Broadway Legend Carol Channing Dies at 97

[Mr. Babatunde]

Rest In Heaven to a Broadway Legend! "No white lady can do it as I caroled," Channing disclosed to CNN have Larry King in 2003. The adored vocalist and performer appreciated over 70 years of accomplishment in front of an audience and screen before biting the dust of normal causes on Tuesday morning in her home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Channing was 97 years of age.

The Seattle, Washington-conceived Channing, best known for starting the main job in Hello, Dolly on Broadway, just as Lorelei Lee in Gentleman Prefer Blondes, amassed 28 dramatic credits and 29 film and TV credits in her storied vocation. She earned four Tony grants (counting two Lifetime Achievement grants) and seven designations, an Olivier Award selection for her job in Hello Dolly, a Drama Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, and an Oscar assignment for Best Supporting Actress in the film form Thoroughly Modern Millie, for which she won the 1968 Golden Globe.

In a transcript of her conversation with CNN’s King, Channing gave a further glimpse into the phenomenon known as racially “passing” in America, and revealed herself to be progressive beyond her era.

KING: So you’re proud of your mixed heritage?

CHANNING: Very, when I found out. I was 16-years-old and my mother told me. And you know, only the reaction on me was, ‘Gee, I got the greatest genes in show business.’

KING: Some people years ago discovering that might have been disturbed by it?

CHANNING: Yes, years ago because when I found out about it, you don’t want to do that.

KING: You don’t say it.

CHANNING: You don’t say it. There’s a lot of it down South.

KING: People are ashamed of it.

CHANNING: [I’m] proud of it.

KING: I’m glad to hear it.

CHANNING: I really am. I mean look, what makes you, you? You don’t know. None of us knows our heritage. Not in the United States.

KING: We’re all immigrants.

CHANNING: Exactly, this is the changing face of America. I’m part of it. Isn’t it wonderful?


Channing was also an early and outspoken advocate for arts education and for the LGBTQ+ community, which she often credited with supporting her success. Channing’s 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award Tony was granted for work with the Benefit for AIDS and The Actors’ Fund, which provides critical medical and financial assistance to many in the theatrical community.

The Root