Vicki Lawrence
Vicki Lawrence | |
|---|---|
| Born | Victoria Ann Axelrad March 26, 1949 |
| Occupation(s) | Comic, Singer, Actress |
Vicki Lawrence (born Victoria Ann Axelrad on March 26, 1949 in Inglewood, California) is an Emmy Award-winning actress, frequent game show panelist of the 1970s and 1980s, and also an American comedian and singer. She's best known for her co-starring role on The Carol Burnett Show, alongside Carol Burnett, from 1967 to 1978, and as worrying matriarch, Thelma Harper, the main character on Mama's Family, beginning from 1983 to 1990, which had spun-off from The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches.
She has also been credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz; Schultz being the surname of her second husband and Hollywood make-up artist, Al Schultz, to whom she has been married since November 16 1974, and by whom she has two children, Courtney (May 3 1975) and Garrett (July 3 1977).
She is a graduate of Morningside High School in Inglewood.
Comedy
As a comedienne and actress, she is best known for her work on The Carol Burnett Show, of which she was a part from 1967 to 1978. She was the only cast member, except for Burnett herself, who stayed on the Carol Burnett Show for the entire eleven seasons. Lawrence's ascension to become part of the Burnett show is part of Hollywood legend; she was literally hired for the show on the basis of a letter she had sent to Burnett and the producers, with a photograph of Lawrence that clearly showed her resemblance to Burnett. Despite her beginner's status, Lawrence proved to be a valuable part of the comedic team on the show, and played many memorable characters, particularly the role of Thelma "Mama" Harper in the recurring "Family" sketches.
After the Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978, Vicki and her husband Al moved with their children to Maui in Hawaii but returned to Los Angeles after a couple of years where they have remained.
Her portrayal of the "Mama" character was so popular that NBC created a sitcom, Mama's Family, based on characters from the skit. (Burnett reprised the Eunice character for the sitcom from time to time.) The series ran from 1983 to 1985 on NBC; after its cancellation from NBC, it was renewed from 1986 to 1990 in first-run syndication, which many believe to be a more animated, livelier version of Mama's Family. The show was more successful in the renewed version. She also reprised the "Mama" character on stage for Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show.
Lawrence has made appearances on other programs, such as the sitcoms Roseanne, Hannah Montana and Yes, Dear. She has also appeared with Burnett, Harvey Korman, and Tim Conway in the Burnett show retrospectives that were broadcast in 2001 and 2004.
Other careers
As a singer, she is most known for her #1 one-hit, "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia," a song written by her first husband Bobby Russell, which was released on Bell Records in November 1972. (Cher was offered the song first but, unbeknownst to her, her husband Sonny Bono had turned it down.)
"He Did with Me," Vicki's follow-up to "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," only managed to reach #75 in the United States (although it became her biggest hit in Australia, reaching #1 there in November of 1973). Two years later, in the fall of 1975, Vicki managed one last minor US chart entry on the Private Stock label with the anti-feminist curiosity "The Other Woman" (#81).
As an emcee, she hosted the daytime NBC version of the game show Win, Lose or Draw, and has also appeared often as a popular panelist on such game shows as Match Game, Password, The $10,000 Pyramid, and The $25,000 Pyramid, as well as Hollywood Squares, where she appeared both as herself and in character as Thelma "Mama" Harper. Lawrence was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Talk Show in 1993 for the eponymous Vicki!, but the show was canceled after two seasons.
She tours the country with her one-woman show as Thelma "Mama" Harper.
Vicki will starr in the 2008 horror film The Kentucky Fried Horror Show.
Discography
Singles - All chart positions from Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Catalog # | Chart Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | "And I'll Go"
b/w "The Whole State of Alabama" |
Elf 90035 | |
| 1970 | "No, No"
b/w "Lincoln Street Chapel" |
United Artists 50748 | |
| 1973 | "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"
b/w "Dime a Dance" |
Bell 45303 | 1 |
| 1973 | "He Did With Me"
b/w "Mr. Allison" |
Bell 45362 | 75 |
| 1974 | "Ships in the Night"
b/w "Sensual Man" |
Bell 45409 | |
| 1974 | "Mama's Gonna Make It All Better"
b/w "Cameo" |
Bell 45437 | |
| 1974 | "Old Home Movies"
b/w "The Light on the Back Porch Door" |
EMI Int. 504
(UK only) |
n/a |
| 1975 | "The Other Woman"
b/w "Cameo" |
Private Stock 45036 | 81 |
| 1976 | "There's a Gun Still Smokin' in Nashville"
b/w same title |
Private Stock 45067 | |
| 1976 | "The Other Man I've Been Slipping Around With"
b/w "Love in the Hot Afternoon" |
Private Stock 45121 | |
| 1976 | "Hollywood Seven"
b/w "Mississippi" |
Private Stock 45327
(UK Only) |
|
| 1979 | "Don't Stop The Music"
b/w "Newborn Woman" |
Windmill LJ24 | |
| 1979 | "Your Lies"
b/w "Star Love" |
Windmill LJ30 |
Albums
| Year | Title | Catalog # | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia | Bell 1120 | |
| 1974 | Ships in the Night | SOSL10106 | |
| 1979 | Newborn Woman | Windsong L26 |
Books
- Vicki!: The True-Life Adventures of Miss Fireball (1995) - ISBN 0-6848-0286-4 (with Marc Eliot).
Trivia
- She did the voice of Granny Rose on the movie "The Fox and the Hound 2".
- Plays Volleyball in the series Hannah Montana.
- Is said to have written lyrics to the Mama's Family theme song "Bless My Happy Home," though the producers chose to use an instrumental version over the credits instead.
- Vicki and her husband reside in Long Beach, California.
- In the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, Nice Guy Eddie tells that he recently heard the song, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and for the first time, realized that Vicki Lawrence is the one who shot Andy.