# Carol Channing, RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798 "2019-01-15T14:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/1 "2019-01-15T14:53:17Z")
I’m starting this because I’m surprised no one else has. Carol Channing, she of Broadway’s _hello Dolly!_ and _Gentemen Prefer Blondes_, has died at the age of 97. She was performing well into her nineties. > **[Carol Channing, legendary Broadway actress, dies at 97](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/carol-channing-legendary-broadway-actress-dies-97-n958721)** > > The raspy-voice, wide-eyed actress made a name for herself starring in the Broadway musicals "Hello, Dolly!" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." I’ve only seen her on TV, but she was an icon. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/2 "2019-01-15T14:56:56Z")
A true theatre icon, and a great loss. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/3 "2019-01-15T15:00:42Z")
Charming lady. I saw her live show about five years ago, where’d she’d reminisce about her career. Lot’s of great stories and she clearly loved being in front of an audience. Most memorable moment was when she said, “I was in a musical called _Hello, Dolly_.” The audience applauded. Then she said with her voice filled with wonder and delight, “You remember!” like she thought she never expected anyone to. A loss to the world. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/4 "2019-01-15T15:05:03Z")
I’m sure I’ve seen her in things, but I really only know her from [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkH3F7X7xQU). ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/5 "2019-01-15T15:06:44Z")
RIP Carol Channing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOQwxup-jv4 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/6 "2019-01-15T15:39:51Z")
Goodbye, Dolly ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/7 "2019-01-15T15:53:21Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m sure I’ve seen her in things, but I really only know her from [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkH3F7X7xQU). I was about to post that same clip ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/8 "2019-01-15T16:16:37Z")
May she rest in peace. A sweet lady, by all accounts. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m sure I’ve seen her in things, but I really only know her from [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkH3F7X7xQU). Heh. I thought of that, too. And what if she had been the first celebrity on the Moon? (at 2:57 here): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMeG7iNGp-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMeG7iNGp-g) ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/9 "2019-01-15T17:00:38Z")
I saw her in Hello, Dolly when she was quite elderly and they had to choreograph around her - to the point of “dancing” her off-stage during some of the big numbers, I’m sure so she could sit. But she was still wonderful, beaming all the way to the cheap seats where I sat! We’ve lost a treasure… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/10 "2019-01-15T17:09:15Z")
Now we’ll have to be content with Ryan Stiles. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/11 "2019-01-15T17:11:15Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > RIP Carol Channing. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOQwxup-jv4 I’d never heard her ‘young’ voice - that last clip shows what made her a star. In other news, Rich Little would be in trouble if he wasn’t already retired. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/12 "2019-01-15T17:14:44Z")
Here she is at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, with her best-known song adapted for the occasion: [Carol Channing for Lyndon Johnson (stock footage / archival footage) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbFmiECNojA) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/13 "2019-01-15T17:52:39Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’d never heard her ‘young’ voice - that last clip shows what made her a star. > > In other news, Rich Little would be in trouble if he wasn’t already retired. Rich Little hasn’t retired. In fact he’s performing in Vegas this month. But his bank of voices is indeed dwindling. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/14 "2019-01-15T21:28:45Z")
Perhaps not her finest cinematic effort, but nonetheless performed in her inimitable style: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qKJzf1by5vI/hqdefault.jpg "SKIDOO (1968) "CAROL CHANNING VISITS FRANKIE AVALON"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKJzf1by5vI) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/15 "2019-01-15T21:46:58Z")
_“No, Carol, no, no no, Carol, don’t you dare do Hello Dolly one more time!”_ (Sung to the tune of “Hello Dolly”, of course!) (From Forbidden Broadway, if you must know.) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/16 "2019-01-15T21:51:04Z")
I couldn’t find any pics of her father George Christian Channing (born George Christian Stucker), but it looks as though the product of a \*Black domestic and White man. Apparently he was light-skinned enough to pass as White, since his WWI draft registration indicated his ‘race’ as ‘Caucasian.’ The 1900 census had previously shown him as ‘Black’. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/17 "2019-01-15T22:10:17Z")
From [Larry King interview in 2002](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0211/27/lkl.00.html): > [@](#): > > 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’d 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?** Emphasis mine. Cool lady. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/18 "2019-01-15T23:26:37Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > From [Larry King interview in 2002](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0211/27/lkl.00.html): > Emphasis mine. Cool lady. Thanks for posting this; she was indeed the epitome of awesomesauce. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/19 "2019-01-16T05:26:08Z")
I saw her in the original 1964 _Hello, Dolly!_ What a performance! RIP, Dolly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798/20 "2019-01-16T06:05:22Z")
I genuinely have always thought Stockard Channing was Carol Channing’s daughter. But nope, not even close. No relationship at all. Carol only ever had a son, and Stockard uses a married name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carol-channing-rip/827798.md?page=2)