Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts, and Andrew Stanton.^[2] The starring voices are John Goodman and Billy Crystal as Sulley and Mike, two monsters who work at a power plant that powers the monster world with children's screams, Mary Gibbs as Boo, a little girl who enters the monster world, Steve Buscemi as Randall, a rival monster, Jennifer Tilly as Celia, Mike's girlfriend, and James Coburn as Mr. Waternoose, the plant's owner.

The film was released to theatres by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 2, 2001, in Australia on December 26, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002. It was a commercial and critical success, grossing over $525,366,597 worldwide.^[1] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes also reported extremely positive reviews with a 95% approval rating.^[3] The film is scheduled for a 3D re-release on January 18, 2013. A prequel, Monsters University, is scheduled for a June 21, 2013 release.

Plot[link]

In an alternate world, monsters live in the city Monstropolis which suffers from continuous power failures. To counter this, the company Monsters, Inc. has employees called "Scarers" who venture into children's bedrooms to scare them and collect their screams as an energy source, using closet doors as portals to between the factory and the bedrooms. The top Scarer is James P. "Sulley" Sullivan, aided by his assistant and flatmate Mike Wazowski. Sulley's rival is the ever determined chameleon-like monster Randall Boggs, who is forever in Sulley's shadow. However, the company's success is falling as children are becoming harder to scare and those who are not frightened have their closet doors destroyed. A "scare floor" is put out of commission when one monster, George Sanderson, leaves a room with a sock on his back, forcing the Children Detection Agency (CDA for short) to cleanse him, much to the frustration of Henry J. Waternoose III, the company chairman, as children appear to be toxic on touch to monsters. Mike is harassed by Roz, an aging slug-like administrative clerk on the Scare Floor, for not doing his paperwork which repeatedly irritates her.

Whilst working late in a deal with Mike, Sulley finds an active closet door in the scare floor. He discovers the door's owner, a young girl (Mary Gibbs), has entered the monster world and he is forced to hide her away. He goes to Mike for help, ruining his date with his girlfriend Celia Rae, the girl escaping into a restaurant and alerting the CDA to her presence. Sulley and Mike take the girl home, discovering her screams and laughter affect the electricity in the area. Sulley quickly grows attached to the girl (finding out children are not toxic after all), nicknaming her "Boo", and dressing her in a makeshift monster costume to smuggle her into the company factory. Sulley goes to find Boo's door, while Mike discovers it was Randall who let Boo out. Randall tells Mike to bring Boo to the scare floor where her door will be, but when Mike does this, Randall unintentionally kidnaps Mike instead of Boo, his intended target.

Sulley and Boo follow Randall into the depths of the building, discovering he has built a machine designed to remove a child's screams by force, making the company's current tactics to get energy redundant. Sulley rescues Mike and they flee, going to Mr. Waternoose for help. However, Mr. Waternoose is revealed to be in allegiance with Randall and he exiles Sulley and Mike to the Himalayas. The two are taken in by the Abominable Snowman who tells Sulley he can return to the factory through the village at the mountain's base. Sulley heads out and Mike refuses to follow out of frustration with his friend. Returning to the factory, Sulley rescues Boo with Mike arriving to assist, after he comes back to reconcile. Randall chases the three of them through the factory to the scare floor, where Boo's door is being returned to storage, and follows them as they ride on the doors into the giant storage facility. Boo's laughter activates all the doors and allows the chase to pass in and out of the human world. When Randall corners Sulley as he dangles on the edge of a door frame, Boo overcomes her fear of Randall by attacking him with a baseball bat. Sulley and Mike exile Randall to the human world by tossing him through a door to a trailer park, destroying it afterwards.

