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Carol Channing, now in her 90s, is one of those odd creatures who found her niche.  She obviously had something, but it doesn't easily come across on TV or in the movies.  But on stage, she was magnetic.

I recently saw Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, a documentary on her life.  From the start she was special.  She got on Broadway in the revue Lend An Ear in 1948 and won a Tony.  Then she got her first leading role as Lorelei Lee in the 1949 hit Gentleman Prefer Blondes--and it didn't lead to much for another 15 years.  She got the lead in The Vamp in 1955, but that flopped.



Then in 1964, producer David Merrick, composer Jerry Herman and director Gower Champion (who staged Lend An Ear) were looking for a female star to carry their new musical, but the big names turned them down.  So they got Channing to star in Hello Dolly! and it was a perfect match.  The show was a blockbuster, Carol won another Tony and drag queens found another icon. (Though I agree with Harold Prince, who almost directed the show--Dolly Levi was not an habitue of fancy restaurants, so the title number where they welcome her back makes no sense.)

Carol Channing did do some movies, but she wasn't a big enough star to recreate her Broadway hits--Marilyn Monroe played Lorelei Lee and Barbra Streisand, Dolly Levi.  But Channing is still as big as they come on stage, and she's been touring in Dolly for decades.  She never misses a performance--she knows people came to see her.  It must be tough, because the role is exhausting. (Far better to be Yul Brynner and play in The King And I forever--Anna's the lead, while the King only has two songs.) But she understands she got the role of a lifetime, and made it her life.