Getty Cast members of the Carol Burnett Show (L-R) Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence and designer Bob Mackie poses in the press room at the 2005 TV Land Awards.
Tim Conway, known for his comedic role on The Carol Burnett Show, died today at the age of 85 in Los Angeles. The actor and comedian died from water on the brain, medically known as hydrocephalus. He previously underwent brain surgery in 2018.
One of Conway’s Carol Burnett Show co-stars, Harvey Korman, passed away in 2008 at the age of 81. The Los Angeles Times reported that his cause of death was “complications from an abdominal aortic aneurysm.” After he passed, Conway remarked “It’s a 45-year friendship. It was a great ride; we worked together probably 30 years, plus the Burnett show, which was about as good as it gets.” He also reflected on their professional chemistry, adding “I don’t know whether either one of us was the straight man. The most important thing in comedy when you’re working together is for one guy to know when to shut up. And we both knew when to shut up; quiet show, actually.”
The showing’s leading lady and namesake, Carol Burnett, was born on April 26, 1933, making her 86 years old today. Just last year, Burnett announced that she would be making her return to television with a new Netflix show “A Little Help With Carol Burnett.” The talk show has one 12-episode season streaming on Netflix currently.
Vicki Lawrence, who according to IMDb appeared in 278 episodes of the show from 1967 to 1978, is also alive and well today at the age of 70. She played Margaret on the Fox comedy The Cool Kids, which has its first season this year before getting canceled. She was nominated for an Emmy 6 times for her work on The Carol Burnett Show, and won once.
Lyle Waggoner, another Carol Burnett Show original cast member, is 84 years old. Although he announced and played various character roles on the show from its start in 1967 until 1974, after which he continued his illustrious TV and film career, according to his IMDb page, his last credit was back in 2005. He is also known for playing Steve Trevor on the Wonder Woman television show.
In 2017, CBS got most of the original cast together for a Carol Burnett Show reunion to commemorate the show’s 50th anniversary. According to Entertainment Weekly, Burnett was joined by her co-stars Lawrence and Waggoner as well as the show’s costume designer Bob Mackie. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that Burnett revealed that Conway was not a part of the taped special because he was “under the weather” at the time of the taping).
Some of the show’s most famous guest stars, including Dick Van Dyke and Betty White, are still actively working in Hollywood. Van Dyke, who is 93, most recently appeared in Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel of the classic Disney film he starred in alongside Julie Andrews. Betty White, best known for playing Rose Nylund on Golden Girls, starred in several seasons of Hot in Cleveland on TV Land only a few years ago. For IMDb’s complete list of all of the actors and writers who were apart of The Carol Burnett Show series, click here.