They are finally able to access Boo's door, but before they can activate it, Mr. Waternoose and the CDA have it sent back to the scare floor. Mike distracts the CDA, while Sulley escapes with Boo and her door and places it in a docking station. Mr. Waternoose follows them through the door, confronting Sulley in the bedroom where he explains that Randall's machine will save the company and that he is willing to kidnap a thousand children just to keep the company up and running. Mike and the CDA appear, revealing that rather than being in Boo's bedroom, they are instead in the simulation bedroom. Mr. Waternoose is caught admitting his plan and he is arrested by the CDA. The CDA's leader is revealed to be Roz, who has been undercover for years trying to prove there was a scandal at Monsters Inc. Sulley and Mike are able to return Boo home, and on Roz's orders the door is destroyed. Sulley becomes the new chairman of Monsters Inc., and thanks to his experience with Boo, he comes up with a plan to end the company's energy crisis.

Months later, Sulley's leadership has changed the company's workload. The monsters now enter children's bedrooms to entertain them, since laughter is far more powerful than screams. Mike takes Sulley aside, revealing he has rebuilt Boo's door. Sulley ventures inside, calling for Boo, who responds off-screen, much to Sulley's delight.

Voice cast[link]

• John Goodman as James P. "Sulley" Sullivan – Sulley is a giant furry blue friendly and sweet monster with horns and purple spots. Even though he excels at scaring children, he is kind hearted and thoughtful by nature. Sulley is relatively laid-back, and has a relaxed and on going happy personality.
• Billy Crystal as Michael "Mike" Wazowski – Mike is a green monster with a ball-shaped body, a single big eyeball, and skinny arms and legs. He runs Sulley's station on the scare floor, and they are close friends and roommates. Mike has an outgoing personality and is dating Celia Mae. He has an ego that often makes him forget something obvious, such as how his face is obscured in advertisements for the company. He makes cameo appearances in Finding Nemo, Cars, WALL-E and Toy Story 3.
• Mary Gibbs as Boo – A 2-year-old human girl who is unafraid of any monster except Randall, who regularly scares her at night. She overcomes her fear of Randall by the end of the movie. She refers to Sulley as "Kitty". The book based on the film gives Boo's "real" name as Mary Gibbs, the name of her voice actress. In the film, Boo shows Sulley a drawing of Randall with the name "Mary" signed in the corner.
• Steve Buscemi as Randall Boggs – An impatient, multi-legged lizard-shaped monster with a chameleon-like ability to change skin color and blend in completely with his surroundings. He is Sulley's rival in scream collection.
• Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae – A gorgon-like monster with one eye, snakes for hair, and tentacle-like legs. She is Mike's girlfriend and the receptionist for Monsters, Inc.
• James Coburn as Henry J. Waternoose III – A crab-like monster with five eyes. At the start of the film, he is CEO of Monsters, Inc., the job having been in his family for three generations, though he has a much more sinister plot in store. He somewhat holds a mentor-like relationship with Sulley, believing him to the best scarer, but the energy crisis has caused him to run up the sinister plot, putting him in odds against Sulley.
• Bob Peterson as Roz – A slug-like monster with a raspy voice (similar to Selma Diamond's). She is the administrative clerk for Scarefloor F. At the end of the film she turns out to be the Child Detection Agency's (CDA) "Number One", working undercover for years to reveal the child kidnap plot. She holds a great deal of power over the rest of the CDA, even knowing human contact is not poisonous to monsters.
• Frank Oz as Jeff Fungus – Randall's red-skinned three-eyed assistant and reluctant participant in the plot.
• John Ratzenberger as The Abominable Snowman – A yeti banished to the Himalayas. He gave Mike and Sullivan shelter after they were banished. He frequently offers them lemon-flavored snow cones made from the snow that he collects. He is also a relative of Bigfoot who like him and the Loch Ness Monster were also banished.
• Samuel Lord Black as George Sanderson – A furry monster with a horn on top of his head, he was frequently assisted by Charlie. He is the butt of a running gag in which he repeatedly contacts human artifacts by accident (due to the static cling of his fur), triggering "23–19" incidents and humorously overblown reactions by the CDA resulting in the removal of his hair.
• Dan Gerson as Smitty and Needleman – Two goofy monsters with cracking voices who work as janitors and operate the Door Shredder when required.
• Jeff Pidgeon as Thaddeus "Phlegm" Bile – A trainee scarer for Monsters, Inc.
• Bonnie Hunt as Ms. Flint – A snake-like monster who trains new monsters to scare children.

