Harvey Korman, the comedic actor whose appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show” earned him four Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe in the 1970s, as well as his viewers’ gratefully lighter hearts, passed away Thursday, May 29. He was 81.

Korman died at UCLA Medical Center of complications from an abdominal aortic aneurysm that erupted four months ago, daughter Kate Korman told the Associated Press. He had undergone several major operations.

She described him as “a brilliant comedian and a brilliant father” and said he had had a very “good sense of humor in real life.”

Korman’s sense of humor brought him a long way. Born Harvey Herschel Korman on February 15, 1927, in Chicago, Ill., he moved to Hollywood as a young adult and had his first stroke of luck in the entertainment business. His earliest success came by way of “The Danny Kaye Show,” where he appeared in comedy sketches with Kaye.

He was on the show from 1964 to 1967, when it was cancelled. He then joined “The Carol Burnett Show,” a collaboration that would become his most popular work.

The show’s standing endured over the next ten years. Korman left in 1977, but the memories he took with him from the collaboration with Burnett were warm ones.

He also left the show covered with glory. He was nominated for six Emmy Awards for his humorous contributions to the “Carol Burnett Show” and won four times, in 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1974.

He was also nominated for four Golden Globes for the series and won in 1975, for Best Supporting Actor.

Burnett’s assistant, Angie Horejsi, told the AP the comedienne was devastated by her former collaborator’s death. “She loved Harvey very much,” Horejsi said.

He had left Burnett’s show to focus on his own series, “The Harvey Korman Show,” but this unfortunately proved to be a short-lived project.

Among the dozens of series he appeared in on television were “The Donna Reed Show,” “Perry Mason,” “Dr. Kildare,” “The Muppet Show” and “The Love Boat.”

Korman also appeared in films, among his most memorable roles being that of Hedley Lamarr in Mel Brooks’ 1974 Western spoof, “Blazing Saddles.” He and Brooks also worked together on “High Anxiety,” “The History of the World Part I” and “Dracula: Dead and Loving It.”

The AP reported Brooks called Korman a “dazzling” comic talent. “You could get rock-solid comedy out of him,” he said. “He could lift the material. He always made it real, always made it work, always believed in characters he was doing.”

Other films included “Huckleberry Finn,” “Herbie Goes Bananas,” “Trail of the Pink Panther” in 1982 and “Curse of the Pink Panther” in 1983 and “Bud and Lou.”

Korman married Donna Ehlert in 1960. They had two children and divorced in 1974. In 1982, he married Deborah Fritze and had two more children.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Korman is survived by his other three children and three grandchildren.