STORYTELLERS

This film’s journey from past to present was been magnificently illuminated by wondrous behind-the-curtain stories from a wide range of personalities that have known Carol for years and years. Storytellers include:

Jerry Herman
Composer/Lyricist – “Hello, Dolly!”, “Mame”, “La Cage Aux Folles”…etc..

Lily Tomlin
Lily waited outside the Stage Door as a little girl every time Carol performed in Detroit. Carol was her inspiration for her impersonations.

Chita Rivera
Fellow dancer and close pal, Carol and Chita reigned over Broadway at the same time in the 1960’s.

Barbara Walters
Barbara will never forget how Carol cared for her mentally-challenged sister. She’d spend every Saturday watching Carol perform as Dolly, then spend the rest of the day with her at the theatre.

Tyne Daly
Their paths have crossed over and over on the Great White Way…and beyond.

Tippi Hedren
Tippi is tremendously supportive of Carol’s commitment to getting Arts back into the schools.

Debbie Reynolds
Carol and Debbie performed together on stage. Debbie has great admiration for her dear friend as she’s been able to find love again in her 80’s.

Phyllis Diller
Phyllis was the 6th woman to inhabit the headdress of Dolly Levi on Broadway after Carol.

Marge Champion
Discovered Carol for her husband Director Gower Champion (Director of “Hello, Dolly!”). Marge was the original Snow White and dance star of many MGM musicals.

Tommy Tune
Carol is Tommy’s mentor and inspiration.

Betty Garrett
Betty and Carol were roommates at a Borscht Belt resort in the late 1930’s.

Bob Mackie
Designer of Carol’s famous diamond dress from “Gentleman Prefer Blondes”. Bob dressed Carol for years.

Loni Anderson
Seeing Carol Channing on TV growing up, gave Loni Anderson – a big-mouth, wide-eyed Blonde, the confidence to make it out there in the world.

Bruce Vilanch
When 9-year-old Bruce saw Carol Channing perform “Hello, Dolly!”, he decided then and there that that’s what he wanted to do when he grew up.

JoAnne Worley
Understudy to Carol’s Dolly Levy on Broadway, Jo Anne was told by Carol that she didn’t need to practice because she’d never be going on. Carol had no intention of missing a performance. She never did.

Mary Jo Catlett
Mary Jo was Ernestine in the original production of “Hello, Dolly!”. Carol took Mary Jo under her ‘wing’…

Richard Skipper
Richard has devoted his life to celebrating Carol Channing.

The story of legendary performer Carol Channing's life is as colorful as the lipstick on her big, bright smile. In CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE, director Dori Berinstein (ShowBusiness, Gotta Dance), with co-writer Adam Zucker, captures the magic and vivacity of the 90-year-old icon – both onstage and off...past and present.  The film is both an intimate love story and a rarefied journey inside Broadway's most glamorous era.  It is, above all, a look at an inspiring, incomparable and always entertaining American legend.