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Lily Tomlin
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
Versatile actress and comedienne whose successes in television, nightclubs, and the theater have yet to find a corollary in motion pictures, despite her impressive screen debut. Tomlin was actually a pre-med student before taking up performing. She was a regular on the popular "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" TV comedy series from 1970 to 1973, creating several daffy characters whom she portrayed on a successful record album and in nightclubs. Tomlin made a widely praised Hollywood debut as the mother of a hearing-impaired child in Robert Altman's epic Nashville (1975), which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Not a conventional leading lady, Tomlin has had a hard time finding appropriate screen vehicles. She's had her share of successes including The Late Show (1977), the smash hit 9 to 5 (1980), All of Me (1984, in which she was overshadowed by Steve Martin), and Big Business (1988, well teamed with Bette Midler). The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) was a major disappointment, however, and the jaw-dropping Moment by Moment (1978), in which she starred with John Travolta, has made many lists of all-time worst movies. She also collaborated with Jane Wagner on two Tony award-winning Broadway shows, "Appearing Nitely" (1977) and "The Search for Signs of Inteligent Life in the Universe" (1986, which was filmed in 1991). Tomlin allowed documentary film makers Nicholas Broomfield and Joan Churchill to chronicle the preparation of the latter show in their feature-length film Lily Tomlin (1986). In 1993 she gave one of the warmer performances in Robert Altman's Short Cuts (opposite Tom Waits), played Miss Jane in The Beverly Hillbillies and appeared in the prestige telefilm And the Band Played On In 1994 she produced two animated specials based on Edith Ann, the little-girl character she introduced on "Laugh-In." |  |