Production[link]

The idea for Monsters, Inc. started with a lunch in 1994 attended by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft. One of the ideas that came out of the brainstorming session was a film about monsters. "When we were making Toy Story, Pete Docter claimed, "everybody came up to me and said that they totally believed that their toys came to life when they left the room. When Disney asked us to make more films, I wanted to tap into a child-like notion that was similar to Toy Story. I knew monsters were coming out of my closet when I was a kid. So I decided monsters would be appropriate".^[4] Docter's original idea revolved around a 30-year-old man dealing with monsters (which he drew in a book as a boy) coming back to bother him as an adult. Each monster represented a fear he had, and conquering those fears caused the monsters eventually to disappear.^[5]

Docter started working on the script in 1996, and with Harley Jessup, Jill Culton and Jeff Pidgeon completed a draft treatment in February 1997. However Sulley worked in the scream refinery before being changed to Monsters Inc.'s top scare producer. Also Boo was aged six, but was changed to 3 years of age, because "The younger she was, she became the more dependent on Sulley," Docter claimed.^[4] The initial story did not have the character of Mike Wazowski. Mike wasn't added to the story until in April 1998, when development artist Ricky Nierva drew a concept sketch of Mike and everyone liked it. Jeff Pidgeon and Jason Katz story-boarded a test in which Mike was helping Sulley choose a tie for work and Mike Wazowski soon became a vital character in the movie.^[4] Originally Mike had no arms, and had to use his legs as appendages, however due to technical difficulties arms were soon added.^[4] Billy Crystal had been approached to play Buzz Lightyear in the original Toy Story, but turned down the offer. However, once he saw the film, he regretted not taking the part, and when he was approached to play Mike, he jumped at the offer.^[4][6][7] The film went into production in 2000.

One of the major breakthroughs of Monsters, Inc. was the simulated movement of Sulley's fur and Boo's shirt. The animators would animate the characters "Bald and Naked" and once the animation was finished a computer program aided by the Simulation Department would apply the hair and cloth onto the characters.^[8] If Sulley moved the hair would react to the movement just like it would in nature. The same goes for Boo's t-shirt that would produce wrinkles in the fabric. This would save the animators from animating the three million hairs on Sullivan individually.^[8]

A lawsuit by Stanley Mouse alleged that the characters of Mike and Sulley were based on drawings he had tried to sell to Hollywood in 1998.^[9]

Lawsuit[link]

Shortly before the film's release, Pixar was sued by children's song writer Lori Madrid of Wyoming, claiming that the company had stolen her ideas from a 1997 story she penned, titled "There's a Boy in My Closet." Madrid mailed her story around to half-dozen publishers in October 1999, notably a San Francisco publishing house called Chronicle Books. No publishers expressed interest in the story, so she instead turned it into a local stage musical in the summer of 2001. As the summer came to a close, several her friends and coworkers began urging her to see a trailer for Monsters, Inc., believing the film to be plainly based on her story. Madrid reached the same conclusions after seeing the trailer herself.^[10]

After searching on the Internet, Madrid found that a book titled The Art of Monsters, Inc. had recently been published by Chronicle. Pixar had previously published books with Disney's in-house publishing arm, Hyperion. She concluded that Chronicle passed her story to Pixar in 1999, and Pixar had reciprocated by switching to Chronicle. After finding a lawyer, she filed suit in October 2001 against Chronicle Books, Pixar, and Disney in a federal court in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Her lawyer asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would forbid Pixar and Disney from releasing the film while the suit was pending. "Over their objections, however, the judge ordered a hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction to take place on November 1, 2001 — the day before the scheduled release of Monsters, Inc. on some 5,800 screens in 3,200 theaters across the country."^[10]

