RIP Harvey Korman

I know this is old news, but here it is:


Comedic Actor Harvey Korman Dies at 81


Morning Edition, May 30, 2008 · Harvey Korman, a comedian who used impeccable diction and timing to hilarious effect, died Thursday in Los Angeles at the age of 81.

Back in the 1960s and '70s, he was a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, where he parodied soap opera As the World Turns in As the Stomach Turns. And he turned Gone with the Wind into Went with the Wind.

Mel Brooks loved that kind of burlesque and put Korman in his movies, including High Anxiety and History of the World. Brooks said he gave Korman tongue-twister lines because he was the only one who could get his mouth around them.

Korman also created classic comedy in Blazing Saddles. He played the conniving — but unfortunately named — villain Hedley Lamarr.