American actor, comedian, producer, TV personality and best friend of Robin Williams, Billy Crystal has worked hard on his career and was nominated three times for the Golden Globe. The most significant films in the career of Billy Crystal: romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally" with Meg Ryan, crime comedies with Robert De Niro "Analyze This", "Analyze That".
Early years of life
William "Billy" Edward Crystal was born into a Jewish family on March 14, 1948 in Long Beach, New York, and was the youngest of three children. From a young age, the boy liked to make people laugh. Billy Crystal had an artistic talent, he loved to sing, dance and act out with his brothers for his parents.
The boy's father, Jack Crystal, worked as a book agent for jazz performers. Therefore, as a child, Billy Crystal met several famous musicians and other creative performers, including Billie Holiday.
Later, Billy Crystal's father and uncle opened a record store and even founded his own record company. Jack Crystal occasionally brought home albums of various comedians, including Bill Cosby, who impressed the young Billy Crystal. The boy's parents were positive about his views of various humorous programs.
At the age of 8, Billy Crystal first watched a baseball game on TV with his father. The boy fell in love with this sport and later even played for the school team and spent Sunday evenings watching baseball games with his father. At the age of 15, the family experienced an irreparable loss: Billy's father died of a heart attack while playing bowling.
Billy Crystal continued playing baseball in high school and at the University of West Virginia. However, a year after Billy entered the educational institution, the university decided to cancel the student baseball games.
Then Crystal returned home and later entered New York College for a direction in film and television. Upon completion of his studies, Billy Crystal worked as a substitute teacher. He also founded a comedy group with his friends, but later decided to become a lone comedian.
First steps in a career
For the first time on television, Billy Crystal appeared in 1975 in the popular American talk show Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.
That same year, Billy Crystal failed and lost his chance to participate in the first episode of today's popular comedy sketch show in America, Saturday Night Live. Crystal prepared a six-minute template for the show, but Lorne Michaels, the TV show's producer, ordered it to be cut to two minutes. Disagreeing with this, Billy Crystal was completely barred from participating in the sketch show. Many aspiring stars of this TV show, such as John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, quickly became famous, while nobody knew Billy Crystal.
Two years later, Crystal landed the role of Jody Dallas in the comedy series Soap, portraying a gay hero.
In 1978, the aspiring actor starred in the television comedy Rabbit Test. However, the film project was unsuccessful.
Upon completion of filming on the series "Soap", in 1981, Billy Crystal launched his own comedy show, but only a few episodes aired, and in early 1982 the show had to be closed.
Two years later, Billy Crystal played a small role as a mime in the musical comedy "It's Spinal Tap", which tells about the aging rockers of a defunct band. The film proved to be commercially successful and paid off twice at the box office.
In the same year, Billy Crystal, forgetting about old grievances, returned to the TV show "Tonight Live" and joined the team. In one season, Billy Crystal created several memorable images and impressed the audience with his comical performance. For his work on the television show, Billy Crystal received his first Emmy nomination.
Recognition and career success
Shortly after his TV show success, Billy Crystal launched his popular television comedy show with Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams in 1986. The show lasted 12 years. Billy Crystal and Robin Williams became best friends in real life until Williams' death in 2014.
In 1989, Billy Crystal starred in the romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally" with Meg Ryan. The film received warm reviews and became a commercial success. This was followed by participation in successful films "City Slickers", "Forget Paris", "Hamlet", "Father's Day", "Deconstructing Harry" with Woody Allen, "My Giant".
A real breakthrough in his career was the 1999 comedy with Robert De Niro and Lisa Kudrow Analyze It, which tells about a crime boss who seeks help from a psychotherapist (Billy Crystal). Three years later, the second part of this famous comedy was released.
Billy Crystal returned to his old hobby of baseball and directed the sports TV movie 61, dedicated to the real professional baseball athletes of 1961: Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
Along with working on film projects, Billy Crystal took part in the voice acting of animated films. In 2004, he also wrote and soloed a play at the Broadway Theater, dedicated to his life and relationship with his father.
Among the last works of Billy Crystal - the family comedy "Parental Mayhem" with Bette Midler, the voice acting of one of the main characters in the animated film "Monsters University", the TV series "Comedians"
Billy Crystal's personal life
In 1970, Billy Crystal married Janice Goldfinger, who was a college teacher. The couple had two children - daughter Jennifer in 1973 (now an actress) and Lindsay in 1977 (now a director).
Billy Crystal often stayed with the children while his wife worked. He loved spending time with his daughters. Sometimes Billy Crystal took the kids with him to comic performances.
Now the actor and his wife live in California.
