I’m pretty much ready to pass out from exhaustion, so a fuller appreciation of the fascinating Mr. Korman, recently shuffled off this mortal coil, will have to wait until I feel wefweshed. In the meantime, let us all heed his urging, and go do that voodoo…
UPDATE: Was there ever a movie role quite as eccentrically particular as über-villain Hedley Lamarr in Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles, and if ever there was, could anyone besides Korman have played it? It’s probably the broadest comic role ever—Lamarr is never not ridiculous, no, not for a second—and hence has to be played by someone who a) is not afraid of being broad and has the energy to keep it up and b) is broad in a way that won’t exhaust the audience. Korman had no inhibitions and quite possibly the most impecabble timing of any comic actor of his generation. (Hence, my friend Joe Failla notes, “he would not have been out of place in the classic comedies of the ’30s and ’40s.”) And so every single thing he does in Saddles is funny. “My mind is a raging torrent,” “Right as usual sir,” “Schmucks!”, “Kinky!”, “Just let me have a little feel.…” Everything. Really.
Saddles was something like his eighth film role, and his sixth credited one—his first was as a down-at-heels photographer in Living Venus, Herschell Gordon Lewis’ faux film a clef about a Hefneresque entrepreneur. Here he is as never-had-a-chance school principal Weldon Emmett, facing off against the indomitable Tuesday Weld, in George Axelrod’s immortal 1966 Lord Love A Duck:
It’s for Duck, Saddles and his subsequent work with Brooks (as vulgar, outrageous baddies in High Anxiety and History of the World Part Part 1) that most of us refined cinephiles revere Korman, but if I’m channel surfing and I happen upon Herbie Goes Bananas, I will stop. And of course who doesn’t adore Korman’s work on “The Carol Burnett Show,” particularly his interacting with Tim Conway. If television ever produced a latter-day Laurel and Hardy, those were the guys. The Burnett ensemble, and particularly Korman, could break character like nobody’s business—and not only didn’t you mind, you kind of loved it, and it actually made you laugh harder.
Korman will be missed.
Also: FREE “THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL”!!!
He was so great. Watch that fruit cup scene again from the underrated “High Anxiety” and try not to double over laughing.
You nailed it perfectly re: Harvey Korman’s performance in “Blazing Saddles”. I’ve seen it a number of times as there are a lot of reasons why I go back, but at the top of that list is Hedy (that’s HEDLEY!) Lamarr. I feel like it’s a titanic comic performance and I wasn’t exactly sure why until I read this post. My favorite bit is his, “You said rape twice.” “I like rape.” “Kinky.” Brilliant. Harvey Korman will be sorely missed. RIP, Harvey.
Sorry, mild dissent. Korman was a brilliant example of a comedian who’s fantastic on TV – where I love everything he did with Carol/Tim/et. al., and he was a natural – but seldom at his best on the big screen. I don’t think Brooks used him too well either, but the point is they really are two different mediums and you end up underestimating Korman’s genius if you treat them as interchangeable. Still waiting for the brilliant French analyst who will explain to me why this is so, but I think it is. Something about the greater intimacy of TV, is my guess.
The world may remember Hedly Lamarr, but I found out about his death when my sister e‑mailed me to say, “Count de Monet has died.” Or is that “Count the Money”? It’s amazing that I became a cinephile in a house where History of the World, Part 1 was the most-played VHS tape. Nice tribute.
You left out his excellent work in DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT, which was (I think) Brooks’ best film since HISTORY OF THE WORLD, and not coincidentally, Korman’s first Brooks film since HISTORY. Surely not a coincidence.
And nothing ever cracks me up like:
“Now repeat after me: I…”
“I…”
“Your name…”
“Your name…”