Lily Tomlin | |
|---|---|
 Tomlin at the 2014Kennedy Center Honors | |
| Born | Mary Jean Tomlin (1939-09-01)September 1, 1939 (age 86) |
| Education | Wayne State University |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1965–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Full list |
| Website | lilytomlin |
Mary Jean "Lily"Tomlin (born September 1, 1939)[1] is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career instand-up comedy andsketch comedy before transitioning her career toacting across stage and screen. In a career spanning more than fifty years, Tomlin has receivednumerous accolades, including sevenEmmy Awards, aGrammy Award, twoTony Awards, and a nomination for anAcademy Award. She was also awarded theKennedy Center Honor in 2014 and theScreen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017.[2]
Tomlin started her career as astand-up comedian as well as performingoff-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the variety showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1969 until 1973. Her signature role, which was written by her then-partner (now wife)Jane Wagner, was in the showThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which opened on Broadway in 1985 and earned Tomlin theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She wonEmmy Awards for the specialLily (1973) and received aGrammy Award for Best Comedy Album forThis Is a Recording (1972), the very first solo female to do so.
In 1975, Tomlin made her film debut withRobert Altman'sNashville, which earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[3] In 1977, her performance as Margo Sperling inThe Late Show won her theSilver Bear for Best Actress and nominations for theGolden Globe andBAFTA Award for Best Actress. Her other notable films includeAll of Me (1984),Big Business (1988),Flirting with Disaster (1996),Tea with Mussolini (1999),I Heart Huckabees (2004),A Prairie Home Companion (2006),Grandma (2015) and the voice of Aunt May inSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).
Tomlin is known for her collaborations withJane Fonda starring in the films9 to 5 (1980),80 for Brady (2023), andMoving On (2023). She also starred with Fonda on theNetflix seriesGrace and Frankie, which ran for seven seasons from 2015 to 2022 and for which she received fourEmmy nominations forOutstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.[4] From 2002 to 2006, she portrayedDeborah Fiderer on theAaron Sorkin seriesThe West Wing. She also voicedMs. Frizzle for the children's animated seriesThe Magic School Bus (1994–1997) andThe Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017–2021).
Tomlin was born inDetroit, Michigan, the daughter of Lillie Mae (née Ford; January 14, 1914 – July 12, 2005),[5][6][7] a housewife and nurse aide, and Guy Tomlin (March 3, 1913 – October 24, 1970), a factory worker. She has a younger brother named Richard Tomlin.[8] Tomlin's parents wereSouthern Baptists who moved to Detroit fromPaducah, Kentucky, during theGreat Depression. Although she attended a Southern Baptist church as a child, she later grew to become irreligious.[9][10][11] She is a 1957 graduate ofCass Technical High School. Tomlin attendedWayne State University and originally studied biology. She auditioned for a play, and it sparked her interest in a career in the theatre and she changed her major. After college, Tomlin began doingstand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later in New York City. She continued studying acting at theHB Studio.
Tomlin's first television appearance was onThe Merv Griffin Show in 1965.[12] A year later, she became a cast member on the short-lived third and final incarnation ofThe Garry Moore Show.
Tomlin characters
In 1969, after a stint as a hostess on theABC seriesMusic Scene,[13] Tomlin joined NBC'ssketch comedy showRowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Signed as a replacement for the departingJudy Carne, Tomlin was an instant success on the already established program, in which in addition to appearing in general sketches and delivering comic gags, she began appearing as the regular characters she created; they became well known and she portrayed them outside of the show in later recordings and television specials:
Tomlin was one of the first female comedians to break out in male drag with her characters Tommy Velour and Rick. In 1982, but later popularized by aSaturday Night Live appearance on January 22, 1983, she premieredPurvis Hawkins, a black rhythm-and-blues soul singer (patterned afterLuther Vandross), with a mustache, beard, and close-croppedafro hairstyle, dressed in a three-piece suit. Tomlin used very little, if any, skin-darkening cosmetics as part of the character, instead depending on stage lighting to create the effect.
