I’m sorry to hear this. The show was a classic, no need for crude words or actions.
Tim Conway and his ‘old man’ routine was one of my favorites.
Aw, this makes me sad. He was wonderful.
I remember watching the Carol Burnet show with my folks when I was just a kid and always liked the Tim Conway, Harvey Korman skits the best.
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