Today is Billy Crystal's birthday
William Edward Crystal was born March 14, 1948 in Manhattan and grew up on Long Island, NY.
His father, Jack Crystal, owned a record store called the Commodore Music Store, and was also a jazz promoter, a producer and an executive for Commodore Records, a jazz record label founded by his wife's brother, musician & songwriter Milt Gabler.
Jazz artists like Billie Holiday were often visitors in the home.
In 1970, Billy Crystal graduated from NYU's School of Fine Arts.
One of his instructors was Martin Scorsese, while his classmates included Christopher Guest and Oliver Stone.
After appearances on "All in the Family" and "Saturday Night Live," Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas in the TV series "Soap," which ran from 1977 to 1981.
His hosted the Academy Awards nine times, and would have been able to continue hosting it but decided that nine times was enough.
His first film role was in Joan Rivers' 1978 film "Rabbit Test."
He appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's mocumentary "This is Spinal Tap"
(His only line was "Mime is Money"
He was nominated for a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Rob Reiner's "When Harry Met Sally" in 1989.
He received a second Golden Globe nomination for his role in the 1991 film "City Slickers."
Crystal wrote, directed and starred in "Mr Saturday Night" (1992) and "Forget Paris" (1995)
He appeared alongside Robert De Niro in "Analyze This" (1999) & "Analyze That" (2002)
He directed the made-for-TV movie "61" which was based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961.
His daughter, Jennifer Crystal Foley played Roger Maris' wife
This earned Crystal an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.
Although a lifetime New York Yankees fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
= new reply since forum marked as read
"Analyze This" was a bit underrated. I thought he and DeNiro did good work. Anyway, Happy Birthday....
