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A Royale Lineage


The Carol Burnett Show inspired her career. Now Kristen Wiig is starring in a TV show with her hero.

Let’s make her into this bimbo with a push-up rump, somebody the IQ fairy never visited.” Bob put me in this funny little blouse and added this old black skirt that was kind of bald and tight at the knees and baggy in the behind, plus stiletto heels. Lyle Waggoner (1935–2020) was a principal cast member as well as the show’s announcer; his action-hero handsomeness landed him on many westerns and action-adventure series, and made him the go-to performer to play matinee-idol types. Lucille Ball saw Burnett in the Off Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress in 1959 and came backstage to compliment her, ending their conversation with, “Kid, if you ever need anything, call me.” The two were close friends for 30 years and appeared regularly on each other’s TV shows.

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