Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, director, comedian and television host. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes When Harry Met Sally..., City Slickers, and Analyze Thisand providing the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Monsters, Inc. franchise...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth14 March 1948
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I was introducing [director and producer] Hal Roach - Mr. Roach was 100 years old, he was one of the fathers of early days in films, he put Laurel with Hardy, he created the Our Gang kids, and all these silent movies he did - he was a giant.
I never stopped believing in us and I never felt like I was wanting for anything, except for my father, and that was not going to be. I describe in the book [that] I don't think I ever felt young again in that way. I never felt I had my 15, 16, 17 kind of years the way I maybe should have. It's a huge dent in you that it's hard to knock out and make it all smooth again.
I've seen worse. . . . It just so happens that your friend here is mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.
People thought this would be an award show -- but we couldn't get anybody to open up the envelopes. I've been backstage at a lot of rock concerts, and I've never seen musicians run away from white powder before!
Bill don't go, it's OK, we love you.
At night, I'll notice a thigh will just start aching. And this arm, and this...
I would even walk so it wouldn't look like we're together. Here I can hold his hand.
I quit drinking. That was a big problem for a lot of years. Then after that, I just started feeling grateful again.
I always was a performer, from the time I was little. It was always a natural place for me to be.
There's only, I think, in life, three things that I do pretty well: Performing, I still can field ground balls, and I make nice kids.
I was always drawn to performing, but I never thought I could. I have no idea what I wanted to do outside of the old cowboy-or-fireman. When I was in college, I got serious about acting. I started examining history and then everything related to the theater. History, art, all the other studies, if I could link them into the theater, then it became alive for me. It just opened up my eyes.
I was a film-directing major at NYU. I'm still not sure why I became a directing major, when I was really an actor and a comedian, but there was something that drew me to doing that.
Kids need a happy household. They need to be loved and supported in their dreams. And I don't think you can make your kids' dreams your own. They need you to support them in their dreams.
You give up your dream, you give up.