TLDR: Harvey Korman died May 29, 2008 at age 81 with a net worth of $25 million after fighting a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm for four months.
His wealth came from The Carol Burnett Show, Mel Brooks films, touring with Tim Conway, and a Bel Air mansion that was later demolished to make way for a $92.8 million mega-estate.
Harvey Korman died on May 29, 2008 in Los Angeles. He was 81 years old. The cause was complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, which is a fancy way of saying a major blood vessel in his abdomen burst and he bled internally.
The remarkable thing wasn’t that he died. The remarkable thing was that he survived for four months after the rupture. Most people don’t make it past a few hours. Korman fought through surgeries, complications, and pain for 120 days before his body finally gave out.
When he died, his net worth was estimated at $25 million. That’s more than Tim Conway’s $15 to $20 million, but nowhere close to Lyle Waggoner’s eventual $222 million empire. Still, $25 million isn’t bad for a guy who spent his career playing the straight man while everyone else got the laughs.
This is the story of how Harvey Korman built that fortune, lost his dignity on national television every Saturday night, and left behind a real estate legacy that turned into one of the most expensive properties in Los Angeles.
The Straight Man Who Always Broke
Harvey Korman joined The Carol Burnett Show in 1967 as part of the original cast. For eleven seasons, he played pompous authority figures, rich husbands, stern fathers, military generals, and arrogant directors. Every sketch followed the same pattern: Korman would start with dignity, and then Carol Burnett or Tim Conway would systematically destroy him.
The problem was, Korman couldn’t keep a straight face. Tim Conway would improvise something ridiculous, and Korman would break. He’d start laughing. He’d cover his face. He’d turn away from the camera and try to compose himself while the audience roared.
It became his trademark. People tuned in to watch Harvey Korman lose control. The more he tried to stay in character, the funnier it got when he failed.
But behind the scenes, Korman was difficult. He had a reputation for being temperamental, demanding, and occasionally rude to guests. And in the show’s seventh season, Carol Burnett fired him.
The Time Carol Burnett Fired Harvey Korman
During a week when Petula Clark was guest-starring, Korman was reportedly rude to the crew and disrespectful to the guest. Carol Burnett, who usually avoided confrontation, marched to his dressing room.
When Korman told her to mind her own business, Burnett fired him on the spot. She called his agent immediately. Korman was out.
Korman panicked. He begged for his job back. Burnett agreed, but with a condition: he had to be cheerful. She told him, “It would tickle me pink to see you skipping around and hear you whistling in the hall!”
Korman complied. He kept his job. And the incident strengthened their professional respect. But it also revealed something important: Korman knew he had the best gig in television, and he couldn’t afford to lose it.
The Carol Burnett Show Salary
By 1973, Harvey Korman was making $25,000 per episode. The Carol Burnett Show aired about 24 episodes per season, which means he was pulling in roughly $600,000 per year. In 2026 dollars, that’s about $4.2 million annually.
Not bad for a supporting player. But the real money was supposed to come from residuals.
Here’s the problem: The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show, which meant every episode featured musical performances. And music licensing is expensive. When the show went into syndication, the cost of clearing all those music rights ate up most of the residual pool. Korman got paid, but not nearly as much as he would have if the show had been a straight sitcom.
So he had to find other income streams. And he did.
Mel Brooks Made Him a Movie Star
In 1974, Mel Brooks cast Harvey Korman as Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles. It’s one of the most iconic comedy performances of the 1970s. Korman played a corrupt Attorney General trying to steal land from a small Western town by driving out its residents. He’s pompous, scheming, and completely outmatched by Cleavon Little’s sheriff.
The movie was a massive hit. And Brooks kept casting Korman in his films:
- High Anxiety (1977) as Dr. Charles Montague
- History of the World, Part I (1981) as Count de Monet
- Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) as Dr. Seward
These roles didn’t pay as well as a hit sitcom, but they kept Korman working and gave him residual income every time the movies aired on cable or were rented from video stores.
The Two-Man Show With Tim Conway
After The Carol Burnett Show ended in 1978, Korman tried to headline his own sitcom. The Harvey Korman Show premiered in 1978 and was canceled after five episodes. It was a disaster.
But Korman found a better business model: touring with Tim Conway. The two of them took their classic sketches on the road, performing at performing arts centers and casinos across the country.
