Harvey Korman, a top 2d banana

LOS ANGELES - Harvey Korman, 81, the tall, versatile comedian who won four Emmys for his outrageously funny contributions to

The Carol Burnett Show

and costarred on the big screen in

Blazing Saddles

, died yesterday.

Mr. Korman died at UCLA Medical Center after suffering complications from the rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm four months ago, his family said.

A natural second banana, Mr. Korman gained attention on

The Danny Kaye Show

, appearing in skits with the star. He joined the show in its second season in 1964 and continued until it was canceled in 1967. That same year, he became a cast member in the first season of

The Carol Burnett Show

.

Burnett and Mr. Korman developed into the perfect pair with their burlesques of classic movies such as

Gone With the Wind

and soap operas like

As the World Turns

. (Their version was called "As the Stomach Turns.")

Burnett was devastated by the news of Mr. Korman's death, said her assistant, Angie Horejsi. "She loved Harvey very much," Horejsi said.

Mr. Korman revealed the secret to the long-running show's success in a 2005 interview.

"We were an ensemble, and Carol had the most incredible attitude. I've never worked with a star of that magnitude who was willing to give so much away."

After 10 successful seasons, he left in 1977 for his own series. Dick Van Dyke took his place, but the chemistry was lacking and the Burnett show was canceled two years later.

The Harvey Korman Show

also failed, as did other series starring the actor.

"It takes a certain type of person to be a television star," he said in the 2005 interview. "I didn't have whatever that is. I come across as kind of snobbish and maybe a little too bright. . . . Give me something bizarre to play or put me in a dress and I'm fine."

His most memorable film role was as the outlandish Hedley Lamarr (who was endlessly exasperated when people called him Hedy) in Mel Brooks' 1974 Western satire,

Blazing Saddles

.

He also appeared in the Brooks comedies

High Anxiety

,

The History of the World Part I

, and

Dracula: Dead and Loving It

, as well as two "Pink Panther" movies,

Trail of the Pink Panther

in 1982 and

Curse of the Pink

Panther

in 1983.

Mr. Korman's other films included

Gypsy

,

Huckleberry Finn

(as the King),

Herbie Goes Bananas

, and

Bud and Lou

(as legendary straightman Bud Abbott to Buddy Hackett's Lou Costello). He also provided the voice of Dictabird in the 1994 live-action feature

The Flintstones

.

In television, Mr. Korman guest-starred in dozens of series including

The Donna Reed Show

,

Dr. Kildare

,

Perry Mason

,

The Wild Wild West

,

The Muppet Show

,

The Love Boat

,

The Roseanne Show

and

Burke's Law

.

In their 70s, he and Tim Conway, one of his Burnett show costars, toured the country with their show "Tim Conway and Harvey Korman: Together Again." They did 120 shows a year, sometimes as many as six or eight in a weekend.

Harvey Herschel Korman was born Feb. 15, 1927, in Chicago. He left college for service in the Navy, resuming his studies afterward at the Goodman School of Drama at the Chicago Art Institute. After four years, he decided to try New York.

"For the next 13 years I tried to get on Broadway, on off-Broadway, under or beside Broadway," he told a reporter in 1971.

After returning to Chicago, he decided to try Hollywood, reasoning that "at least I'd feel warm and comfortable while I failed."

For three years he sold cars and worked as a doorman at a movie theater. Then he landed the job with Kaye.

In 1960, Mr. Korman married Donna Elhart and they had two children, Maria and Christopher. They divorced in 1977. Two more children, Katherine and Laura, were born of his 1982 marriage to Deborah Fritz.