Vicki Lawrence
Birthday: 26 March 1949, Inglewood, California, USA
Birth Name: Vicki Ann Axelrad
Height: 169 cm
Famed actress, comedian, singer, and dancer Vicki Lawrence has appeared in television shows, and in nightclubs. Her career included shows with such popular actors as Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, and ...Show More
[on Carol Burnett and The Family] They couldn't write them fast enough, Carol loved those characters Show more
[on Carol Burnett and The Family] They couldn't write them fast enough, Carol loved those characters so much. I would say they were her favorite characters she ever played on The Carol Burnett Show. Hide
[when she was discovered by mentor Carol Burnett] I was going to be cleaning teeth somewhere, and I Show more
[when she was discovered by mentor Carol Burnett] I was going to be cleaning teeth somewhere, and I guess she changed that. Hide
I always tell people I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America. It's something that Show more
I always tell people I went to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America. It's something that would not happen today. Look at American Idol, where you have people voting you on or off. There are a lot of talented people out there, but there are also a lot of people who are incredibly untalented and all they did, as far as I can tell, is appear in InStyle magazine. I feel like I got to learn and grow with the masters, plus The Carol Burnett Show was a very nurturing environment, which doesn't always happen in show business, even then. People working on the show were forever warning me about what it was going to be like when I got out into the real world. Hide
[on comedy that has been changed over the years]: We were sort of left to our own devices back then Show more
[on comedy that has been changed over the years]: We were sort of left to our own devices back then doing a live show. Now, you'd have eight gazillion suits down there telling us what to do. Telling you what you can and can't say...everything is so politically correct now. I think comedy has gotten cynical and dark. Sexual. It's hard to find for the kids those great old shows that you can sit and watch together. Where you can laugh at totally mindless shit like I did when I was young...like Green Acres or Lucy. Those shows are sort of timeless. Hide
[when asked about the infamous blooper involving Tim Conway's story about elephants] Are you talking Show more
[when asked about the infamous blooper involving Tim Conway's story about elephants] Are you talking about the famous blooper? Which has had a life of its own, the famous....it was Dick's Clark's favorite blooper for years and years and years, and I have said to the kids ' you guys, I should have started the college fund with the money from the blooper', because he played it over and over for years. Um, it was really the first time that Mama spoke out, I believe, and it unleashed a monster, God knows. Hide
[on how she was able to study under her Mentor Carol Burnett] It was surreal: I got to go to Harvard Show more
[on how she was able to study under her Mentor Carol Burnett] It was surreal: I got to go to Harvard School of Comedy in front of America, People look back at The Carol Burnett Show (1967) and see that we all grew up together. She (Carol) was just so nurturing and encouraged everyone to fly. That feeling permeated through the screen and the audience was part of it, too. Hide
[on Co Star Tim Conway] Tim Conway was a little different from the rest. He was always in the back o Show more
[on Co Star Tim Conway] Tim Conway was a little different from the rest. He was always in the back of the studio building something with the prop man, rewriting his lines, or plotting our demise. Hide
[About her mentor Carol Burnett] I remember distinctly when Tim got written into 'The Family' sketch Show more
[About her mentor Carol Burnett] I remember distinctly when Tim got written into 'The Family' sketches as Mickey Hart. Carol took us all aside and said, 'Now listen to me. You know how much I love these characters. You know how important they are to me. I really don't want to break the fourth wall, so let's try to be consummate actors, and let's get through this. I don't care what Tim does. Let's try to be professional.' Of course, just like in the 'elephant story,' who's the first person that falls apart? It's Carol. Hide
[on her "Mama's family" co-star Rue McClanahan]Oh my God! Nuts! She was just meticulous about her cr Show more
[on her "Mama's family" co-star Rue McClanahan]Oh my God! Nuts! She was just meticulous about her craft. I remember her driving the prop guy nuts, because the props, they couldn't just be props, they had to be the actual thing. She had to really work with the actual thing, so he had to get everything right from Monday morning. It had to be right, and he used to drive her crazy. But she was just so meticulous, so deep into that character, and again I think like a really good actress who is a comedienne to be able to skate on that line like Harvey Korman. Hide
[on how Mama was not written for her originally] I was not in the original [planned "Family" sketch] Show more
[on how Mama was not written for her originally] I was not in the original [planned "Family" sketch]. There was no place for me. The sketch was lovingly written for Carol. She was to play Mama, and the writers had planned on a guest star playing Eunice. It was a one-time-only, one shot. They hated their mothers. They wrote this dysfunctional family as a tribute to their dysfunctional lives, and Carol read the sketch before we ever went to a table read, and said "I want to play Eunice. That's the part that speaks to me." That was very upsetting to the writers. Then she said "I think Vicki should play Mama." Very upsetting to the writers. Then we got to rehearsals and said "I want to do it Southern." She said "It's Tennessee Williams gone nuts, we've got to do it Southern!. Hide
[on being in her mentor Carol Burnett shadow] A lot of people think I'm in Carol's Shadow. Well, I c Show more
[on being in her mentor Carol Burnett shadow] A lot of people think I'm in Carol's Shadow. Well, I can't think of a nicer shadow to be in Hide
Life is much too serious to be taken seriously.