Docter and Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group chairman Dick Cook testified on Thursday, November 1 in Cheyenne as planned. Cook stated the effect of a preliminary injunction against the release of the film would be devastating, as Monsters, Inc. was one of the company's "tent-pole" films for the season. The 5,800-odd prints, he said, had already gone out from Technicolor's warehouses in California and Ohio and were sitting at theaters. Judge Clarence Brimmer did not issue the injunction and Monsters, Inc. opened as planned on November 2, nationwide. Brimmer ruled on June 26, 2002 that the film had simply nothing in common with the poem.^[10]

Release[link]

The film was theatrically released on November 2, 2001. It was released on VHS and DVD on September 17, 2002,^[11] and on Blu-ray on November 10, 2009.^[12] After the success of the 3D re-release of The Lion King, Disney and Pixar announced a 3D re-release of Monsters, Inc. on January 18, 2013 in honor of Monsters University coming on June 21.^[13]

Reception[link]

Box office[link]

Monsters, Inc. ranked No.1 at the box office its opening weekend, grossing $62,577,067 in North America alone. The film had a small drop-off of 27.2% over its 2nd weekend, earning another $45,551,028. In its 3rd weekend the film experienced a larger decline of 50.1%, placing itself in the second position just after Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In its 4th weekend, however, there was an increase of 5.9%. Making $24,055,001 that weekend, it is the 7th biggest (in US$) 4th weekend ever for a film.^[14][15] As of September 26, 2002, the film has a total of $255,873,250 in the United States and Canada and $269,493,347 in other territories for a worldwide gross of $525,366,597.^[1] The film is Pixar's sixth highest grossing movie worldwide and fifth in North America.^[16]

In the UK, Ireland and Malta, it earned £37,264,502 ($53,335,579) in total, marking the 6th highest-grossing animated feature of all time in the country and the 32nd largest movie of all time.^[17] In Japan, although earning $4,471,902 during its opening and ranking 2nd behind The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring for the weekend, on subsequent weekends it moved to first place due to exceptionally small decreases or even increases and dominated for six weeks at the box office. It finally reached $74,437,612, standing as the third highest-grossing film of 2002 and the third largest US animated feature of all time in the country behind Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo.^[18]

Critical reception[link]

The film received a very positive reception. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 95% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 167 reviews, with an average score of 7.9/10. The critical consensus was: "Even though Monsters, Inc. lacks the sophistication of the Toy Story series, it is a still delight for children of all ages."^[19] Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 78 based on 34 reviews.^[20]

Charles Taylor from Salon.com stated: "It's agreeable and often funny, and adults who take their kids to see it might be surprised to find themselves having a pretty good time."^[21] A. O. Scott from The New York Times gave a positive review saying: "There hasn't been a film in years to use creative energy as efficiently as Monsters, Inc."^[22] Mike Clark from USA Today also gave a positive review saying: "Though the comedy is sometimes more frenetic than inspired and viewer emotions are rarely touched to any notable degree, the movie is as visually inventive as its Pixar predecessors."^[23] Reelviews film critic James Berardinelli, who gave the film 3½ stars out of 4 wrote: "Monsters, Inc. is one of those rare family films that parents can enjoy (rather than endure) along with their kids."^[24] Roger Ebert, film critic from Chicago Sun-Times, while praising the movie with 3 out of 4 stars, wrote: "Monsters, Inc. is cheerful, high-energy fun, and like the other Pixar movies, has a running supply of gags and references aimed at grownups."^[25] Lisa Schwarzbaum, a film critic for Entertainment Weekly gave a B for the movie and wrote: "Everything from Pixar Animation Studios, the snazzy, cutting-edge computer animation outfit, looks really, really terrific, and unspools with a liberated, heppest-moms-and-dads-on-the-block iconoclasm."^[26]

Accolades[link]

Monsters, Inc. won the Academy Award for Best Original Song (Randy Newman, after 15 previous nominations, for If I Didn't Have You). It was one of the first animated films to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Film (lost to Shrek). It was also nominated for Best Original Score (lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Best Sound Editing (lost to Pearl Harbor).

