Carol Channing : Larger Than Life

This enchanting new profile of the great Broadway star that has just turned 91 years and is still performing, is an affectionate and admiring look at her long career. It’s
heavy on the sentiment but apart from her last brief and happy marriage to her childhood sweetheart (who sadly died shortly after filming) is scantily passes over her personal life.

Miss Channing, as Bruce Vlanch was quick to point out, was one real smart woman despite always playing dizzy blondes. She really knew how to play dumb starting with her first starring role on Broadway as Lorelei Lee in ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, but her big break came when Ethel Merman turned down ‘Hello Dolly’ for which Ms Channing won the Tony in 1964. (She beat out Barbra Streisand who was nominated for ‘Funny Girl’, but years later Ms. Streisand ‘got her own back’ when she got Ms. Channing’s role in the movie version of ‘Hello Dolly’)

The title ‘larger than life’ is very apt as that clearly describes how everyone perceives her. I think it was either Tommy Tune or Bob Mackie who affectionately said of her that whatever role she played she always played Carol Channing. This big persona of hers worked wonders on the Stage and was great for TV but was considered not suitable for movies and despite picking up an Oscar Best Supporting Actress Nomination for her part in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ she made remarkably few films in her long career.

What came through in this touching and gentle portrait of this rather extraordinary woman were both her generosity of spirit and her wonderful sense of humor even when some of it was directed at her. She has always been such a favorite model for drag queens to impersonate and when she was once confronted by a man who told her that she was the best drag Carol Channing he had ever seen and he asked for her true identity, she responded in a flash ‘I’m a truck driver from Toledo’.

What ‘Time Out’ described as ‘excessive fawning’ in their review of this movie, I only saw as affectionate and genuine tributes to a well loved old-style Broadway trouper. They so don’t make them in the mold of the likes of Carol Channing anymore, she is unique, a real one-off, so I think its fitting we should honor and appreciate her whilst we can.

This one is for sentimental show business fans (and queens). If you want more facts and details, then just stick to reading Wikipedia.