Carol Channing let Pearl Bailey play this part in 2 Broadway revivals but returned in 1995
... Carol Channing gives her blessing to Bette Midler 
who will revive ... be playing Dolly Gallagher Levi, the role that won Carol 
Channing a ... filled onstage by the likes of Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, Betty 
Grable, ... by Gene Kelly and again by Channing in a 1995 Broadway revival.