Carol Channing's father was black.

I never knew Carol Channing was mixed her father was actually a light-complected African American born in Augusta, Georgia who passed for white. She kept her heritage secret so she wouldn't be type cast on Broadway and in Hollywood. She revealed this in her book "Just Lucky I Guess" which was published in 2002.

I was amazed to find this out and thought I would share it.
I have even more respect for this woman.

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I don't know how much passing she had to do. Her father was I believe 1/8 black and looked as white as anyone else, but under the old "one drop" rules in the south, if you were more than 1/16, you were considered black on your birth certificate. That makes Carol 1/16 black, about as white as most people in this country (a majority of white people in the US have black ancestors within 4 or 5 generations).

Carol didn't have to pass. She was white.

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Updated On: 2/26/05 at 04:04 AM

But this is still why I say she needs to play Adaperle in the revival of The Wiz!

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is she still alive?

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Another star who was of part African-American heritage was Dorothy Lamour.

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Okay............
What I meant by a have "more respect for her" is this.......
I'm a African American and not to say that I never had respect for her as a actress but when I found out she had African American heritage I gained far more respect for her because she would have been type cast because of who she is and I'm not mad at her cause she hid her heritage......you do what you have to do to make it and I bet if you were in her position you would have done the same.

And MargoChanning not to jump on you or anything but I live in the south(Alabama) and whether or not her father was 1/8 black or not................HE WAS BLACK... PERIOD...and to some people(white or black) she would be considered BLACK........never white.

All the actress/singers that are of mixed heritage(Black/white):
Alicia Keys
Hallie Berry
what color do you most consider them? (don't even try to come with no bullsh&8 either)

Carol Channing.....you do your thing and do it well.....I should have known when you got on stage with Ll cool J.

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Further proof that race is an incredible load of BS.

Wow, that's really interesting... I never knew that. So now, technically there were 2 african american Dolly Levis (Pearl Bailey and Carol Channing)

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That's really a shame if it's true that she's in a trailer park somewhere.

I think munk was joking. Carol Channing seems to be enjoying an active and well-off life right now.

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Wizard, it's just that she hasn't done anything in YEARS, so I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't doing as well as one would think a Broadway legend would.

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I heard an interview on public radio and Carol Channing is touring with a one-woman show with her "new" husband (they actualy were childhood sweethearts and recently married). She seems to be doing fine.

And, as for whether her father was considered black with 1/8 "black blood", Margo is right. The South considered this man black, even though he probably didn't look nor consider himself black. It was an archaic law used and was an embarrassment to the South. And, what difference does it make?

Black or white, Carol Channing is to be admired for her body of work and her longevity, if for nothing else.

I believe there's been a couple of BWW news articles about what Carol Channing's been up to (I remember seeing a cute picture of her husband giving her a huge [and expensive-looking] chrystal heart).

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Roles Carol could have played:
Julie in Showboat
Pinky in Pinky.

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