HARVEY KORMAN

February 15, 1927

Harvey Korman was born in Chicago, Illinois. He served in the United States Navy during World War II.  After being discharged, he studied at the Goodman School of Drama and at HB Studio. Korman is best known as a cast member of “The Carol Burnett Show” (1967-77), four episodes of which featured Lucille Ball.  But prior to joining with Carol Burnett, he was part of the Desilu family, appearing several times on “The Lucy Show” as various characters. 

In 1963, he appeared in the premiere of the new Desilu series “Glynis” starring Glynis Johns. It lasted just one season. 

On “The Lucy Show” he first played Mr. Slater, the Camp Director, in “Lucy, the Camp Cook” (TLS S3;E6) in October 1964.   

He next played Mr. Philips, Lucy Carmichael’s nervous stock broker in “Lucy the Stockholder” (TLS S3;E25) on March 29, 1965.

LUCY: “Are you sure you feel alright, Mr. Philips?”
PHILIPS: “Oh, fine. I haven’t felt this way since 1929.”

In his final series appearance, he played Major Grayson, the head of the

Los Angeles Military Academy where Lucy’s son is being enrolled. Korman appears in studio and on location at Marineland for the shows Season 4 kickoff in 1965, helping set the change in scene from New York to California.  

In “A Salute To Stand Laurel” (November 1965) Korman was a cop in a sketch featuring Lucille Ball and Buster Keaton. 

In 1967, Lucille Ball made the first of her four appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show” where Harvey Korman was a regular.  

In the sketch “Café Argentine,”

the maître d’ (Korman) says his name is Pedro, but he speaks with a strident, barking German accent and makes them goose-step to their table.  

A year later, Lucy returns to the “Burnett Show” and Korman is part of the musical finale in which Lucille Ball is Katharine the Great (in a Bob Mackie original)! 

A year later again on “The Carol Burnett Show” (1969), Lucy and Carol are air hostesses and Korman plays a mysterious passenger (Harvey Korman) with a Fidel Castro-like beard, cigars tucked in his breast pocket, and a Spanish accent.

LUCY: “Where are you from, sir?  Havana?”
KORMAN: (alarmed) “Havana? What makes you think I’m from Havana?”
LUCY: “Well, if it’s one thing I know, it’s a Cuban accent.”

Later in the same show, Korman is Ted and Lucy is Alice in a parody of the film Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice. 

TED (Harvey): “I’m afraid the neighbors will talk.”
ALICE (Lucy): “No, they won’t.”
CAROL (Carol): “Why not?”
ALICE (Lucy): “We’re the neighbors.”

The show finishes with a sketch titled “The Rock Sisters” in which Korman plays an aging dancer named Tommy Two Step.  The show was taped at CBS Television City, the same facility Lucille Ball which Lucille Ball helped open in 1952. 

During “The Carol Burnett Show” on October 19, 1970, Lucy’s final appearance on the series, Korman plays an aging gangster chasing Lucy and Carol, who are disguised as men in a satire of “Some Like it Hot” titled “Some Like it Hotsy Totsy”. Korman garnered four Emmys for his work with Carol Burnett over the years.

In 1976, Lucille Ball and Harvey Korman were on the dais for “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Danny Thomas”.  

In 1977 Korman had his own show on NBC which lasted just one season. 

In September 1984 both Korman and Ball were presenters on “The 36th Primetime Emmy Awards.”  Their last time on the same TV program was the “All-Star Party for Clint Eastwood” on November 30, 1986.

Korman died on May 29, 2008 after complications from rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was married twice and had two children from each marriage.