This was a cash cow. No studio overhead, no network executives, no music licensing issues. Just two comedy legends performing sketches they’d perfected decades earlier for audiences who grew up watching them on Saturday nights.
Tickets sold out. They could command premium prices because their demographic was older, nostalgic, and willing to pay to relive their youth. Korman toured with Conway well into the 2000s, even as his health started declining.
The Bel Air Mansion That Became a Mega-Estate
The crown jewel of Harvey Korman’s financial portfolio was his Bel Air mansion. He built the house in 1976 on a prime lot in one of Los Angeles’ most exclusive neighborhoods.
Korman lived there for decades. When he died in 2008, his estate sold the property in 2017 for $14.5 million. That sounds impressive, but the buyer didn’t want the house. They wanted the land.
The new owner demolished Korman’s mansion and built a 38,000-square-foot mega-estate on the same lot. In 2022, that property was listed for sale at $92.8 million.
Harvey Korman’s home was literally erased to make room for a billionaire’s compound. But the fact that his lot was worth $14.5 million even before the teardown shows how smart his real estate investment was. He bought in Bel Air in 1976, held it for 30+ years, and the equity accumulation alone probably accounted for half his net worth.
Voice Work and Random Checks
In his later years, Korman did voice acting for cartoons. He appeared on The Flintstones, Hey Arnold!, and various other animated shows. The pay wasn’t huge, but voice work is easy money for established actors. Show up for a few hours, read lines into a microphone, collect a check.
He also did commercials, guest spots on sitcoms, and occasional TV movies. None of it was glamorous, but it all added up. By the time he died in 2008, Korman had been working continuously for over 50 years.
Two Marriages, Four Kids
Harvey Korman was married twice. His first marriage to Donna Ehlert lasted from 1960 to 1977 and produced two children. His second marriage to Deborah Fritz began in 1982 and lasted until his death in 2008, producing two more children.
His son Christopher has learning disabilities and required significant support throughout his life. Korman was private about his family, but interviews suggest he was a devoted father who took his responsibilities seriously.
When he died, his $25 million estate was divided among his wife and four children. There were no public legal battles, no conservatorship fights like Tim Conway’s family endured. The estate was settled quietly.
How Harvey Korman Stacks Up
Harvey Korman’s $25 million net worth puts him in the middle of The Carol Burnett Show cast. Carol Burnett herself is worth an estimated $45 million. Tim Conway died with $15 to $20 million. Vicki Lawrence is worth about $8 million.
But Lyle Waggoner beats them all. His Star Waggons business sold for $222 million in 2021, making him by far the richest member of the cast.
Still, $25 million is nothing to dismiss. Korman built that through steady work, smart real estate decisions, and diversified income streams. He didn’t get rich from one big payday. He got rich by working continuously for fifty years and not spending more than he made.
The Four-Month Fight
In early 2008, Harvey Korman suffered a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. This is a medical emergency with a mortality rate over 80 percent. Most people die within hours.
Korman survived the initial rupture. He underwent emergency surgery. Then complications set in. He needed more surgeries. His body was breaking down. But he kept fighting.
For four months, he lingered in hospitals and care facilities, undergoing procedures, dealing with infections, and slowly losing ground. His family described it as a miracle that he survived as long as he did. It gave them time to say goodbye.
On May 29, 2008, his body finally gave out. He died surrounded by family. He was 81 years old.
Unlike Tim Conway, who spent years unable to speak or recognize his family, Korman at least got to enjoy his wealth and his legacy until the very end. He was coherent, working, touring, and making people laugh well into his late 70s.
The Second Banana Who Won
Harvey Korman spent his career playing second fiddle. He was the straight man. The guy who set up the joke so someone else could deliver the punchline. The authority figure who got humiliated for laughs.
But when he died, he left behind $25 million, a Bel Air property that later sold for nearly $100 million, and a body of work that includes some of the most iconic comedy performances in television and film history.
He made Harvey Korman break character on national television every week for eleven years. He played Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles. He toured with Tim Conway, selling out theaters across America well into his 70s.
And when the aneurysm ruptured, he fought for four more months, giving his family time to gather, time to say goodbye, time to prepare for a world without him.
That’s not a bad legacy for a second banana.
Harvey Korman may have played the straight man, but on his balance sheet, he was absolutely the lead.
