LOS ANGELES – Legendary comedian and actress Carol Burnett has endowed a scholarship to support “high-potential” undergraduate students at UCLA’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program, the university announced Thursday, noting that the Bruin alum has also donated more than 140 awards she received in her storied career.
Burnett, 92, has won seven Emmy Awards, five Golden Globes, a Grammy, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, 12 People’s Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the inaugural Golden Globe Carol Burnett Award for achievement in television, among other honors.
According to UCLA, the awards donated by Burnett will be displayed in the lobby of UCLA’s Freud Playhouse.
The new Carol Burnett Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship in Music Theater will be given each year to a student to offset tuition and fees. The inaugural recipient will be Alexa Cruz, a first-year theater major.
“I am so pleased that, with this endowment of the Carol Burnett Scholarship to the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, students will be given an opportunity akin to what UCLA gave me when I enrolled fresh out of high school,” Burnett said in a statement. “I found my true passion at UCLA, and in this scholarship lies the hope that it will do the same for many others for many years to come.”
Celine Parreñas Shimizu, dean of the School of Theater, Film & Television, said Burnett “has led one of the most visionary, joyful and prolific careers in the history of multiple entertainment industries.”
“She created new paths every time something blocked her way,” Shimizu said in a statement. “She created new forms within the industry for herself and others to thrive. Her approach to craft is completely aligned with the spirit of what we teach our brilliant students at TFT. Carol Burnett’s voice has always been, and will always be, part of our story as we train upcoming generations to follow her bold and tenacious example.”
