The Carol Channing Creative Arts Scholarship
San Francisco State University is grateful to the Channing Kullijian Foundation for establishing an endowed scholarship in the College of Creative Arts to honor the legacy of Ms. Carol Channing. Called Broadway’s “first lady of musical comedy,” Ms. Channing’s matchless talent and charismatic performances on stage and screen have delighted audiences around the world for more than six decades.
Ms. Channing made her Broadway debut in 1948 and has been a star of international acclaim since a Time magazine cover story hailed her performance as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Time said then, “Perhaps once in a decade a nova explodes above the Great White Way with enough brilliance to re-illumine the whole gaudy legend of show business.” She won the Tony Award in 1964 for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Hennan’s Hello, Dolly!, and received the Tony Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
She has played Dolly in Hello, Dolly! In more than 5,000 performances, including a smash London engagement at the great Drury Lane Theatre in which she did not miss a single performance. She has toured with her own revue, Carol Channing did Her Ten Stout Hearted Men, and critically acclaimed tours of Jeny’s Girls and Legends, in which she co-starred with Mary Martin.
Ms. Channing identifies playing the role of “Muzzy” in Thoroughly Modern Millie as one of her happiest film projects. The film set box office records and earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. Her film credits are extensive and historic. In The First Traveling Saleslady she starred opposite Ginger Rogers and gave newcomer Clint Eastwood his first on-screen kiss.
Ms. Channing’s television credits include appearances on milestone shows including What’s My Line, The Dean Martin Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Milton Berle Show, Rowen & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Carol Burnett Show, The Muppet Show, The Rosie 0 ‘Donnell Show and Hollywood Squares. A partial list of Ms. Channing’s episodic work consists of Playhouse 90’s Three Men on a Horse, The Love Boat, Magnum, P.1, The Nanny, Touched by an Angel and The Drew Carey Show.
As one of the most easily recognized and highly imitated voices in the world, Carol’s unique sound has established characters and distinguished narrative across a wide variety of genres. She is known to millions of children as the “White Queen” in Alice Through the Looking Glass. TV series and documentaries include: JFK: T11e Day the Nation Cried, The Addam ‘s Family (voice of Granny), Thumbelina, Free to Be You and Me, Space Ghost, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars. Ms. Channing also cut twenty children’s albums of classic stories on Caedmon records, including Winnie the Pooh and Madeline.
Ms. Channing has recorded ten gold albums and her original cast album of Hello, Dolly! was an all-time best seller in its field, which knocked the Beatles off the charts when it was released in 1964.