Whoever said the guy is full of surprises didn’t say enough. Steve Martin is known as a comedy writer, stand-up comedian, actor, director, producer, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, novelist, comedic historian (narrator of an NPR series on comedians of the 20th century) and Academy Awards host. In between engagements he composes songs, plays banjo and guitar, and “sings a little.”
“All I’ve ever wanted was an honest week’s pay for an honest day’s work.”
Steve has been quoted as saying, “Always leave room for the unexpected in yourself.
To allow the unexpected thought intro your head, and to be able to completely turn something around and go in a completely different direction, if you’re guided that way by spontaneous thought.”
Early Steve
Steve was born in
He got into show business almost by accident. A woman he was dating in 1967 knew the head writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. They were looking for young people under 30 so she gave him some of Steve’s material. Steve said, “I wrote these little pieces in college that nobody understood. It was just a fluke. I had never written anything funny in my life before I got that job.”
He went on to win an Emmy in 1969 for his writing on that show.
“Well. Excuuuse Me!”
Steve began performing live and before long started filling concert halls and stadiums. Before long everybody was saying his catch-phrase, “Well, excuuuse me!” He appeared many times with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and holds the record for the most times hosting Saturday Night Live-13. (Contrary to popular belief, he was never an actual cast member) It was on SNL he acquired his reputation of being “a wild and crazy guy”
Where Does He Find the Time?
As of this writing, Steve has appeared in 37 movies. Some of my favorites include The Jerk, Pennies fro Heaven, Trains, Planes and Automobiles, The Man with Two Brains, L.A. Story, Roxanne, Grand Canyon, Father of the Bride 1 and 2, Bowfinger and The Spanish Prisoner.
Little known Steve Martin Facts.
Steve is a romantic. He tries to keep his private life private-usually with little success. He is currently involved with a New York Magazine journalist.
Steve is a trustee of the Los Angeles Museum of Art and a collector of the works of O’keefe, deKooning, Kline, Picasso, Hopper and Hockney
Steve is a vegetarian.
Steve’s production company is currently developing a gay version of the old TV show, Hart to Hart. (Two Interior decorators stumble on a murder each week.)
Stanley Kubrick once considered Steve to play the lead role in Eyes Wide Shut. The part eventually went to Tom Cruise.
Steve’s Pearls of Wisdom.
On making a million dollars: “First get a million dollars.”
On the French: “Boy, those French. They have a different word for everything.”
On Women: You know that look women get when they want sex? Me neither.”
On sex: “I believe sex is the most beautiful, natural and wholesome thing that money can buy.”
On Comedy: “What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.”
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