Vicki Lawrence

Vicki Lawrence (born March 26, 1949) is an American actress, frequent game show panelist of the 1970s and 1980s, comedian, and singer. She is best known for her co-starring role on The Carol Burnett Show, alongside Carol Burnett, from 1967 to 1978, and as the sharp-tongued matriarch, Thelma Harper (the main character on Mama's Family, airing from 1983 to 1990, which was spun off from The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches). She has also been credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz.

Biography

Early life

Lawrence was born Vicki Ann Axelrad^[1] in Inglewood, California,^[2] the daughter of Anne Alene (née Loyd) and Howard Axelrad, a certified public accountant.^[3] She is a graduate of Morningside High School in Inglewood.

Acting career

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As a comedienne and actress, Lawrence 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 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 Thelma Harper (a.k.a., "Mama") in the recurring "Family" sketches. It was decided that Lawrence only needed a grey-blue wig and body padding to transform her into "Mama." Viewers didn't notice or care that no make-up was used to make her appear older.

After The Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978, Vicki and her husband Al moved with their children to Maui in Hawaii but after a couple of years, returned to Los Angeles 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 Higgins 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. 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 Laverne & Shirley, Major Dad, 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 1993, 2001 and 2004.

Lawrence played 'Mamaw Stewart' (the mother of Robby Ray Stewart and grandmother of Jackson and Miley Stewart) in the hit Disney series Hannah Montana, alongside Billy Ray Cyrus, and his daughter Miley Cyrus. Which she was Nominated for an Emmy in 2006.

Lawrence recently played as "Mama" on an Ohio commercial, promoting that Casinos be brought into Ohio.

Lawrence played Dan's old high school flame, Phyllis, in an episode of Roseanne. She has also been on a special celebrity edition episode of the Anne Robinson version of The Weakest Link. Playing for her charity, she made it to the final two, but ended up losing to Ed Begley Jr. She has also been on a special celebrity three week special of the Jim Perry version of Card Sharks.

Other work

As a singer, Lawrence is most known for her #1 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 then-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, Password Plus, Super Password, various incarnations of the Pyramid game show, 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 "two-woman" show with the first half as herself and the second half done as Thelma "Mama" Harper.

Personal life

Lawrence's second husband is Hollywood make-up artist, Al Schultz, to whom she has been married since November 16, 1974, and with whom she has two children, Courtney Allison Schultz (born May 5, 1975) and Garrett Lawrence Schultz (born July 3, 1977). Lawrence had been previously married to Bobby Russell from 1972 to 1974.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Books

• Vicki!: The True-Life Adventures of Miss Fireball (1995) - ISBN 0-6848-0286-4 (with Marc Eliot)
• Mama for President: Good Lord, Why Not? (2008) ISBN 1401604099 ISBN 978-1401604097 (with Monty Aidem)

References

External links

• Official Website
• Vicki Lawrence MySpace Page
• Vicki Lawrence at the Internet Movie Database