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Carol Channing (born January 31, 1921 in Seattle,
Washington) is a United States actor|actress whose
career was built largely on two roles, Lorelei Lee
in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Dolly Gallagher
Levi in Hello, Dolly! (play/movie)|Hello Dolly!. 
She is easily recognized by her distinctive voice
and wide eyes.

She was born in Seattle, Washington.  Her father
was an editor and moved the family to San
Francisco when she was younger.  She went to
school at Aptos Junior High School and met a man
named Harry Kullijian and they became sweethearts.
 They lost touch when she went to Lowell High
School of San Francisco.  Her high I.Q. lead her
to the most prestigious high school in the
American West at that time.  When she left home to
attend another prestigious school, Bennington
College in Vermont, her mother informed her that
her father, a journalist who she had believed was
born in Rhode Island, was actually a light-skinned
African-American born in Augusta, Georgia who had
passed for white, saying that the only reason she
was telling her was so she wouldn't be surprised
"if she had a black baby". She kept her heritage
secret so she would not be typecast on Broadway
theatre|Broadway and in Hollywood, ultimately
revealing it only in her autobiography, Just Lucky
I Guess, which was published in 2002, when she was
more than 80 years old. 

Her first Broadway play was Let's Face It, where
she was an understudy for Eve Arden. She had a
featured role in a review, Lend an Ear, where she
was spotted by Anita Loos and cast in the role of
Lorelei Lee, which was to bring her to prominence.
(Her signature song from the production was
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.")  Carol's
persona and that of the character were strikingly
alike: simultaneously smart yet scattered, naïve
but worldly. 

She reprised the role of Lorelei Lee in the
musical Lorelei, and appeared in two New York
revivals of Hello, Dolly!, in addition to touring
with it extensively throughout the United States.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress for her performance in
Thoroughly Modern Millie, opposite Julie Andrews
and Mary Tyler Moore.

She married four times. Her first husband,
Theodore Naidish, was a writer; her second,
Alexander Carson, was center for the Ottawa Rough
Riders Canadian football team (they had one son,
Chan, who is a cartoonist). In 1956 she married
her manager and publicist Charles Lowe. They
remained married for 42 years, but she filed for
divorce in 1998, alleging they had had marital
relations only twice in that timespan, not
surprising since Lowe was gay, a fact she may not
have realized when they wed. He died before the
divorce was finalized. On May 10, 2003, she
married Harry Kullijian, her junior high school
sweetheart, who reunited with her after she
mentioned him fondly in her memoir.

At Lowell High School, her old school, they
renamed the school's auditorium "The Carol
Channing Theatre" in honor of her.  On February
25, 2002, the City of San Francisco proclaimed it
was Carol Channing Day.

Her autobiography entitled "Just Lucky I Guess"
was published/released on October 8, 2002.  In her
memoirs Carol Channing reveals her "long kept
secret" that she  has African American ancestry.

==Stage Performances==
*Let's Face It! (1941)
*Proof Through the Night (1942)
*Lend an Ear (1948) 
*Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
*Wonderful Town (1953) (replaced Rosalind Russell
for a few months)
*The Vamp (a legendary flop) (1955) 
*Show Girl (1961)
*Hello, Dolly! (play/movie)|Hello, Dolly! (1964)
*Four on a Garden (1971)
*Lorelei (a reworking of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)
(1974) 
*Jule's Friends at the Palace (benefit) (1974)
*Hello, Dolly! (play/movie)|Hello, Dolly!
(revival) (1978) 
*Hello, Dolly! (play/movie)|Hello, Dolly!
(revival) (1995)

==Filmography==

*Paid in Full (1950)
*The First Traveling Saleslady (1956)
*All About People (1967) (short subject)
(narrator)
*Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
*Skidoo (1968)
*Shinbone Alley (1971) (voice)
*Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
(cameo)
*Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
*Thumbelina (1994) (voice)
*Edie & Pen (1997)
*Homo Heights (1998) (cameo)
*Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were
There (2003) (documentary)

Carol Channing has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard.

==External links==

*imdb name|id=0151919|name=Carol Channing