Life is much too serious to be taken seriously.
I didn't plan on going into show business. Show business picked me. And it's been fun. One of the be Show more
I didn't plan on going into show business. Show business picked me. And it's been fun. One of the best things about being in show business is people think they know me, and they feel like they grew up with me. Hide
[Who talked about her work with her idol, Carol Burnett]: Carol grew up on live television so that's Show more
[Who talked about her work with her idol, Carol Burnett]: Carol grew up on live television so that's the way we shot that show. We literally did two shows and you could set your clock by the schedule. It would take us an hour and a half to tape an hour show. There's no way that would happen nowadays. We stopped only for major costume changes or major set changes. You know, we used to tackle some pretty spectacular huge pieces. We'd get through those tapings and we rarely did pick-ups. For Carol, it was all about that audience. Keeping that audience happy, that 250-person audience that was in our studio. I think that's why everybody still watches that show and loves it so much because it was like being there live. It was really incredibly well-done. You look back at the staff, the costumes and the writing...it was just an incredible team. Hide
[When asked if she was going back to do her Mama character in 2010, the character she created for 40 Show more
[When asked if she was going back to do her Mama character in 2010, the character she created for 40 years]: No, I certainly did not. Mama was actually written for Carol as a one-time character with a guest star playing Eunice. But Eunice was the character that spoke to Carol, so she wanted to play Eunice and told the writers she wanted me to play Mama. Carol also chose to make the characters southern. The writers were worried that we would offend people in the south, but people saw themselves and people they knew in those characters and identified with them. We got so much positive feedback instead. Hide
I like to make people laugh, I feel insecure if I don't
I like to make people laugh, I feel insecure if I don't
[In a 2014 Heart Diease awareness interview about her Mentor Carol Burnett] For me, it was - I was v Show more
[In a 2014 Heart Diease awareness interview about her Mentor Carol Burnett] For me, it was - I was very lucky. Carol found me and took me under her wing. I grew up in an incredibly nurturing environment. It's not something I ever intended to do; here I landed in the Emerald City. I got to go to the Harvard School of Comedy in front of America. Hide
[on her Mentor and friend Carol Burnett] There are a lot of big egos in this business, but that's no Show more
[on her Mentor and friend Carol Burnett] There are a lot of big egos in this business, but that's not Carol's Trip. Hide
Everybody loves that character (Mama). I can go out on the streets and people will ask me 'Where's m Show more
Everybody loves that character (Mama). I can go out on the streets and people will ask me 'Where's mama?' like if she's suppose to be with me. Hide
[Of Carol Burnett, who got her to play Mama]: She was written by two wonderful writers on The Carol Show more
[Of Carol Burnett, who got her to play Mama]: She was written by two wonderful writers on The Carol Burnett Show. I think it was an homage to their mothers. They both hated their mothers, and they decided they had to get her on paper. They wrote the character for Carol. But when Carol saw the sketch, she felt that Eunice spoke to her and that's the character she wanted to play, which devastated the writers. Then she decided she wanted me to do Mama, which really devastated the writers. Then she decided she wanted to do it Southern, which just completely threw them for a loop. They were appalled, they were upset, they felt we had ruined their sketch. The writers got up and walked out the first time they saw it. But it just got such great feedback from the fans. Hide
Vicki Lawrence's FILMOGRAPHY - Page 2
as Actor (155)
Vicki Lawrence'S roles
Grandma Stewart
Betty Logan, Carol Holtham, Gloria Baxter, Patty Beller, Robin Brandt
Jackie MacKay, Phoebe Carroll
Grandma Stewart
Thelma 'Mama' Harper
Hildegard
Herself - Guest Judge, Mama Harper
Margaret
Granny Rose
