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Billy Crystal (born March 14, 1947) is an
American actor, writer, producer, and film director. He was born in Long
Beach, New York to Jewish parents.
He went to Marshall University in
Huntington, West Virginia on a baseball scholarship, however the program
was dropped in his sophomore year. Crystal returned to New York and
studied film and television direction under Martin Scorsese at New York
University Crystal's earliest prominent role was as "Jodie Dallas" on
Soap, one of the first gay characters portrayed on American television.
He was scheduled to appear on the first
episode of Saturday Night Live (October 11, 1975), but his sketch was
cut. After hosting a show years later, in 1984, he joined the cast. His
most famous recurring sketch was his parody of Fernando Lamas, a smarmy
talkshow host whose catch phrase, "You look mahvelous!" became a media
sensation.
He appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's 1984 "rockumentary"
This Is Spinal Tap.
Crystal wrote, directed and starred in
Forget Paris (1995) and Mr. Saturday Night (1992).
In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic
Relief on HBO with Robin Williams, and Whoopi Goldberg. Comic Relief,
which was founded in 1986 by Andy Kaufman sidekick, Bob Zmuda, raises
money for homeless men, women and children in the United States.
Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast
in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2004.
Crystal is currently starring in a solo
show on Broadway entitled 700 Sundays. The two act play, which he
concieved and wrote, is about his parents and his childhood growing up
on Long Island. It is playing at the Broadhurst Theater. Crystal won the
2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays.
Crystal has performed twice with Pixar,
once in 2001's Monsters, Inc. and once in their 2005 dub of Studio
Ghibli's adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle.
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Date Article Copied:
July 12, 2005
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