Over a career that spans decades, Carol Burnett continues to surprise fans

From the long-running Carol Burnett Show to the comedian's latest role in Palm Royale, here's a look at Burnett's enduring draw.

American actor and comedian Carol Burnett is a legend in laughter. Her groundbreaking eponymous comedy-variety show, which ran for 11 seasons between 1967 and 1978, is perhaps her biggest claim to fame, but Burnett's is a career that has never been dull – or lacking for opportunities.

From turns on such hit shows as AMC's Better Call Saul and NBC's Mad About You to appearances on Glee and Hot in Cleveland, Burnett has always managed to surprise and delight fans and rack up a long list of industry awards along the way.

And as she approaches her 91st birthday, Burnett is once again generating buzz thanks to her latest unexpected role: She's appearing on the new Apple TV + series Palm Royale, a drama about high society in wealthy Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1969. It's an appearance through which Burnett is proving once again that she's an enduring and constantly evolving talent who has no plans to slow down or become predictable.

"Burnett's greatness lies in her versatility, having the ability to do the most with every acting opportunity," says Garry Berman, a pop culture and entertainment history writer and author of the book The Funniest Decade.

Burnett's trajectory is often described as a true rags-to-riches story. She was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 26 April 1933. Because her parents were both acute alcoholics, Burnett was raised by her grandmother. Burnett and her grandmother relocated to Hollywood in the 1940s, where they initially lived in a boarding house. After graduating from Hollywood High School, Burnett went on to study theatre at the University of Southern California in 1951 and would regularly perform in UCLA's summer stock shows.

Burnett's first big break came in August 1957 on The Ed Sullivan Show when she performed a song in which she feigned gushing adoration for John Foster Dulles, a policy wonk and U.S. Secretary of State from 1953 until 1959, who had earned the moniker "The Most Boring Man in America."

After Burnett's tongue-in-cheek performance, which was a spoof of the over-the-top affection often expressed by young women at the time for heartthrob Elvis Presley, Burnett became a household name overnight. The hilarious skit landed her on the pages of Life magazine and suddenly, she was officially a known entertainer.

It was her 11 years of starring in The Carol Burnett Show, however, that firmly established Burnett as a talent to be reckoned with and as a lasting presence on the entertainment landscape. In 2007, the show was recognised by Time magazine as one of 100 Best Television Shows of All Time. And during its run, the programme averaged 30 million viewers per week and racked up an impressive 25 Emmy Awards.

Not only did the show cement Burnett's stardom; it also broke industry barriers.

"She changed how television worked with her show," says Lara Rosales, a television critic for Tell-Tale TV. "It wasn't common for a woman to headline her show. Comedy variety was a man's game until she headlined her show. She opened the floor for other women to dive in… changing the rules of the game."

Burnett was also one of the first to offer live skits before a studio audience on her variety show, an innovation that was a precursor to modern hit shows such as Saturday Night Live, explains Rich Libner, CEO of MCP Talent Agency, which represents a variety of comedians.

But more than just being a woman in a man's world (and one who was a smashing success in that arena), Burnett also produced some of comedy's most enduring characters and sketches during her years of creating The Carol Burnett Show.

"Her most well-known characters were all created for skits on her show," says Libner. "They include: Miss Wiggins, the secretary opposite Tim Conway; Eunice in a skit called The Family, which also introduced Vicki Lawrence as Mama; Starlet O'Hara, which spoofed Gone with the Wind; and the Chairwoman, who was the janitor who had big dreams and a voice to match."

While Burnett's comedy variety show left a lasting mark on the hearts and minds of viewers and critics, "she also offered remarkable performances in movies and in musicals over the years," says Libner. "She is also Broadway trained, so her talents extend to singing and dancing."

Burnett's long list of Broadway productions includes: Love Letters (2014), Hollywood Arms (2002), Putting it Together (1999), Moon Over Buffalo (1995), Fade Out - Fade In (1964) and Once Upon a Mattress (1959), to name a few. Her forays into feature films, meanwhile, included Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), The Front Page (1974), and The Four Seasons (1981), among many others. Each of these efforts further underscored her deep well of talent, as did her eclectic TV appearances.

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"Carol Burnett took a big leap towards stardom on Broadway in Once Upon a Mattress, earning a Tony Award nomination [in 1960]," says Berman. He says that her television debut as a "second-banana" – an industry term for a supporting player in a comedy show – on The Garry Moore Show "introduced her to a national audience, for which she won her first Emmy Award in 1962. She also starred in one of the few episodes of The Twilight Zone that sought to be truly comedic, titled 'Cavender is Coming,'" says Berman.

Burnett's 1962 music and comedy special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, co-starring her friend Julie Andrews, is still considered a highlight in television history, adds Berman. The program won an Emmy Award in 1963 for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music, and Burnett took home an individual Emmy for outstanding performance.

Throughout it all, Burnett regularly refreshed her career by stepping into unexpected roles time and again.

One of her most iconic cameos, says Rosales, was in 2009 on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. "Partnering with [actor] Matthew Lillard and being part of a television show that is a landmark show was a highlight of her career," she adds.

Zoe Friedman, a comedy industry executive who's produced, booked and discovered comedic talent and is co-founder of the organisation Comedy Gives Back, says Burnett's appearance on the AMC crime drama Better Call Saul, which ran from 2015 until 2022, was an equally brilliant step in her career. Burnett joined the show's final season, playing the role of Marion, the mother of a cab driver with whom Saul develops a complex relationship.

"Her gravitas and the role of Marion built amazing tension on an already tense show," says Friedman. "That show has some very dark humour in it, and Carol elevated that."

In just a few weeks, on April 26, Burnett will turn 91. And as she approaches this milestone, Burnett is delighting audiences and critics once again. People magazine describes her portrayal of aunt Norma in Palm Royale as the best of the entire ensemble cast, which also includes such heavy-hitting talents as Kristen Wiig and Laura Dern.

"The strongest performance is Burnett's as the aunt," writes Tom Gliatto in his review, noting how remarkable it is that Burnett is able to project toughness and even slapstick while her character is comatose.

Friedman is hardly surprised by the latest round of accolades. "High quality talent rises to the top. She was not a fad or a passing fancy," says Friedman. "She has been part of American pop-culture for so many years because she can elevate material."

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