Harvey Korman

Harvey Korman is shown with his Emmy award for outstanding achievement by a performer in a music or variety show May 14, 1972, in Los Angeles. Korman, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to "The Carol Burnett Show" and played a conniving politician to hilarious effect in "Blazing Saddles," died Thursday, May 29, 2008. He was 81.

Harvey Korman appears at the University of Texas at Tyler in 2004. Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said. He had undergone several major operations.

Harvey Korman performs during a comedy show at the University of Texas at Tyler in this 2004 photo. A natural second banana, Korman gained attention on "The Danny Kaye Show," appearing in skits with the star. He joined the show in its second season in 1964 and continued until it was canceled in 1967. That same year he became a cast member in the first season of "The Carol Burnett Show."

Harvey Korman, left, and Tim Conway perform sketch comedy at the University of Texas at Tyler in 2004. Korman and "Carol Burnett" co-star Conway continued working together into their '70s, touring the country with their show "Tim Conway and Harvey Korman: Together Again." They did 120 shows a year, sometimes as many as six or eight in a weekend.

Cast members of the famed "Carol Burnett Show", from left, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence pose for a photo Friday, March 3, 2000, before attending a discussion of the former television show at the Director's Guild Theater in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Buddy Hackett, portraying Lou Costello, left, and Harvey Korman, portraying Bud Abbott, go through their routine for the 1978 TV film, "Bud and Lou."

Harvey Korman holds the face of Carol Burnett during a routine on "The Carol Burnett Show," Sept. 1967, in Los Angeles. On television, Burnett and Korman developed into the perfect pair with their burlesques of classic movies such as "Gone With the Wind" and soap operas like "As the World Turns" (their version was called "As the Stomach Turns").

Harvey Korman is shown in character as the White King in a CBS production of "Alice in Wonderland" in 1985. Korman was born Feb. 15, 1927, in Chicago. He left college for service in the U.S. Navy, resuming his studies afterward at the Goodman School of Drama at the Chicago Art Institute. After four years, he decided to try New York.

Harvey Korman, left, and Tim Conway perform a skit on "The Carol Burnett Show," in 1975 in Los Angeles. In 1960 Korman married Donna Elhart and they had two children, Maria and Christopher. They divorced in 1977. Two more children, Katherine and Laura, were born of his 1982 marriage to Deborah Fritz.

Harvey Korman, left, Tim Conway and Carol Burnett perform a skit on "The Carol Burnett Show," in 1975 in Los Angeles.

Harvey Korman is shown in character on the 1978 variety special, "The Star Wars Holiday Special."

Harvey Korman, right, of "The Carol Burnett Show," and Arte Johnson, of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," each hold their Emmys for Outstanding Individual Achievements for a Variety Performance at the Emmy Awards June 8, 1969, in Los Angeles.

Harvey Korman is shown with Christine Lahti in 1978 on "The Harvey Korman Show."

A 1986 photo of Harvey Korman.

A 1968 photo of Harvey Korman.

Comic actors Harvey Korman, left, and Tim Conway show off three Emmy Awards for the "Carol Burnett Show" Sept. 18, 1978, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, in Pasadena, Calif.