In 1970,AT&T offered Tomlin $500,000 to play her character Ernestine in a commercial, but she declined, saying it would compromise her artistic integrity.[15][16] In 1976, she appeared onSaturday Night Live[17] as Ernestine in aMa Bell advertisement parody in which she proclaimed, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company." The character later made a guest appearance atThe Superhighway Summit atUCLA on January 11, 1994, interrupting a speech being given on theinformation superhighway by then-Vice PresidentAl Gore. She appeared as three of her minor characters in a 1998 ad campaign forFidelity Investments that did not include Ernestine or Edith Ann.[16] In 2003, she made two commercials as an "updated" Ernestine forWebEx.[18] Tomlin brought Edith Ann to the forefront again in the 1990s with three animated prime-time television specials. She published Edith Ann's "autobiography",My Life (1995), co-written withJane Wagner.
Tomlin released her first comedy album,This Is A Recording, onPolydor Records in March 1971 that contained Ernestine's run-ins with customers over the phone. The album hit No. 15 on theBillboard Hot 200, becoming (and remaining as of 2011[update]) the highest-charting album ever by a solo comedienne.[19] She earned aGrammy award that year forBest Comedy Recording. Tomlin's second album, 1972'sAnd That's The Truth, featuring her character Edith Ann, was nearly as successful, peaking at No. 41 on the chart and earning another Grammy nomination. (Tomlin has two of the three top-charting female comedy albums onBillboard, sandwiching a 1983Joan Rivers release.)[19]
Tomlin made her dramatic debut inRobert Altman'sNashville (1975), for which she was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress; she played Linnea Reese, a straitlaced, gospel-singing mother of two deaf children who has an affair with a womanizing country singer (played byKeith Carradine). The Oscar that year went toLee Grant for her role inShampoo. A comedy-mystery,The Late Show, teaming Tomlin withArt Carney, was a critical success in 1977. One of the few widely panned projects of Tomlin's career was 1978'sMoment by Moment, directed and written by Wagner, which teamed Tomlin in a cross-generational older woman/younger man romance withJohn Travolta. Tomlin's third comedy album, 1975'sModern Scream, a parody of movie magazines and celebrity interviews, featured her performing as multiple characters, including Ernestine, Edith Ann, Judith, and Suzie. Her 1977 releaseLily Tomlin On Stage was an adaptation of her Broadway show that year. Each of these albums earned Tomlin additional Grammy nominations. Tomlin recorded a single/EP called "The Last Duet" withBarry Manilow in 1980.[20]
In March 1977, Tomlin made herBroadway debut in the solo showAppearing Nitely, which she co-wrote and co-directed with Jane Wagner, at the Biltmore Theatre. She received a Special Tony Award for this production.[21] The same month, she made the cover ofTime with the headline "America's New Queen of Comedy".[22] Her solo show then toured the country and was made into a record album titledOn Stage. In 1980, Tomlin co-starred in9 to 5, in which she played a secretary namedViolet Newstead who joins coworkersJane Fonda andDolly Parton in seeking revenge on their boss, Franklin M. Hart Jr., played byDabney Coleman. The film was one of the year's top-grossing films. Tomlin then starred in the 1981 science fiction comedyThe Incredible Shrinking Woman, playing three roles (a fourth, a reprise of her Edith Ann character, was cut from the theatrical print, but footage of this character was included in some later TV showings.) The film, a send-up ofconsumerism, was written by Wagner and met with mixed reviews.
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Tomlin bounced back with the critical and financial hitAll of Me (1984), oppositeSteve Martin, in which she played a sickly heiress whose spirit became trapped in Martin's body. In 1985, Tomlin starred in another one-woman Broadway showThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by her long-timelife partner, writer/producerJane Wagner. The show won her aTony Award and was made into afeature film in 1991. Tomlin revived the show for a run on Broadway in 2000 which then toured the country through mid-2002. In 1989, she won theSarah Siddons Award for her work inChicago theatre. Tomlin premiered her one-woman showNot Playing with a Full Deck at theMGM Grand inLas Vegas in November 2009. It was her first appearance in that city, though she did tape an Emmy-winning TV special, a spoof of Las Vegas calledLily: Sold Out which premiered on CBS in January 1981. Tomlin andBette Midler played two pairs of identical twins who wereswitched at birth in the 1988 comedyBig Business.
