Carol Burnett

Burnett's variety show ran from 1967, and for a generation it set the ceiling for what television comedy could be: sketch, musical numbers, a repertory company, and a host willing to be the least dignified person in the room. The awards accumulated accordingly. Seven Primetime Emmys, seven Golden Globes, a Tony, a Grammy, two Peabodys, twelve People's Choice awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, the Mark Twain Prize in 2013 and the Screen Actors Guild life achievement award in 2015.

What she does is harder than it looks. Burnett commits to a bit with her whole body and then, at the last possible moment, lets something real show through, which is why her characters tend to be funny and slightly sad at once. Miss Hannigan in Annie (1982) is the mainstream example, a broad and mean performance with a genuine grievance underneath it. Dotty Otley in Noises Off (1992) is the technical one, farce at speed, where a single missed beat would sink the scene.

Film used her sparingly and often well, in The Front Page (1974), A Wedding (1978) and The Four Seasons (1981). Television kept coming back, including a run on Mama's Family as Eunice Higgins and a recurring guest turn on Mad About You as Theresa Stemple. She has kept working into her nineties: voice roles in Horton Hears a Who and Toy Story 4, and Norma Dellacorte in Palm Royale in 2024, a part written for exactly the sort of grande dame she can play without a wink.