Carol Channing

Carol Channing has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard. Her life with Bobby Darin has been told in the 2004 film, Beyond The Sea. 90210 guest star in 1998!!!!. In 2000 she reported that she had been diagnosed with throat cancer and kidney failure. On May 10, 2003, she married Harry Kullijian, her high school sweetheart, who reunited with her after she mentioned him fondly in her memoir. She has admitted that for most of her life she has battled anorexia nervosa, depression and alcoholism. He died before the divorce was finalized. Dee's adult years have been marked by ill health.

They remained married for 42 years, but she filed for divorce in 1998, alleging they had had marital relations only twice in that timespan, not surprising since Lowe was gay, a fact she may not have realized when they wed. Her 1950s persona was the inspiration for the song "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee", featured in the film Grease (1978). In 1956 she married her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. During the 1970s she took very few acting roles, but made occasional television appearances. Her first husband, Theodore Naidish, was a writer; her second, Alexander Carson, was center for the Ottawa Rough Riders Canadian football team (they had one son, Chan, who is a cartoonist). They had one son together, but in 1967 she and Darin were divorced. She married four times. She was contracted to Universal Studios who tried to develop Dee as a mature actress, and the films she made as an adult, including a few with Darin, were moderately successful.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore. Her marriage in 1960 to singer and actor Bobby Darin, kept her in the public eye for much of the decade. She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the musical Lorelei, and appeared in two New York revivals of Hello, Dolly!, in addition to touring with it extensively throughout the United States. Her film career flourished, and she became known for her wholesome ingenue roles in such films as Imitation of Life, Gidget and A Summer Place (all 1959). (Channing was probably comforted to know that few who had seen her on stage were impressed by Streisand's bizarre interpretation of the role, an odd combination of Jewish yenta and Mae West.). In 1958 she won a Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer" (along with Carolyn Jones and Diane Varsi). She was deeply disappointed when Streisand, who was far too young for the role, successfully campaigned to play the role of Dolly Levi in the film. She progressed to television commercials and then made her first film in 1957.

Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, in a year when her chief competition was Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl. Born Alexandria Zuck in Bayonne, New Jersey, Dee was a professional model by the age of four. She truly came to national prominence as the star of Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! She never missed a performance during her run, attributing her good health to her Christian Science faith. Sandra Dee (born April 23, 1944) is an American film actress. She had a featured role in a review, Lend an Ear, where she was spotted by Anita Loos and cast in the role of Lorelei Lee, which was to bring her to prominence. (Her signature song from the production was "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.") Carol's persona and that of the character were strikingly alike: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve but worldly. Her first Broadway play was Let's Face It, where she was an understudy for Eve Arden.

She kept her heritage secret so she would not be typecast on Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess, which was published in 2002, when she was more than 80 years old. When she left home to attend Bennington College, her mother informed her that her father, a journalist whom she had believed was born in Rhode Island, was actually a light-complected African-American born in Augusta, Georgia who had passed for white, saying that the only reason she was telling her was so she wouldn't be surprised "if she had a black baby". She was born in Seattle, Washington. She is easily recognized by her distinctive voice and wide eyes.

Carol Channing (born January 31, 1921) is a United States actress whose career was built largely on two roles, Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello Dolly!. Sugar Babies (national tour with Mickey Rooney). Legends! (national tour with Mary Martin). Hello, Dolly! (revival)(1995).

Alice in Wonderland (TV movie) (1985). Shinbone Alley (animated movie) (1971). Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). Hello, Dolly! (revival) (1978).

Jule's Friends at the Palace (benefit) (1974). Lorelei (a reworking of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) (1974). Four on a Garden (1971). Hello, Dolly! (1964).

Show Girl (1961). The First Traveling Saleslady ("the film that brought down RKO") (1956). The Vamp (a legendary flop) (1955). Wonderful Town (1953).

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949). Lend an Ear (1948). Proof Through the Night (1942). Let's Face It! (1941).