At the Kid's Choice Awards in 2002, it was nominated for "Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie" for Billy Crystal (who lost to Eddie Murphy in Shrek).

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • If I Didn't Have You – Nominated^[27]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Animated Film^[28]

Music[link]

The album was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The score lost both these awards to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, but after 16 nominations, the song "If I Didn't Have You" finally won Newman his first Academy Award for Best Original Song. It also won a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

All songs written and composed by Randy Newman. 

Prequel[link]

A prequel called Monsters University will be released on June 21, 2013. John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi are reprising their roles of Sulley, Mike and Boggs, while Dan Scanlon is directing the movie. The prequel focuses on Sulley and Mike's studies at the University of Fear, where they start off as rivals but soon become best friends.

Other media[link]

Additional short film[link]

An animated short, Mike's New Car, was made by Pixar in 2002 in which the two main characters have assorted misadventures with a car Mike has just bought. This film was not screened in theaters, but is included with all home video releases of Monsters, Inc., and on Pixar's Dedicated Shorts DVD.

Manga[link]

A manga version of Monsters, Inc. was made by Hiromi Yamafuji and distributed in Kodansha's Comic Bon Bon magazine in Japan; the manga was published in English by Tokyopop until it went out of print.^{[citation needed]}

Video games[link]

A series of video games, including a multi-platform video game were created based on the film.

[edit] Walt Disney's World on Ice

Feld Entertainment toured a Monsters, Inc. edition of their Walt Disney's World on Ice skating tour from 2003 to 2007.

Theme park attractions[link]

Monsters, Inc. has inspired three attractions at Disney theme parks around the world.

• In 2006 Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! opened at Disney California Adventure Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The dark ride was developed to boost the theme park's lagging attendance, and was quite successful in doing so for a short time.
• In 2007 Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor opened at the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, replacing The Timekeeper. The show is improvisational in nature, and features the opportunity for Guests to interact with the monster comedians, and even submit jokes of their own via text message. The attraction has been praised for its originality.
• In 2009 Monsters, Inc.: Ride & Go Seek opened at Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Chiba, Japan.

See also[link]

	United States portal
	Film portal
	Animation portal
	2000s portal

• List of animated feature-length films
• List of computer-animated films

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Monsters, Inc.

• Official website
• Monsters, Inc. at the Internet Movie Database
• Monsters, Inc. at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Monsters, Inc. at AllRovi
• Monsters, Inc. at Rotten Tomatoes
• Monsters, Inc. at Metacritic
• Monsters, Inc. at Box Office Mojo

Billy Crystal
Crystal at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Birth name	William Edward Crystal
Born	(1948-03-14) March 14, 1948 (age 64) New York, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Janice Goldfinger (1970–present)
Emmy Awards
Performance in Special Events 1989 The 31st Annual Grammy Awards Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1990 Midnight Train to Moscow 1991 The 63rd Annual Academy Awards 1992 The 64th Annual Academy Awards Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program 1991 The 63rd Annual Academy Awards 1998 The 70th Annual Academy Awards
American Comedy Awards
Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role) 1989 When Harry Met Sally... 1991 City Slickers Funniest Male Performer in a TV Special (Leading or Supporting) Network, Cable or Syndication 1991 The 63rd Annual Academy Award 1992 The 64th Annual Academy Award 1993 The 65th Annual Academy Award 1998 The 70th Annual Academy Award Creative Achievement Award 1993

