Billy Crystal, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s for television roles as Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and as a cast member and frequent host of Saturday Night Live. Crystal then became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes Running Scared (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Memories of Me (1988), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), City Slickers (1991), Mr. Saturday Night (1992), Analyze This (1999), and Parental Guidance (2012). He provided the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Monsters, Inc. franchise. He also starred on the Broadway stage in 700 Sundays in 2004 and again in 2014 and in Mr. Saturday Night in 2022.
Crystal has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards (out of 21 nominations), a Tony Award, a Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, beginning in 1990 and most recently in 2012. In 2022, he was announced as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Critics Choice Awards.
1948Mar, 14
Billy Crystal
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Events on 1948
- 3Apr
Marshall Plan
United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries. - 14May
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. - 15May
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. - 16Jul
1948 Arab-Israeli War
Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. - 3Aug
Alger Hiss
Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.