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Tomlin also played chain-smoking waitress Doreen Piggott in Altman's 1993 ensemble filmShort Cuts, based on stories byRaymond Carver. Tomlin voiced Ms. Valerie Frizzle on the animatedtelevision seriesThe Magic School Bus from 1994 to 1997. Also, in the 1990s, Tomlin appeared on the popularsitcomMurphy Brown as the title character's boss. In 1995 she appeared on an episode ofHomicide: Life on the Street as a murder suspect being transported to Baltimore. She also guest starred onThe X-Files in 1998, in episode 6 ("How The Ghosts Stole Christmas") of season 6 as a ghost haunting an old mansion. In 2005 and 2006, she had a recurring role asWill Truman's boss Margot onWill & Grace. She appeared on the dramatic seriesThe West Wing for four years (2002–2006) in the recurring role of presidential secretaryDeborah Fiderer. Tomlin performed in two films by directorDavid O. Russell; she appeared as a peacenik Raku artist inFlirting with Disaster and later as an existential detective inI Heart Huckabees. In March 2007, two videos were leaked ontoYouTube portraying on-set arguments between Russell and Tomlin, in which among other things he called her sexist names. When theMiami New Times asked Tomlin about the videos, she responded, "I love David. There was a lot of pressure in making the movie—even the way it came out you could see it was a very free-associative, crazy movie, and David was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And he's a very free-form kind of guy anyway."[23]
Tomlin collaborated again with director Robert Altman in what would prove to be his last film,A Prairie Home Companion (2006). She played Rhonda Johnson, one-half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo partnered withMeryl Streep. Tomlin provided a voice for the filmPonyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which was released in August 2009.[24] In the 2008–2009 fifth season ofDesperate Housewives, she had a recurring role asRoberta, the sister ofMrs. McCluskey (played byKathryn Joosten who coincidentally had played Tomlin's secretarial predecessor onThe West Wing). During the 2008Emmy Awards, Tomlin appeared as part of a tribute to the influential 1960s television seriesLaugh-In. Tomlin voiced Tammy in the 2005The Simpsons episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas".
Since its launch in 2008, Tomlin has been a contributor forwowOwow.com, awebsite for women to talk culture, politics, and gossip.[25] Tomlin andKathryn Joosten were in talks to star in aDesperate Housewives spin-off,[26] which was given the green light in May 2009.[27] The series plan was scrapped due to Joosten's illness, a recurrence of lung cancer; Joosten died on June 2, 2012, twenty days after the onscreen death from cancer of her characterKaren McCluskey. In 2010, Tomlin guest-starred as Marilyn Tobin in the third season ofDamages oppositeGlenn Close, for which she was nominated for anEmmy. She also appeared in theNCIS episode titled "The Penelope Papers", playing Penelope Langston, the grandmother of AgentTimothy McGee (Sean Murray). In 2012, Tomlin guest starred on the HBO seriesEastbound and Down as Tammy Powers, mother of the main characterKenny Powers, and appeared in three episodes of Season 3. Tomlin co-starred withReba McEntire in the TV seriesMalibu Country as Reba's character's mother Lillie Mae. The series started shooting in August 2012 with a premiere date of November 2, 2012, at 8:30 pm ET but was canceled in 2013 after 18 episodes.
