Carol Burnett is commemorating another journey around the sun—with the aid of some of her famous pals!
The iconic comedian and actress turned 92 on Saturday, April 26, and was showered with affection on social media by some celebrities.
Jimmy Kimmel said on Instagram, “Happy 92nd birthday to the one and only Carol Burnett!” alongside photographs of Burnett from his late-night program.
Vicki Lawrence, Burnett’s former costar, shared a vintage photo on Instagram showing the two wearing similar clothing in a sketch from The Carol Burnett Show, captioned: “Happiest birthday to the most generous, kind, lovely person I know.” In the caption, she wrote, “#lucky me to call you my #friend🎉🥳🎂.”
In a post on X, singer and actress Nancy Sinatra acknowledged Burnett’s birthday. She remarked, “Yes, she is really brilliant and witty, but she has a tenderness about her that outweighs even her wonderful skill. Happy birthday, Carol Burnett. You are an American gem and are cherished.”
Singer Deana Martin also joined the birthday greeting chorus, posting a collage of photographs of Burnett on X with the simple remark, “Happy 92nd Birthday to our dear friend Carol Burnett… the funniest and most creative lady in show business.”
Last year, Burnett’s pals showed their support when the Carol & Company star had her hand and footprints engraved inside Hollywood’s renowned TCL Chinese Theater.
Her longtime friend Dick Van Dyke joined her for the memorable event; he costarred with her on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1978. The two posed for photographs together on the red carpet.
Kimmel and Burnett’s Palm Royale co-star Laura Dern and Better Call Saul co-star Bob Odenkirk spoke during the ceremony, which also featured Allison Janney, Jane Lynch, Lisa Ann Walter, Bill Hader, and Maya Rudolph.
Dern and Jayme Lemons organized Burnett’s handprint ceremony after discovering she had not yet been recognized—the comedy veteran subsequently told PEOPLE she was “gobsmacked” by the kind gesture. Lemons also said that Burnett “burst into tears” when she learned about her ceremony.
Burnett also told PEOPLE that the career honor was a full-circle event.
“When I was a little girl…” “I was 10 or 11 years old, and I would leave my handprints on Betty Grable’s hands,” Burnett remembered. “Now they have mine, 80 years later. Who knew? When I placed my hands down today, I was reminded of Betty Grable”. Suddenly, I was a small girl again, placing my hands on Betty Grable’s prints.
In keeping with tradition, Burnett joked during her remarks at the event about how she and her grandmother used a secret method to get the most out of their movie tickets at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
“Before we’d go, my grandma said, ‘Well, let’s hit the ladies’ room,'” she recounted, before revealing, “So we would go in there and grab all the toilet paper. And she replied, ‘Well, we’ll be fine for another month’.”
Burnett pleased fans with a special appearance on the April 24 edition of Hacks, just days before her most recent birthday. Paul W. Downs, co-creator and co-showrunner, told PEOPLE that they knew Burnett was a fan of Hacks and were eager to welcome her on board.
“We were like, ‘Geez, that would be so perfect to have her on, especially this season with the story that we’re telling,'” he recounted, adding that her appearance turned out to be a genuinely “special” experience.
“For someone like Carol Burnett to want to do it, I mean, she’s a living legend,” Downs told me. “So it was exceptional and really cool because we were filming it at Television City, which is where The Carol Burnett Show was filmed.”