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Carol Burnett to receive top honor
Source:Reuters Published: 2013-5-22 18:03:01
Carol Burnett at an event last month
Carol Burnett on her show in 1978 Photos: IC
Actress and comedienne Carol Burnett will be honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the top award for American comics, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said on Tuesday.
Burnett, 80, whose Emmy-winning sketch comedy program The Carol Burnett Show was a mainstay on US television from 1967 to 1978, will receive the award during a ceremony at Washington's Kennedy Center in October.
"From her television program and appearances, as well as her performances on Broadway and in film, Carol Burnett has entertained generations of fans with her vibrant wit and hilarious characters," Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein said in a statement.
Burnett received her big break in the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress in 1959, which earned her a Tony Award nomination.
She won her first Emmy Award in 1962 for her work on The Garry Moore Show sketch comedy TV program, but cemented her comedic reputation by parodying the film Gone with the Wind and the TV soap opera As the World Turns on her own show.
Her film work includes 1981's The Four Seasons and director John Huston's 1982 adaptation of musical Annie.
Past recipients of the award, which was first given out in 1998, include Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby and Ellen DeGeneres.
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