Carol Channing’s Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Broadway legend Carol Channing passed away on January 15 at the age of 97. She was married four times during her life and is survived by a son, Channing Carson. Channing died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, of natural causes, her publicist, B Harlan Boll, told Broadway World. Boll told the website, “I admired her before I met her, and have loved her since the day she stepped … or fell rather … into my life. It is so very hard to see the final curtain lower on a woman who has been a daily part of my life for more than a third of it.”

Boll concluded by saying, “Saying good-bye is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, but I know that when I feel those uncontrollable urges to laugh at everything and/or nothing at all, it will be because she is with me, tickling my funny bone.”

Here’s what you need to know about Carol Channing’s family:


1. Channing’s Mother Told Her Daughter When She Was 16 That She May Have a Black Baby

Channing was born in January 1921 in Seattle. Her mother, Adelaide “Peggy” Glaser, was German-Jewish, and her father, George Channing, was African-American and German. He changed his name from Stucker to Channing prior to his daughter’s birth. Channing was the couple’s only child. Shortly after her birth, her father, an editor with the Seattle Star newspaper, moved the family to San Francisco and became involved in the Christian Science movement.

Carol Channing Family

GettyChanning pictured in London in April 1970.

In her memoir, “Just Lucky I Guess,” Channing revealed that she only found her father was part-African-American when she was 16 and being shipped off to Bennington College in Vermont. Channing wrote that her mother told her, “I’m only telling you this because the Darwinian law shows that you could easily have a Black baby.” Channing wrote that of her belief that she had “the greatest genes in showbiz.”

Channing also said that her father’s parents moved from Augusta, Georgia, to Providence, Rhode Island, because of their mixed-race relationship. In a 2002 interview with Larry King, Channing described her father saying, “No, he was not black. I wish I had his picture. He was — he was a — his skin was the color of mine.” Channing went on to say that she was “very proud” of her mixed-race heritage.


2. Channing’s Attended Middle School With Her Late Husband Harry Kullijian

In 2003, at the age of 83, Channing rekindled her romance with Harry Kullijian. The couple had dated in middle school. Later in 2003, Channing married Kullijian, who was a political figure in northern California. The couple remained married until his death in 2011.

Channing had her only child with her second husband, Canadian football star Alexander Carson. Their son, Chan, was born in March 1953. The couple was married between 1953 and 1956. Despite being Carson’s son, Chan would later take the name of his mother’s third husband, Charles Lowe.


3. Channing Said During Her 40 Plus Year Marriage to Charles Lowe, the Couple Only Had Sex Twice

Carol Channing Charles Lowe

GettyChanning and husband Charles Lowe pictured meeting Lady Ogilvy in London in June 1970.

Channing’s longest marriage was with publicist Charles Lowe. The couple was together between 1956 and 1999, his death. The couple was in the process of divorcing at the time of his death but it was never finalized. During their divorce proceedings, Channing described Lowe as going through their family money, “Like a drunken sailor.” Channing also said that her husband was physically abusive.

In 1998, Playbill reported that Channing said she and Lowe only had sex twice, both times during their honeymoon. Channing said that after their nuptials, Lowe said he was impotent.


4. Channing’s Son Works as an Editorial Cartoonist & as of 2012, Hadn’t Spoken to His Mother in 15 Years

Channing’s son, Chan Lowe, is a syndicated editorial cartoonist and political blogger. On his LinkedIn page, he describes himself as a lecturer, “both nationally and internationally.” Lowe is an adjunct instructor at Williams College. Between 1984 and 2015, Lowe was a senior member of the editorial board of the Sun Sentinel. Lowe previously was a cartoonist for the Shawnee News-Star in Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Times.

Lowe wrote his blog, The Lowe Down, between 2008 and 2015. He has appeared on “The Daily Show,” “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Larry King Live.” In 1990, Lowe was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and has won the Society of Professional Journalist’s Green Eyeshade Award twice. Lowe is a graduate of Williams College, Smith College and Stanford University.

Chan Lowe

Facebook/Chan LoweLowe pictured on his Facebook page

During her 2002 interview with Larry King, Channing discussed the separation from her son. When asked how he was, Channing said, “I get him all the time on the Internet. Children go through phases. I went through phases. He’ll be back.” Channing was asked if she saw his cartoons, Channing replied, “Every one of them. He does a great bin Laden.” Channing said that her son’s wife was a “lovely girl. She’s an Irish girl, and I tried hard.”


5. Channing Moved to Palm Springs to Be Closer to Her Cousins, Richard ‘Dicky’ & Sylvia Long

Carol Channing Dead

Getty

Channing moved to Palm Springs to be closer to her cousin, Richard “Dicky” Long and his wife, Sylvia Long. Dicky had been raised in Channing’s home and was seven when the broadway legend was born. In her memoir, Channing wrote, via the Hollywood Reporter, that her mother told Dicky, “George and I are trying to build a life together, so Carol will have to be your ward. You must help and look after her. He once told me that he hitched my baby carriage onto the back of his tricycle and we went careening around the streets on “terror rides.”

READ NEXT: Michigan School Teachers Admit to Making Adult Movies on the Side