Vicki Lawrence
(born March 26, 1949) is an American actress, comedian, and singer, who was frequently a game show panelist in the 1970s and 1980s. 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
.
|
VICKI LAWRENCE TICKETS
|
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
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.
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. She also currently can be seen on TV in an infomercial for the "Big Boss Grill".
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
Year
| Title
| Catalog #
|
1973
| The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
| Bell 1120
|
1974
| Ships in the Night
| SOSL10106
|
1979
| Newborn Woman
| WindMill L26
|
1990
| The Peter North Story
| Dragon9321
|
Singles
Year
| Song
| Chart Positions
| Album
|
US
| US AC
| US Country
| CAN
| CAN AC
| CAN Country
|
1969
| "And I'll Go"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| singles only
|
1970
| "No, No"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
1973
| "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia"
| 1
| 6
| 36
| 1
| 2
| 25
| The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia
|
"He Did with Me"
| 75
| —
| —
| 42
| 16
| —
|
1974
| "Ships in the Night"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Ships in the Night
|
"Mama's Gonna Make it All Better"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"Old Home Movies"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| singles only
|
1975
| "The Other Woman"
| 81
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
1976
| "There's a Gun Still Smokin' in Nashville"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"The Other Man I've Been Slipping Around With"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
1977
| "Hollywood Seven"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
1979
| "Don't Stop the Music"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Newborn Woman
|
"Your Lies"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
|
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
- According to the State of California. ''California Birth Index, 1905-1995''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461
- http://delafont.com/specialty_acts/Vicki-Lawrence.htm
- http://www.filmreference.com/film/29/Vicki-Lawrence.html