NEW YORK—Most younger people probably remember Carol Channing (1921–2019) as someone with a larger-than-life persona and a somewhat raspy, but all too distinctive voice. These made her a subject ripe for parody—something she herself took joy in. She once entered a Carol Channing look-alike contest and came in third! However, Ms. Channing was far more.
An undisputed star of the Broadway stage, she created two of the most enduring characters in the history of musical theater: Lorelei Lee in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” (1949) and Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello, Dolly” (1964). Channing once estimated that she played Dolly over 5,000 times over more than three decades.
