I grew up watching syndicated reruns of Carol Burnett and Friends, and one of my favorite parts of the show was always waiting to see how long it would take for Tim Conway to crack up Harvey Korman in the show. It was like a game that we were all in on. Korman always did a remarkably good job and every once in a while he would even turn the tables. Throughout Harvey Korman’s forty years of acting, he starred in everything from television shows to his own variety show, and from low budget rubbish to blockbuster films.
My personal favorites were the work he did with Mel Brooks in the classic Blazing Saddles and High Anxiety. His roll as Hedy Lamaar…er, that’s Hedley…never fails to inspire repeated lines of dialogue imitation for me. Just ask my cousin Chris (‘splendid, splendid’) or my friends Dave and Jimmy (‘chewing gum on line!’), who have had to live with me spouting them off while we traveled together.
Harvey’s death earlier this year greatly saddened me. Never again will we see his free-flowing antics with partner Tim Conway. But his memory on film will live on forever…and I will always have the autographed photo that he signed for me in 1997. It was an incredibly speedy response with the photo and signed notecards returning on October 10 after I had sent out the request on September 30. Harve Korman was a brilliant comedian and a class act all the way.
Autographs from 1997 will continue…
Splendid, splendid.
Land…land…land. See “snatch.”
No, you say that.
Why am I asking you?
Give the governor harrumph!
Chris
September 4th, 2008
“Hey! Where all da white women at?”
John
September 26th, 2008