73 Facts About Billy Crystal

William Edward Crystal was born on March 14,1948 and is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker.

Billy Crystal is known as a standup comedian and for his film and stage roles.

Billy Crystal has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Grammy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards.

Billy Crystal was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007, the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023.

Billy Crystal gained prominence for television roles as Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap from 1977 to 1981 and as a cast member and frequent host of Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985.

Billy Crystal then became known for his roles in films such as Running Scared, Throw Momma from the Train, Memories of Me, When Harry Met Sally.

Billy Crystal is the voice of Mike Wazowski in Pixar's Monsters, Inc franchise.

Billy Crystal has hosted the Academy Awards 9 times, beginning in 1990 and most recently in 2012.

Billy Crystal made his Broadway debut in his one man show 700 Sundays in 2004, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.

Billy Crystal returned to the show again in 2014 which was filmed by HBO and received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special nomination.

Billy Crystal wrote and starred in the Broadway musical Mr Saturday Night based on his film in 2022, for which Crystal received two Tony Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical and Best Book of a Musical.

Billy Crystal has written five books including his memoir Still Foolin' Em.

William Edward Billy Crystal was born at Doctors Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and initially raised in the Bronx.

Billy Crystal's father was a jazz promoter, a producer, and an executive for an affiliated jazz record label, Commodore Records, founded by Billy Crystal's uncle, musician and songwriter Milt Gabler.

Billy Crystal is Jewish, and he grew up attending Temple Emanu-El where he had his bar mitzvah.

Billy Crystal never played baseball at Marshall because the program was suspended during his first year.

Billy Crystal did not return to Marshall as a sophomore, instead deciding to stay in New York to be close to his future wife.

Billy Crystal attended Nassau Community College with her and later transferred to New York University, where he was a film and television directing major.

Billy Crystal graduated from NYU in 1970 with a BFA from its then School of Fine Arts.

Billy Crystal later became a solo act and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star.

Billy Crystal was on the dais for the Dean Martin celebrity roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19,1976, where he performed impressions of both Ali and sportscaster Howard Cosell.

Billy Crystal was scheduled to appear on the first episode of NBC Saturday Night on October 11,1975, but his sketch was cut.

Billy Crystal made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid.

When Billy Crystal arrived to shoot the fifth episode, he learned it had been canceled after only the first two aired.

Also in the 1980s, Billy Crystal starred in an episode of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre as the smartest of the three little pigs.

Billy Crystal later starred in the action comedy Running Scared opposite Gregory Hines.

Billy Crystal's hosting was critically praised, resulting in two Primetime Emmy Award wins for hosting and writing the 63rd Academy Awards and an Emmy win for writing the 64th Academy Awards.

Billy Crystal starred alongside Meg Ryan, Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher in a script written by Nora Ephron.

The film has since become an iconic classic for the genre and is Billy Crystal's most celebrated film.

In 1991, Billy Crystal created and produced the HBO six-part comedy miniseries Sessions starring Michael McKean and Elliott Gould.

In 1992, Billy Crystal narrated Dr Seuss Video Classics: Horton Hatches the Egg.

Billy Crystal was originally asked to voice Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story but turned it down, a decision he later regretted due to the popularity of the series.

Billy Crystal had starred opposite Robin Williams in Father's Day and had success alongside Robert De Niro in Harold Ramis' mobster comedy Analyze This.

In 1996, Billy Crystal was the guest star of the third episode of Muppets Tonight and hosted three Grammy Awards Telecasts: the 29th Grammys; the 30th Grammys; and the 31st Grammys.

Billy Crystal was a guest on the first and the last episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which concluded February 6,2014, after 22 seasons on the air.

Billy Crystal directed the made-for-television movie 61* based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961.

Billy Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the blockbuster Pixar film Monsters, Inc, Cars, during the epilogue in the end credits, and to reprise his voice role in the prequel, Monsters University.

Billy Crystal provided the voice of Calcifer in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle.

Billy Crystal won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays, a two-act, one-man play, which Crystal conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on Long Island.

Billy Crystal toured throughout the US with the show in 2006 and then Australia in 2007.

Billy Crystal returned as the host for the 2012 Oscar ceremony, after Eddie Murphy resigned from hosting.

At the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, Billy Crystal appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation.

Billy Crystal's hosting gigs have regularly included an introductory video segment in which he comedically inserts himself into scenes of that year's nominees in addition to a song following his opening monologue.

In 2013, Billy Crystal released his autobiographical memoir Still Foolin' Em.

In 2014, Billy Crystal paid tribute to his close friend Robin Williams at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards.

In 2015, Billy Crystal co-starred alongside Josh Gad on the FX comedy series The Comedians, which ran for just one season before being canceled.

Billy Crystal's series received mixed reviews with many critics noting the chemistry developed further as the series went on.

In 2016, Billy Crystal gave one of the eulogies for Muhammad Ali at his funeral.

Billy Crystal shared stories of their unlikely friendship after Crystal did a series of impersonations of him.

In 2022, Billy Crystal adapted his 1992 movie Mr Saturday Night into a Broadway musical with the same name.

In 2023, Billy Crystal was celebrated by the Kennedy Center Honors.

Billy Crystal has received numerous accolades including six Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program as the host of the 31st Annual Grammy Awards, 63rd Academy Awards, and 70th Academy Awards and the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for writing his comedy special Midnight Train to Moscow, and the 63rd Academy Awards and 64th Academy Awards.

Billy Crystal received further Tony nominations for Best Actor in a Musical and Best Book of a Musical for Mr Saturday Night.

Billy Crystal received nominations for three Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album for You Look Marvelous, Best Spoken Word Album for Still Foolin' Em, and Best Musical Theatre Album for Mr Saturday Night.

Billy Crystal received three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performances in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally.

Crystal has received numerous honors including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was awarded with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007 where he was honored by Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, Martin Short, and Rob Reiner at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC Crystal was made one of the Disney Legends in 2013 and received the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023.

On June 4,1970, Billy Crystal married his high school sweetheart, Janice Goldfinger.

Billy Crystal has long credited his parents, "who always looked like they loved being together," with setting an example for his own marriage.

Billy Crystal received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University in 2016 and spoke at the commencement at Yankee Stadium.

In 1986, Billy Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.

Billy Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

Billy Crystal is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has appeared in advertisements on behalf of the party.

Billy Crystal was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, during Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign.

Billy Crystal supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election.

On March 12,2008, Billy Crystal signed a one-day minor league contract to play with the New York Yankees, and he was invited to the team's major league spring training.

Billy Crystal wore uniform number 60 in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday.

Billy Crystal managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on six pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon.

Years later on The Dinah Shore Show, in one of his first television appearances, Billy Crystal met Mantle in person and had Mantle re-sign the same program.

Billy Crystal would be good friends with Mantle until Mantle's death in 1995.

Billy Crystal was well known for his impressions of Yankees Hall of Famer turned broadcaster Phil Rizzuto.

In City Slickers, Billy Crystal wore a New York Mets baseball cap.

Billy Crystal appeared in Ken Burns's 1994 documentary Baseball, telling personal stories about his life-long love of baseball, including meeting Casey Stengel as a child and Ted Williams as an adult.

Billy Crystal is a longtime Los Angeles Clippers fan and season ticket holder.