William Edward "Billy" Crystal^[1] (born March 14, 1948) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, and film director. 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... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times, including the 84th Academy Awards in 2012.^[2]

Early life[link]

Crystal was born in the Doctor's Hospital in Manhattan and raised on Long Island in Long Beach, the son of Helen (née Gabler), a housewife, and Jack Crystal, a record company executive and jazz producer who also owned and operated the Commodore Record store.^[3][4] His babysitter was occasionally Billie Holiday. His uncle was musician and songwriter Milt Gabler, and his brother, Richard "Rip" Crystal, is a television producer. Crystal grew up in a Jewish family that he has described as "large" and "loving".^[5]

After graduation from Long Beach High School, Crystal attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia on a baseball scholarship, having learned the game from his father, who pitched for St. John's University. Crystal never played a game at Marshall because the program was suspended during his freshman year, and because he was too busy being the Editor in Chief of The BG News from 1969–70.^[6] He did not return to Marshall as a sophomore, staying back in New York with his future wife. He instead attended Nassau Community College and later New York University, where he graduated in 1970 with a BFA from its Tisch School of the Arts.^[7]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Crystal returned to New York City and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. He studied film and television direction under Martin Scorsese at New York University. In 1976, Crystal appeared on an episode of All in the Family. He was on the dais for The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19, 1976, where he did impressions of both Ali and sportscaster Howard Cosell. He was scheduled to appear on the first episode of NBC Saturday Night (later renamed Saturday Night Live) (October 11, 1975), but his sketch was cut.^[8] He did do a stand-up bit later in that first season as Bill Crystal, on the April 17, 1976, episode; the "Can you dig it? I knew that you could." portion of which was repeatedly quoted by characters in the 1977 feature film Saturday Night Fever.

Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first unambiguously homosexual characters in the cast of an American television series. He continued in the role during the series' entire 1977–1981 run.

In 1982, Billy Crystal hosted his own variety show, The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour on NBC. It lasted five episodes.

After hosting Saturday Night Live in 1984, he joined the regular cast.^[8] His most famous recurring sketch was his parody of Fernando Lamas, Fernando, a smarmy talk show host whose catchphrase, "You look... mahvelous!," became a media sensation.^[8] Crystal subsequently released an album of his stand-up material titled Mahvelous! in 1985, as well as the single "You Look Marvelous", which peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the same year. Also in the 1980s, Crystal starred in an episode of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre as the smartest of the three little pigs.

In 1996, Crystal was the guest star of the third episode of Muppets Tonight.

Billy Crystal hosted three Grammy Awards Telecasts: the 29th Grammys; the 30th Grammys; and the 31st Grammys.

Acting in film and hosting the Oscars[link]

Crystal's first film role was in Joan Rivers's 1978 film Rabbit Test. Crystal also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. He holds the record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in winner's circle in the fastest time, 26 seconds.

Crystal appeared briefly in Rob Reiner's 1984 "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking Dana Carvey. Crystal's line in the film was "Mime is money." He later starred in the action comedy Running Scared (1986). Reiner directed Crystal again in The Princess Bride (1987).

Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the classic romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), for which Crystal was nominated for a Golden Globe. Crystal then starred in the buddy comedy City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second Golden Globe.

Following the success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career. He directed the made-for-television movie 61* (2001) based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special.

Crystal has continued working in film, including Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002) with Robert De Niro, and in the English version of Howl's Moving Castle as the voice of Calcifer. He was originally asked to provide the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995) but turned it down, a decision he later regretted due to the popularity of the series.^[8] Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Pixar film Monsters, Inc. (2001), which was nominated for the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast in 1990–1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2012; and he reportedly turned down hosting the 2006 ceremony to concentrate on his one-man show, 700 Sundays. He returned as emcee for the 2012 Oscar ceremony, after Eddie Murphy backed out of hosting.^[9] His nine times as the M.C. is second only to Bob Hope's 18 in most ceremonies hosted. At the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, he appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation. Film critic Roger Ebert said when Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs of the broadcast.^[10] Crystal's hosting gigs have regularly included an introductory video segment in which he comedically inserts himself into scenes of that year's films in addition to a song following his opening monologue.