From 2015 to 2022, Tomlin starred oppositeJane Fonda,Martin Sheen, andSam Waterston in theNetflix original comedy seriesGrace and Frankie. Tomlin plays Frankie Bergstein, recently separated from her husband of forty years (Waterston) while Fonda plays Grace Hanson, recently separated from her husband (Sheen). Grace and Frankie become reluctant friends after learning their husbands are leaving them to be with one another. She received her firstPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2015.[28] In 2015, Tomlin starred in filmmakerPaul Weitz's filmGrandma,[29] which Weitz said was inspired by Tomlin. It garnered rave reviews and earned Tomlin aGolden Globe Award nomination.[30][31]
Tomlin reprised her role as Professor Frizzle in the 2017 Netflix sequelThe Magic School Bus Rides Again, a continuation of the original series.[32] In 2018, she had a small role voicingAunt May in the critically acclaimed animated filmSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Tomlin met her future wife, writerJane Wagner, in March 1971. After watching the after-school TV specialJ.T. written by Wagner, Tomlin invited Wagner to Los Angeles to collaborate on Tomlin's comedy LP albumAnd That's The Truth.[33] The couple did not have a formalcoming out. Tomlin said in 2006:
I certainly never called a press conference or anything like that. [Back in the 1970s,] people didn't write about it. Even if they knew, they would [refer to Jane as] "Lily's collaborator", things like that. Some journalists are just motivated by their own sense of what they want to say or what they feel comfortable saying or writing about. In '77, I was on the cover ofTime. The same week I had a big story inNewsweek. In one of the magazines it says I live alone, and the other magazine said I live with Jane Wagner. Unless you were so really adamantly out, and had made some declaration at some press conference, people back then didn't write about your relationship. In '75 I was making theModern Scream album and Jane and I were in the studio. My publicist called me and said, "Time will give you the cover if you'll come out." I was more offended than anything that they thought we'd make a deal. But that was '75—it would have been a hard thing to do at that time.[33]
Tomlin stated in 2008, "Everybody in the industry was certainly aware of my sexuality and of Jane ... in interviews, I always reference Jane and talk about Jane, but they don't always write about it."[34] In 2015, Tomlin said, "I wasn't totally forthcoming. Everybody in the business knew I was gay, and certainly everybody I worked with and everything like that." Tomlin has been generally quiet about her sexuality.[35] On December 31, 2013, Tomlin and Wagner married in a private ceremony in Los Angeles after 42 years together.[36][37]
Tomlin has been involved in a number offeminist and gay-friendly film productions, and on her 1975 albumModern Scream she pokes fun atstraight actors who make a point of distancing themselves from their gay and lesbian characters—answering the pseudo-interview question, she replies: "How did it feel to play a heterosexual? I've seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk ..."[10] In 2013, Tomlin and Wagner worked together on the filmAn Apology to Elephants, which Wagner wrote and Tomlin narrated.[38]
Tomlin has receivednumerous accolades throughout her career,[39][40] including sevenEmmy Awards, twoTony Awards and aGrammy Award, in addition to a nomination for anAcademy Award.
Her first twoEmmy Awards were for her 1973 specialLily, followed by another three for the specialsLily Tomlin (1976),The Paul Simon Special (1978) andLily: Sold Out (1981, a fifth fornarrating the 2013 documentaryAn Apology to Elephants; and aDaytime Emmy for voicingMiss Frizzle in the animated children's seriesThe Magic School Bus (1994–1997). Tomlin won theGrammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in1972 forThis Is a Recording (1971).[41] She received aSpecial Tony Award in1977[42] and later won theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in the one-woman playThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1986). Tomlin's performance of a gospel singer in the musical satire filmNashville (1975) earned her a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making herone of few artists to receive nominations for all four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). Additionally—having won the Emmy, Grammy and Tony—Tomlin isjust the Oscar away from achieving both the Triple Crown of Acting andEGOT.
Tomlin's performance in the mystery filmThe Late Show (1977) earned her nominations for theBAFTA andGolden Globe Award for Best Actress. She received another two nominations for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her performances inAll of Me (1984) andGrandma (2015). Tomlin's critically acclaimed role as quirky artist Frankie Bergstein in theNetflix comedy seriesGrace and Frankie (2015–2022) earned her nominations for anotherGolden Globe Award, four consecutivePrimetime Emmy Awards, and three consecutiveSAG Awards.
In 1992, she was awarded theWomen in FilmCrystal Award.[43] Tomlin was inducted into theMichigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003, she was awarded theMark Twain Prize for American Humor and was recognized again byWomen in Film with theLucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.[44] In March 2009, Tomlin receivedFenway Health's Dr. Susan M. Love Award for her contributions to women's health.[45] On March 16, 2012, Tomlin and her partnerJane Wagner received a star on thePalm Springs Walk of Stars.[46] In December 2014, she was one of five honorees for the annualKennedy Center Honors. In January 2017, Tomlin won theScreen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award at the23rd SAG Awards ceremony.[47] In 2022, Tomlin received the Career AchievementPeabody Award. Tomlin's 1971 albumThis Is a Recording was selected for theNational Recording Registry by theLibrary of Congress in 2024.[48]
