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Albert Brooks (born July 22, 1947 as Albert Lawrence Einstein) is an Academy Award nominated American actor, writer, comedian and director.
Early life
Brooks was born Albert Lawrence Einstein in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California to a Jewish American family. His father, Harry Einstein, was a comedian who performed on Eddie Cantor's radio program and was known as Parkyarkarkus. His mother was actress Thelma Leeds (born Thelma Goodman). His brother is Bob Einstein, better known by his stage name "Super Dave Osborne".
Brooks grew up among show business royalty in southern California, attending high school with Richard Dreyfuss and Rob Reiner.
Early career
Brooks attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, but dropped out after one year to focus on his comedy career. He changed his surname from Einstein (to avoid confusion with the famous scientist) and began a stand-up comedy career that quickly made him a regular on variety and talk shows during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Brooks led a new generation of self-reflective baby-boomer comics appearing on the NBC network Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. His onstage persona, that of an egotistical, narcissistic, nervous comic, an ironic showbiz insider who punctured himself before an audience by disassembling his mastery of comedic stagecraft, influenced other 70's post-modern comedians, including Steve Martin, Martin Mull and Andy Kaufman.
After two successful comedy albums, Comedy Minus One (1974) and the Grammy Award-nominated A Star is Bought (1975), Brooks left the standup circuit to try his hand as a filmmaker; his first film, The Famous Comedians School, was a satiric short which appeared on PBS and was an early example of the mockumentary sub-genre.
In 1975, he directed six short films for the first season of NBC's Saturday Night Live:
* ad:10/11/75 h:George Carlin - unlikely news items
* ad:10/18/75 h:Paul Simon - failed Candid Camera stunts & home movies
* ad:10/25/75 h:Rob Reiner - heart surgery
* ad:11/8/75 h:Candice Bergen - upcoming season
* ad:12/13/75 h:Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron - sick
* ad:1/9/76 h:Elliot Gould / Anne Murray - audience test screening
In 1976 he appeared in his first mainstream film role, in Scorsese's landmark Taxi Driver (Scorsese allowed Brooks to improvise much of his dialogue). The role reflected Brooks's decision to move to Los Angeles to get into the film business.
Brooks directed his first feature film, Real Life, in 1979. The film, in which Brooks obnoxiously films a typical suburban family in an effort to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize, was a sendup of PBS's An American Family documentary. Brooks also made a brief cameo in the film Private Benjamin (1980), starring Goldie Hawn.
1980s–1990s
Through the 1980s and 1990s, Brooks co-wrote (with longtime collaborator Monica Johnson), directed and starred in a series of moderately-successful comedies, playing variants on his standard neurotic and self-obsessed character. These include 1981's Modern Romance, where Brooks played a film editor desperate to win back his ex-girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold). The film received a limited release and ultimately grossed under $3 million domestically, but was well received by critics, with one reviewer commenting that the film was "not Brooks at his best, but still amusing". His best-received film, Lost in America (1985), featured Brooks and Julie Hagerty as a couple who leave their yuppie lifestyle, drop out of society and live in a motor home, only to find the disadvantages of poverty.
Brooks's Defending Your Life (1991) placed his lead character in the afterlife, put on trial to justify his human failings and to determine his cosmic fate. Critics responded to the offbeat premise and the surprising chemistry between Brooks and Meryl Streep as his post-death love interest. His later efforts did not find large audiences, but still retained Brooks's touch as a filmmaker. He garnered positive reviews for Mother (1996), which starred Brooks as a middle-aged writer moving back home to resolve his tensions with his mother (Debbie Reynolds). 1999's The Muse featured Brooks as a down-and-out Hollywood screenwriter using the services of an authentic muse (Sharon Stone) for inspiration.
Brooks also acted in other writers' and directors' films during the 1980s and 1990s. He moved into the horror genre in one of the stories in Twilight Zone: The Movie, playing an unsuspecting driver who picks up a suspicious hitchhiker (Dan Aykroyd). In James L. Brooks's hit Broadcast News (1987), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as an insecure, supremely ethical network TV reporter, who offers the rhetorical question, "Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive?" He also won positive notices for his role in 1998's Out of Sight, playing an untrustworthy banker and ex-convict.
