 A leading name in
contemporary comedy, Billy Crystal has achieved great success as a comedian,
sitcom and film actor, sketch comic, filmmaker, and awards show host. A likable
stand-up comic, Billy Crystal made the comedy club rounds before being featured
on the popular spoof, "Soap" (ABC, 1977-81), as Jodie Dallas, one of TV's first
openly gay series regulars. He went on to TV-movies, specials, a fleeting
variety show of his own, and a busted pilot before becoming a crucial member of
the "Saturday Night Live" ensemble--which then included Martin Short,
Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer--during the 1984-85 season. Billy Crystal
scored with several memorable characters including the wildly popular Latin
lover, Fernando ("You look mahvelous!"), an impressive interpretation of Sammy
Davis Jr., and an inadvertently masochistic moron ("I hate when that happens!").
Billy Crystal made his film debut during a hiatus from
"Soap", playing the world's first pregnant man in the little-seen "Rabbit Test"
(1978), directed by Joan Rivers. He later performed the small role of Morty the
Mime in Rob Reiner's "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984). Billy Crystal's feature career
resumed with "Running Scared" (1986), a ho-hum police action comedy pairing him
with Gregory Hines. Billy Crystal emerged with positive notices and went on to a
delightful bit in Reiner's romantic fantasy "The Princess Bride" (1987). He
consolidated his box-office standing as the romantic lead of Reiner's hugely
successful "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) opposite Meg Ryan and as a listless
radio exec who overcomes a mid-life crisis by going on a Western-style cattle
drive vacation in "City Slickers" (1991). The latter marked Billy Crystal's
first collaboration with the crackerjack comedy writing team of Lowell Ganz and
Babaloo Mandel.
Billy Crystal provided the story and served as executive
producer for "City Slickers" but desired even greater control on his next
project. In addition to producing, co-writing (with exec producers Ganz and
Mandel) and starring, Billy Crystal took up the directorial reins with "Mr.
Saturday Night" (1992). This boldly schmaltzy and sometimes hilarious film
chronicled 50 years in the life of veteran comic Buddy Young Jr., a fictional
character he had played on "SNL" and other shows since originating him on a 1984
HBO special. Billy Crystal has long evinced a love of both affectionately broad
ethnic characterizations and equally broad "Vegas-style" entertainers.
Associates have remarked that he eagerly looks forward to becoming an old Jewish
comic. Clearly "Mr. Saturday Night" was a deeply heartfelt project but reviews
were mixed and audiences stayed away. He fared better at the boxoffice after
getting back in the saddle to produce, co-script, and star in the pleasant if
unremarkable sequel "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold" (1994). But
his next effort, the romantic comedy "Forget Paris" (1995) with Debra Winger
failed to excite critics or audiences.
Despite all his other successes, Billy Crystal may be best
known and loved for his frequent duties as a TV host. Billy Crystal has been an
exuberant host for more than 20 special events since 1979--including the Grammy
Awards in 1987 and 1988--and has won several performing and writing Emmys for
his efforts. He became known as one of the best hosts of the annual Oscar
telecast beginning with his first ceremony in 1990--Billy Crystal won audiences
with inventive routines that found him plugged into film clips or singing
hilarious songs about the current crop of nominees. He returned again in 1991
and had a standout performance at the 1992 Oscar telecast, getting much
improvised mileage from his "City Slickers" co-star Jack Palance's impulsive
decision to begin performing one-handed pushups on stage after accepting his
Oscar. Along with his colleagues Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg, he has been
co-hosting the popular "Comic Relief" benefit specials on HBO since 1986.
In 1997, Billy Crystal and Williams teamed onscreen for the
pallid comedy "Father's Day", which proved to be a box-office disappointment.
After returning as host of both the 1997 and 1998 telecasts of the Academy
Awards, he attempted another screen comedy as writer, producer and star of "My
Giant" (1998), portraying a cynical Hollywood agent who represents a very tall,
gentle Romanian (played by Washington Bullets basketball player Gheorghe Muresan).
Billy Crystal had a career resurgence in 1999 when he appeared as Ben Sobol, a
nervous psychiatrist beset with a vicious Mafia boss (Robert DeNiro) as his
needy patient in director Harold Ramis' "Analyze This." The actor reprised the
role for the less-fresh sequel "Amalyze That" (2002). Proving that he could
still be more than a stellar Academy Awards host (a role he reprised in 2000),
Billy Crystal took a hiatus from his famed emcee duties, but the on-screen
results of his new career focus were mixed: he earned an Emmy nomination for
directing the HBO telepic "61*" which focused on the hitting race between Mickey
Mantle and Roger Maris, and he scored kudos for his voice duties as Mike
Wazowski in Disney/Pixar's animated hit "Monsters, Inc." (2001) but his next
film as an actor and co-writer, "America's Sweethearts" (2001), in which he
co-starred with Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and John Cusack, was a
startlingly unfunny attempt to lampoon Hollywood--although to his credit Billy
Crystal provided the only genuinely amusing moments in the movie.
Billy Crystal reassumed the Oscar hosting duties for the 2004
Academy Awards, his eighth outing as master of ceremonies. Other than his Oscar
and other hosting gigs, Billy Crystal had not appeared on the live stage in over
15 years when he decided to launch his next project on the Broadway stage in
2004. His autobiographical one-man show "700 Sundays"--derived from the amount
of days the comic spent with his jazz manager father before he died when Billy
Crystal was just 15--featured Crystal in a variety of roles as he revisited his
formative years. The show played to capacity crowds at New York's Broadhurst
Theater throughout its run, and was extended beyond its initial booking, earning
a Tony for Best Theatrical Event. That same year he released a top-selling
children's story inspired by the birth of his granddaughter titled I Already
Know I Love You.
Contact Grabow for more information or to book Billy Crystal
for your next corporate or private event.
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