Carol Burnett Shares Her ‘Most Embarrassing’ Showbiz Moment: ‘I Was Terrible’

Virginia ChamleeFri, August 21, 2026 at 11:00 PM UTC

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Carol BurnettCredit: Araya Doheny/Getty -

Carol Burnett revealed her role in the 1984 film The Front Page as her most embarrassing Hollywood moment

She recalled feeling nervous during filming and avoiding the movie after its release due to poor reviews

Burnett shared an awkward experience when the film was shown on a flight she was on, leaving her mortified

Carol Burnett is sharing what she considers to be her worst performance ever.

In an interview on The Patrick LabyorSheaux, the 93-year-old comedian was asked about her most embarrassing moment in Hollywood.

“Oh, The Front Page,” Burnett replied. “When I did that, I was terrible.”

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Carol Burnett in The Front PageCredit: Screen Archives/Getty

Burnett starred as Mollie Malloy in the 1984 film alongside Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

The film revolved around a successful Chicago newspaperman who decides to leave reporting to get married — until his editor goes to great lengths to keep his star writer.

“I thought it was the right part ... but I was nervous,” Burnett recalled, noting, “After it was released, I never wanted to see it because I knew how awful I was and I certainly did not get good reviews and so forth.”

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But at one point, the film came back to haunt her, Burnett recounted.

“So now I’m on an airplane, going to New York and oh my god the movie they’re going to show was The Front Page, on the plane and the stewardess — at that time they called them stewardesses — said, ‘Oh, and we’re going to have the movie and one of the stars is with us today on the flight,’” she recalled.

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“And everybody turned around and smiled and waved and I thought, ‘Oh no. Oh my god.’ Now the movie starts and everybody pulls down their shades and I just couldn’t watch. It was terrible,” she said.

She added: “The movie ends, everybody puts the shades up and nobody turns around to smile.”

Burnett is one of television’s most beloved figures, thanks in large part to The Carol Burnett Show. The groundbreaking comedy-variety series ran for 11 seasons, earning widespread acclaim along the way.

Over the course of its run, the show collected 25 Primetime Emmy Awards, cementing its place as a television classic. By 1978, Burnett felt the series had achieved everything it set out to do and chose to bring it to a close while it was still at its peak.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”