'HELLO JOHNNY!' Depp Reveals His Dream Role Is Carol Channing

By: Jul. 16, 2009
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Johnny Depp has played a pirate, a boy with blades for hands and a man who loved a blade or two himself, Sweeney Todd, but Depp reveals to the UK Mirror that his dream role would be to play a beloved Broadway icon. The actor told the Mirror that he would love to portray singer/actress Carol Channing in a biopic.

Depp has regularly donned a series of bizarre outfits for his movie roles, he even dressed up as a woman for his starring part in the 1994 Tim Burton comedy Ed Wood. And by all accounts he wants to to go even further by playing the 88-year-old Channing.

He remarked to the paper that, "My dream role would be to play musical legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life. I love her, I really do, she's amazing. With all the digital technology these days, I could probably pull it off!"  To read more in the Mirror click here.

Films featuring Johnny Depp have grossed over $2.2 billion at the United States box office and over $4.7 billion worldwide. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Screen Actors Guild Awards four times and Golden Globe Awards eight times, Depp won the Best Actor Awards from the Golden Globes for his role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and from the Screen Actors Guild for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Depp's newest film, Public Enemies is currently playing in movie theaters. Depp plays outlaw John Dillinger in the motion picture. 

On July 18th, for one night only, Carol Channing returns home to where she belongs in her first appearance after having to cancel late last year due to breaking her leg.  

The program is scheduled in San Francisco on July 18th (curtain at 7:00pm) at San Francisco State University, College of Creative Arts - McKenna Theatre --1600 Holloway Avenue (19th & Holloway), San Francisco, California 94132.

TICKETS: $25, $30, $45 and $75 by calling 415-392-4400 or at cityboxoffice.com.

Since her Broadway debut in Blitzsteins' For An Answer and a Time Magazine cover story, which hailed her performance as Lorelei in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Miss Channing has been a star of international acclaim. Her Broadway appearances include some of the most memorable characters in theatrical history, winning three Tony Awards® including one for her legendary portrayal of Dolly Levi in Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! as well as one for Lifetime Achievement. Carol's career has been varied and continuing. During her first film role in The First Traveling Saleslady starring opposite Ginger Rogers, she also gave newcomer Clint Eastwood his first on screen kiss. Among her numerous TV and Film successes was the madcap Muzzy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. In 2008, Carol was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in D.C., along with eight other legendary ladies of stage and screen. She still performs with the gusto of a young aspiring actress and has recently committed her life to bringing a refocus on the Arts to the public educational system. Through the Carol ChanningHarry Kullijian Endowment for the Arts Foundation, Carol offers lectures and performances, hoping to engage the public's support for education in the Arts while also creating scholarships.

Photo Credit: Sarah DeBoer/Retna Ltd.



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