Broadway[link]

Crystal won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays, a two-act, one-man play, which he conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on Long Island.^[8] He toured the U.S. with the show in 2006 and Australia in 2007.

Following the initial success of the play, Crystal wrote the book 700 Sundays for Warner Books, which was published on October 31, 2005. In conjunction with the book and the play that also paid tribute to his uncle, Milt Gabler, Crystal produced two CD compilations: Billy Crystal Presents: The Milt Gabler Story, which featured his uncle's most influential recordings from Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" to "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets; and Billy Remembers Billie featuring Crystal's favorite Holiday recordings.

Philanthropy[link]

In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.^[8] Founded by Bob Zmuda, Comic Relief raises money for homeless people in the United States.

On September 6, 2005, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Crystal and Jay Leno were the first celebrities to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be auctioned off for Gulf Coast relief.^[11]

Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Portraying himself in a video, Crystal introduces museum guests to the genealogy wing of the museum.

Crystal is a Los Angeles Clippers fan.

New York baseball[link]

On March 12, 2008, Crystal signed a minor league contract, for a single day, to play with the New York Yankees, and was invited to the team's major league spring training. He wore uniform number 60, in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday.^[12] On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on 6 pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon.^[13] He was released on March 14, his 60th birthday.^[14]

Crystal's boyhood idol was Yankee Hall of Fame legend Mickey Mantle who had signed a program for him when Crystal attended a game where Mantle had hit a homerun. Years later on The Dinah Shore Show, in one of his first television appearances, Crystal met Mantle in person and had Mantle re-sign the same program. Crystal would be good friends with Mickey Mantle until Mantle's death in 1995.

Crystal also was well known for his impressions of Yankee Hall of Famer turned broadcaster Phil Rizzuto. Rizzuto, known for his quirks calling games, did not travel to Anaheim, California in 1996 to call the game for WPIX. Instead, Crystal joined the broadcasters in the booth and pretended to be Rizzuto for a few minutes during the August 31 game.

Although a life-long Yankee fan,^[15] he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees.^[16]

In the movie City Slickers, Crystal wears a New York Mets baseball cap.

Personal life[link]

Billy Crystal and his wife Janice (née: Goldfinger) married in June 1970, and have two daughters, actress Jennifer and producer Lindsay, and are now grandparents.^[17] They reside in Pacific Palisades, California.^[18]

Awards[link]

In addition to his Golden Globe Award-nominations, Emmy Awards, and Tony Award, Crystal won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for 700 Sundays and received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007.^[19]

Filmography[link]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Characters[link]

• Al Minkman, a shady businessman
• Fernando, host of Fernando's Hideaway, a celebrity interview show; based on actor Fernando Lamas
• Buddy Young, Jr. (an insult comic who appears on Weekend Update)
• Lew Goldman
• Ricky, a bowler
• Tony Minetti, a butcher
• Willie, a man who, along with his friend, Frankie (played by Christopher Guest), discuss their masochistic tendencies

Impersonations[link]

• Fernando Lamas
• Howard Cosell
• Muhammad Ali
• John F. Kennedy
• Joe Franklin
• Hervé Villechaize
• Joe Garagiola
• Adam Ant
• Prince
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Phil Rizzuto

Bibliography[link]

• Crystal, Billy (2004). I Already Know I Love You. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-059391-1.  A children's book.
• Crystal, Billy (2006). Grandpa's Little One. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-078173-6.  A children's book.
• Crystal, Billy (2005). 700 Sundays. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-57867-3. Crystal's memoirs with his father.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Billy Crystal at the Internet Movie Database
• Billy Crystal appears on Michael Eisner's talkshow on CNBC