Movie Musings: Disney and More

Carol Burnett’s Rep Players

You might remember from one of my earlier blogs, a tribute to Carol Burnett, and how in addition to starring in her own show for 11 years, from 1967-1978, she also performed in various things for the Walt Disney Studios, (host of the Disney Sunday Movie episode “Great Moments in Disney Animation,” in 1987 and playing the role of Queen Aggravain in ABC’s Once Upon a Mattress in 2005). I didn’t acknowledge that last summer she also voiced, Chairol Burnett, a cartoon version of herself in Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4 (2019), and reprised that role in an episode of the Disney+ series, Forky Asks a Question (2019). If you’re a fan of “The Carol Burnett Show,” you might also remember that Carol had a group of “repertory players” who were exceptionally talented performers, and each brought their own ingenuity to the show: Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Lyle Waggoner. Did you know that each of these performers have also been in things for Disney as well?

• Harvey Korman played the role of Captain Blythe in Disney’s Herbie Goes Bananas (1980), which was the fourth film in the “Herbie/Love Bug,” franchise. Korman also lent his voice to the Disney television series, 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997-1998), Hercules (1998-1999), and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001). (Korman lent his voice to the “Hercules and the Griffin,” episode of Hercules, which ironically also starred his co-star from “Carol Burnett,” Tim Conway.) Besides his roles on “Carol Burnett,” and Disney, Korman is also known for his contributions to the first three original “Flintstone” shows, voicing The Great Gazoo on The Flintstones (1964-1966), Dictabird in The Flintstones (1994), and playing the role of Colonel Slaghoople in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). Like Carol Burnett, Korman also performed in an episode of The Muppet Show (1976-1981).
• While Vicki Lawrence many characters throughout her time on “The Carol Burnett Show,” she will forever be remembered for her portrayal of the iconic Mama/Thelma Harper in the “Mama’s Family” sketches. She later reprised the role on her very own sit-com Mama’s Family (1983-1990), and for the last 45 1/2 years has been married to Al Schulz who was the Makeup Artist on “The Carol Burnett Show.” She made her Disney debut when she was cast as Mamaw Ruthie Stewart, mother of Robby Ray Stewart and Grandmother of Miley Ray Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Original Series, Hannah Montana (2006-2011), a role that she reprised for five episodes throughout the shows five-year-run. She also lend her voice to The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006), Disney’s direct-to-video sequel to The Fox and the Hound (1981), and the Disney Channel Original Animated Series, Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015).
• Tim Conway is best known at Disney for portraying the role of Amos Tucker in The Apple Dumple Gang (1975) and its sequel The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979). Before those films, Conway’s Disney debut was in The World’s Greatest Athlete (1973), and in 1976 he made comedies Gus, which reunited him with “Apple Dumpling Gang,” co-star Don Knotts and The Shaggy D.A., which was Disney’s sequel to The Shaggy Dog (1959). Conway was very close with Don Knotts, as well as all of his co-stars from “The Carol Burnett Show,” and also Ernest Borgnine, with whom he co-starred on the show McHale’s Navy (1962-1966). He worked with each of his friends on numerous other projects as well. He wrote the films The Prize Fighter (1979) and The Private Eyes (1980), in which he co-starred with Knotts, and he and Borgnine lent their voices to Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present). Conway also went on a comedy tour with Harvey Korman, appeared in both Touched by an Angel (1994-2003) and Hot in Cleveland (2010-2015) with Carol Burnett, and he and Vicki Lawrence and Don Knotts have all lent their voices to the faith-based CGI series Hermie & Friends (2004).
• In addition to playing several various characters on the show, Lyle Waggoner shared announcing duties on the show with Ernie Anderson. Waggoner is also known for originating the role of Colonel Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman (1975-1979) the series, the role that is now portrayed by Chris Pine in the reboot films. The role of Colonel Trevor was easy for him to identify with because he served for two years in the United States Army as a radio operator. Besides acting, Waggoner was also a skilled carpenter and businessman, and in 1979 he founded, Star Waggons, a company that loaned customized location trailers to be used by people in the entertainment industry.     

Carol Burnett’s “Rep Players,” were all talented in their own special ways and they never ceased to make us laugh on the small screen and even sometimes on the big screen. Carol Burnett and Vicki Lawrence are still making us laugh, Burnett with her recent memoir In Such Good Company: Eleven Years Of Laughter, Mayhem, And Fun In The Sandbox and Lawrence with her role on the Fox Broadcasting Company series The Cool Kids (2018-2019), and while Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Lyle Waggoner are no longer with us, each of their humor legacies will continue to live on forever.