2000s
Brooks received positive reviews for his portrayal of a dying retail store owner who befriends disillusioned teen Leelee Sobieski in My First Mister (2001), and he has appeared as a guest voice on The Simpsons five times during its run (always under the name A. Brooks). Brooks continued his voiceover work in Disney and Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003), as the voice of "Marlin", the film's protagonist; Nemo is Brooks's largest grossing film to date.
In 2005, his film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World drew controversy for its title. Sony Pictures eventually dropped the film altogether because of their desire to change the title. Subsequently, Warner Independent Pictures purchased the film and gave it a limited release in January 2006; the film received mixed reviews and a low box office gross. The movie goes back to the days of Brooks's Real Life, as Brooks once again plays himself, a filmmaker commissioned by the U.S. government to see what makes the Muslim people laugh, thus sending him on a tour of India and Pakistan.
Personal life
Brooks was romantically linked to singer Linda Ronstadt and actresses Carrie Fisher, Julie Hagerty and Kathryn Harrold. He married Kimberly Shlain, an artist. They met through a mutual friend. The couple have two children, Jacob Eli (born 1998) and Claire Elizabeth (born 2000).
Brooks resides in Los Angeles.
| Latest news about Albert Brooks |
JUST FOR FUN-ALBERT BROOKS FAMOUS SCHOOL FOR COMEDIANS ...In the previous post, MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ROBERT YOUNG-THE ROLE OF JUDGES, I observed that, as an after dinner speaker, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young might benefit from enrolling in Albert Brooks Famous School ... Continue reading
Best Love Triangle Movies | Yakkin' with the Sherpa | STLtodayBroadcast News (1987): News producer Holly Hunter is courted first by nebbish, slightly pompous reporter Albert Brooks, then affable but empty-headed anchorman William Hurt. She ends up with neither. THOUGHTS: Brooks was best choice ... Continue reading
November 15th, 2009 sunYesterday's Question answered below: When Albert Brooks ( Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo) began his acting career, the first thing he had to do was change his name. What was his name at birth? ... Continue reading
Filmstalker: Ten Best Days of My Life shows a bad side to the ...While some are suggesting this is a remake of Defending Your Life, the Albert Brooks written , directed and starring film, although to me it sounds like it owes more to A Matter of Life and Death from 1946 starring David Niven. ... Continue reading
Jeremy Blachman's Weblog: 2009: ScriptsI just read the script for Albert Brooks's movie, "Mother." I've seen Mother three times, I think. It's absolutely a terrific movie, I've forced more than one person to watch it, it's very very funny. Sometimes I really like a script ... Continue reading
The Greendale Community College Blog: The first website of NBC's ...Woody Allen, Monty Python, Albert Brooks, The Marx Brothers, Gene Wilder, and lots more... This is a ridiculous question but I find it really tells a lot about a person, what is your favorite movie? If I have to pick ONE: Probably “One ... Continue reading
Sony refuses to release Albert Brooks comedy with "Muslim" in the ...How's this for an example: Sony Pictures, the studio that made "European Gigolo," has refused to release "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World," an inspired new film by Albert Brooks about a comedian — Brooks, playing himself — who is ... Continue reading
Albert BrooksAlbert Brooks (born July 22, 1947) is an American actor, writer, comedian and director. He received an Academy Award nomination in 1987 for his role in Broadcast News. His voice acting credits include as Marlin, the clownfish father in ... Continue reading
Downloads The Simpsons Movie on lineDirected by David Silverman and written by a whole host of Simpsons veterans including Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, The Simpsons Movie also features special guest appearances by Albert Brooks among others. ... Continue reading
Download Broadcast News Online!And Aaron (Albert Brooks) is a seasoned, totally uncharismatic reporter who can't stand Tom's instant success on-camera or with Jane. It all adds up to one explosively funny romantic triangle. Free download of Broadcast News Online ... Continue reading
Hollywood Actors Jessica alba Albert Brooks pictures and Albert Brooks biography
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