Everything about Lily Tomlin totally explained
Mary Jean “Lily” Tomlin (born
September 1,
1939) is an
American actress,
comedian,
writer and
producer who has won several
Tony Awards and
Emmy Awards, plus a
Grammy Award. During her 40-year career she was also nominated for an
Academy Award.
Biography
Early life
Tomlin was born in
Detroit,
Michigan, the daughter of Lillie Mae (
née Ford), a housewife and nurse's aide, and Guy Tomlin, a factory worker. Tomlin's parents were
Southern Baptists who moved to Detroit from
Paducah,
Kentucky during the
Great Depression. She is a 1957 graduate of
Cass Technical High School. Tomlin attended
Wayne State University, where her interest in the theater and performing arts began. After college, Tomlin began doing
stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later, in New York City. Her first television appearance was on
The Merv Griffin Show in 1965.
Career
In 1969, Tomlin joined the
sketch comedy show
Laugh-In. Her characters from the show have been associated with her throughout her career, including the
gum-chewing, wisecracking, snorting
telephone operator Ernestine, the bratty five-year-old Edith Ann, rocking in her oversized
rocking chair, making rude noises, and telling stories about her baby brother and her dog, Buster, and the Tasteful Lady, who lives a gracious and naively entitled life in the upper class and shades of whom show up in Tomlin's film role in
All of Me (see below). Additional characters include Susie the Sorority Girl, who appeared on Tomlin's album
Modern Scream and in her 1975 appearance on
Saturday Night Live.
AT&T offered Tomlin US$500,000 to play her character Ernestine in a commercial, but she declined saying it would compromise her artistic integrity. However, in 1976 she did appear as Ernestine in a parody of a commercial on
Saturday Night Live, in which she proclaimed, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company." In 2003 she made two commercials as Ernestine for
WebEx. The character would later make a guest appearance at
The Superhighway Summit at
UCLA,
January 11,
1994, interrupting a speech being given on the
information superhighway by then-Vice President
Al Gore.
Tomlin is noted for her versatility. In Robert Altman's
Nashville, for which she was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, she played Linnea Reese, a straight-laced, gospel-singing mother of two deaf children who has an affair with a country singer played by
Keith Carradine. She was also a secretary
Violet Newstead in
Nine to Five, performed several comedic roles in the 1981 film
The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and was a sickly heiress in the
Steve Martin comedy
All of Me.
She and
Bette Midler played two pairs of identical twins who were
switched at birth in the 1989 comedy
Big Business, set at the
Plaza Hotel in New York City. Tomlin also played chain-smoking waitress Doreen Piggott in Altman's 1993 ensemble film
Short Cuts, and, in two films by director
David O. Russell, she appeared as a peacenik Raku artist in
Flirting with Disaster and later, as an existential detective in
I ♥ Huckabees.
Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle on the animated
television series The Magic School Bus from 1994 to 1998. Also, in the 1990s, Tomlin appeared on the popular
sitcom Murphy Brown as the title character's boss. In 2005 and 2006, she'd a recurring role as
Will Truman's boss Margot on
Will & Grace. She starred on the dramatic series
The West Wing for four years (2002-2006) in the recurring role of presidential secretary
Deborah Fiderer.
Tomlin starred in the 1985 hit one-woman Broadway show
The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by her long-time
life partner, writer/producer
Jane Wagner. The show won her a
Tony Award, and was made into a
feature film in 1991. Tomlin revived the show for a brief run in 2000. In 1989, she won the
Sarah Siddons Award for her work in
Chicago theatre.
She recently collaborated again with director
Robert Altman, starring in the film
A Prairie Home Companion, playing half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo with
Meryl Streep.
Personal life
Before declaring her sexuality, Tomlin was involved in
feminist and gay-friendly film productions, and would often refer to her partner Jane Wagner. On her 1975 album
Modern Scream she mocked straight actors who make a point of distancing themselves from their gay characters; answering the pseudo-interview question,
How did it feel to play a heterosexual? she replied,
I've seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk ... . Her narration of the documentary
The Celluloid Closet in 1995, a film examining Hollywood's portrayals of gays and lesbians, was also largely considered a nod to the
open secret of her orientation.
Awards
Tomlin has received numerous awards, including: six Emmys; a
Tony for her one woman Broadway show,
Appearing Nitely; a second Tony as Best Actress,
Drama Desk Award and
Outer Critics Circle Award for her one woman performance in
Jane Wagner’s
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; a
CableACE Award for Executive Producing the film adaptation of
The Search; a
Grammy Award for her comedy album,
This is a Recording as well as nominations for her subsequent albums
Modern Scream,
And That's the Truth, and
On Stage; and two
Peabody Awards — the first for the ABC television special,
Edith Ann’s Christmas: Just Say Noël and the second for narrating and executive producing the
HBO film,
The Celluloid Closet.
Tomlin was inducted into the
Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003 she was awarded the
Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
Tony Awards:
Best Actress in a Play
Grammy Awards:
Best Comedy Album
1972 This Is A Recording
Emmy Awards:
Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program
1981
Outstanding Writing - Comedy, Variety or Music Special
1974 Lily (1973 special)
1976 The Lily Tomlin Special
1978 The Paul Simon SpecialFilmography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lily Tomlin'.
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