Vale: Harvey Korman

Comic actor Harvey Korman (pictured, right), best known for his role as Hedley Lamarr in the movie Blazing Saddles, has died, He was 81.

He died of complications from an abdominal aortic aneurysm that ruptured four months ago.

Korman appeared in more than 1000 sketches on The Carol Burnett Show, forging a lifelong comic rapport with actor Tim Conway (left).

“It’s a 45-year friendship,” Conway has said. “It was a great ride; we worked together probably 30 years, plus the Burnett show, which was about as good as it gets.”

Conway said Korman had “a complete understanding of comedy and comedy timing.”

ABC had also promised him his own comedy series, but “I kept making pilots . . . until everybody said, ‘Get outta here, for God’s sake. Nothing’s working,’ ” Korman told United Press International in 1993. From 1983 to 1985, he appeared in Mama’s Family, the NBC sitcom that featured a number of the Burnett cast.

“Give me something bizarre to play, or put me in a dress and I’m fine,” Korman jokingly said in a 2005 Chicago Sun-Times interview.

LA Times