Billy Crystal Biography

Actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. Born on March 14, 1947 (some sources say 1948), in Long Beach, New York. An award-winning actor and comic, Billy Crystal has spent much of his life making people laugh. He grew up the youngest of three boys. A born entertainer, Crystal liked to sing, dance, and act with his brothers for family in their living room. "I was the little Jerry Lewis," he later told the Washington Post.

As a child, he met several famous musicians and performers, including Billie Holliday, through his father, Jack Crystal, who acted as a booking agent for jazz acts. His father also ran the Commodore music store and co-founded the Commodore record label with Crystal's uncle, Milt Gabler. Crystal's father sometimes brought home comedy albums of performers such as Bill Cosby, and the recordings were early influences on the budding comic. His parents also let him stay up to watch such humorous television personalities as Jack Paar and Sid Caesar.

At the age of eight, he saw his first Yankees game with his father. The two shared a passion for the sport, which his father had played during college, and spent many Sundays watching games together. When Crystal was 15, he and his family suffered a terrible loss. His father died of a heart attack while out one night bowling.

After his father's death, Crystal played baseball in high school and in college at Marshall University in West Virginia. The university ended their baseball program after his first year, so he decided to return home. There he attended Nassau Community College for a time before enrolling at New York University where he earned a degree in film and television direction. In 1970, he married Janice Goldfinger.

After graduation, Crystal worked as a substitute teacher. He also started a comedy group with some friends, but he eventually decided to go it alone as a stand-up comedian. While his wife worked at a local college, Crystal took care of the couple's first child—a daughter named Jennifer born in 1973. He sometimes brought Jennifer with him to his performances. Looking back, Crystal told Time magazine that "I loved those years of being Mr. Mom. One of the saddest days in my life was when Jennifer said, 'Dad, I can wash my own hair.'" The couple would welcome their second daughter, Lindsey, in 1977.

In 1975, Crystal made his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He appeared to be a young comedian on the rise. That same year, Crystal suffered a professional setback when he lost an opportunity to perform on the first episode of the new late-night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live. He had prepared a six-minute routine for the show, but Lorne Michaels, Saturday Night Live's producer, told him to cut it to two minutes. Unable to meet these demands or work out a compromise, Crystal did not appear on the show. "I remember Gilda [Radner] walking me out to the elevator asking 'What just happened?' And I said, 'I don't know,'" he later explained to the Washington Post. Most of the early Saturday Night Live cast, including John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray, quickly became big comedy stars while Crystal seemed to flounder.