Vicki Lawrence
Vicki Lawrence (born Vicki Ann Axelrad on March 26, 1949, in Inglewood, California) is an American comedian, actor, and singer.
She has also been credited as Vicki Lawrence Schultz; Schultz being the surname of her second husband and Hollywood Make-Up artist, Al Schultz, to whom she has been married since November 16, 1974, and by whom she has two children, Courtney (May 3, 1975) and Garrett (July 3, 1977).
Comedy
As a comedienne and actress, she is best known for her work on The Carol Burnett Show, of which she was a part from 1967 to 1978. 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 the role of Thelma "Mama" Harper in the recurring "Eunice" sketches.
After the Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978, Vicki and her husband Al moved with their children to Maui in Hawaii but returned to Los Angeles after a couple of years 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 Eunice for the sitcom.) 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, in which many believe to be a more animated, livelier version of Mama's Family. 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 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 2001 and 2004.
Other careers
As a singer, she is most known for her #1 one-hit wonder, "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia," which was released on Bell Records in 1973. (Cher was offered the song first, but 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, The $10,000 Pyramid, and The $25,000 Pyramid, as well as Hollywood Squares, where she appeared both as herself and in character as Thelma "Mama" Harper. Lawrence won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Talk Show in 1993 for the eponymous Vicki!, but the show was canceled after only two seasons, due to low ratings.
She tours the country with her one-woman show with her and Mama Harper in tow.
Trivia
- Plays Volleyball in the series Hannah Montana.
- Actually wrote lyrics to the Mama's Family theme song "Bless My Happy Home," but the producers chose to use an instrumental version over the credits instead. [citation needed]
- They live in Long Beach California where they go sailing on their boat.