Carol Burnett's Hollywood Star Marks the Spot She Was Fired as a Teen

Before becoming one of television's biggest names, Burnett worked at a movie theatre during her college days at UCLA. While speaking to PEOPLE magazine recently, the actress shared that the theatre was close to the neighbourhood where she grew up and gave her a chance to be around the world of films she already adored.

Burnett looked back at those early days and recalled working as an usherette when she was just 18. "I was an usherette, as they call it, when I was 18 during the summer, a hiatus when I was at UCLA...at the Warner Brothers theatre on Hollywood and Wilcox," she told PEOPLE. "And we lived just on Wilcox and Yucca. So it was a block away."

Burnett said one incident at the theatre changed everything. The actress remembered a couple arriving during the final moments of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Strangers on a Train' and asking to be seated. Wanting them to enjoy the full film experience, she tried to stop them.

"I remember I was in front of the aisle two door this one night, and this couple came in and wanted to be seated the last five minutes of Strangers on a Train. And I said, 'Are you crazy? Please, no!...it'll ruin it for you if you see the ending before you see the whole beginning,'" Burnett said.

She added that the couple insisted on entering, and the manager soon stepped in. Burnett said the situation quickly turned dramatic.

"So the manager came up, Mr Batten, I'll never forget his name, and he said, 'What's going on here?' And this woman said, 'She won't let us sit down,'" Burnett recalls. "Mr. Batten looked at me, literally he drew his index finger across his neck like he was chopping off my head, ripped off my epaulettes, and fired me on the spot."

Now, Burnett looks back at the story with humour. Years later, when she was offered a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she knew exactly where she wanted it placed.

"The lovely ending to this story is that years later, when they said, 'Where do you want your star on Hollywood Boulevard?' It's right in front of that theatre," she said.

The actress was last seen in 'Palm Royale Season 2,' which premiered on November 12 last year.

- ANI