Contact Lily Tomlin

Full Name:	Lily Tomlin
Birth Name:	Mary Jean Tomlin
Famous As:	Actress
Date of Birth:	September 01, 1939
Place of Birth:	Detroit, Michigan, USA
Height:	5' 8
Nationality:	American
Relationships:	Jane Wagner (co-habitating since the early 1970s)
Father:	Guy Tomlin
Mother:	Lillie Mae Ford
Brother(s):	Richard Tomlin
Education:	Attended Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan Attended Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan
Claim to Fame:	As Edith Ann and telephone operator, Ernestine in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1969-1970)

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Lily Tomlin extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Lily Tomlin
Tomlin in 2009
Born	Mary Jean Tomlin September 1, 1939 (1939-09-01) (age 70) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, Comedian, Writer, Producer
Years active	1965 – present
Domestic partner(s)	Jane Wagner (1972-present)
Official website

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Awards 5 Filmography 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects,^{citation needed} the daughter of Lillie Mae (née Ford), a housewife and nurse's aide, and Guy Tomlin, a factory worker.¹ Tomlin's parents were Southern Baptists who moved to Detroit from Paducah, Kentucky during the Great Depression.²³⁴ She is a 1957 graduate of Cass Technical High School. Tomlin attended Wayne State University, where her interest in the theater and performing arts began. After college, Tomlin began doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later in New York City. Her first television appearance was on The Merv Griffin Show in 1965.

Career

In 1969, Tomlin joined the sketch comedy show Laugh-In. Some characters from the show have been associated with her throughout her career, including the wisecracking, snorting telephone operator, Ernestine; the bratty five-year-old Edith Ann, seated in an over-sized rocking chair making rude noises while telling stories about her baby brother and pet dog Buster; and the Tasteful Lady, who lives a gracious, naїve life of entitlement in the upper class and shades of whom show up in Tomlin's film role in All of Me (see below). Additional characters include Susie the Sorority Girl, who appeared on Tomlin's album Modern Scream and in her 1975 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Tomlin was also one of the first female comedians to break out in male drag. Though drag had been around in Hollywood for some time by men, Tomlin broke new ground by not only crossing gender stereotypes, but racial ones as well. She accomplished this in the late 70's with Pervis Hawkins, a black rhythm-and-blues soul singer (patterned after Luther Vandross), with a mustache, beard and close-cropped afro hairstyle, dressed in a three-piece suit. Tomlin used very little if any skin-darkening cosmetics (it usually depended on stage lighting) as part of the character.

AT&T offered Tomlin US$500,000 to play her character Ernestine in a commercial, but she declined saying it would compromise her artistic integrity. However, in 1976 she did appear as Ernestine in a parody of a commercial on Saturday Night Live, in which she proclaimed, "We don't care, we don't have to...we're the phone company." The character would later make a guest appearance at The Superhighway Summit at UCLA, January 11, 1994, interrupting a speech being given on the information superhighway by then-Vice President Al Gore. In 2003, she made two commercials as Ernestine for WebEx.

Tomlin is noted for her versatility. In Robert Altman's Nashville, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, she played Linnea Reese, a straitlaced, gospel-singing, mother of two deaf children who has an affair with a country singer (played by Keith Carradine). The Oscar that year went to Lee Grant for her role in Shampoo. She was also a secretary named Violet Newstead in Nine to Five, performed several comedic roles in the 1981 film The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and was a sickly heiress in the Steve Martin comedy All of Me.

She and Bette Midler played two pairs of identical twins who were switched at birth in the 1989 comedy Big Business. Tomlin also played chain-smoking waitress Doreen Piggott in Altman's 1993 ensemble film Short Cuts, and, in two films by director David O. Russell; she appeared as a peacenik Raku artist in Flirting with Disaster and later, as an existential detective in I ♥ Huckabees. In 2007, a video recording surfaced showing Tomlin and Russell in a heated exchange over the shooting of a scene in Huckabees.

Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle on the animated television series The Magic School Bus from 1994 to 1997. Also, in the 1990s, Tomlin appeared on the popular sitcom Murphy Brown as the title character's boss. In 2005 and 2006, she had a recurring role as Will Truman's boss Margot on Will & Grace. She appeared on the dramatic series The West Wing for four years (2002-2006) in the recurring role of presidential secretary Deborah Fiderer.

Tomlin starred in the 1985 one-woman Broadway show The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by her long-time life partner, writer/producer Jane Wagner. The show won her a Tony Award, and was made into a feature film in 1991. Tomlin revived the show for a brief run in 2000. In 1989, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre.

She collaborated again with director Robert Altman, starring in the film A Prairie Home Companion, playing half of a middle-aged Midwestern singing duo with Meryl Streep.

In the 2008-2009 fifth season of Desperate Housewives she has a recurring role as Roberta, the sister of Mrs. McCluskey (played by Kathryn Joosten, who coincidentally had played Tomlin's secretarial predecessor on The West Wing). During the 2008 Emmy Awards, Tomlin appeared as part of a tribute to the influential 1960s television series Laugh-In. Tomlin voiced Tammy in the 2005 The Simpsons episode, "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas." Tomlin provided a voice for the film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, which was released in August 2009.⁵

Since its launch in 2008, Tomlin has been a contributor for wowOwow.com, a website for women to talk culture, politics and gossip.

Tomlin and Kathryn Joosten have been in talks to star in a Desperate Housewives spin-off,⁶ which was given the green light in May 2009.⁷

Personal life

Tomlin met her life partner Jane Wagner in 1971. After watching an after school special written by Wagner, Tomlin invited her to Los Angeles to collaborate on a comedy album. Although Tomlin officially declared her homosexuality to the press in 2001, her sexual orientation has not really been a secret; in interviews she would often refer to Jane Wagner as her partner. As Tomlin herself stated in 2008, in an interview for Just Out magazine: "Everybody in the industry was certainly aware of my sexuality and of Jane... In interviews I always reference Jane and talk about Jane, but they don't always write about it."⁸

Tomlin has been involved in a number of feminist and gay friendly film productions, and on her 1975 album Modern Scream she poked-fun at straight actors who make a point of distancing themselves from their homosexual characters — answering the pseudo-interview question, she replied: "How did it feel to play a heterosexual? I've seen these women all my life, I know how they walk, I know how they talk ..."⁹

Awards

Tomlin has received numerous awards,¹⁰¹¹ including: four primetime Emmys; a special 1977 Tony¹² when she was appearing in her one woman Broadway show, Appearing Nitely; a second Tony as Best Actress, two Drama Desk Awards¹² and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her one woman performance in Jane Wagner’s The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; a CableACE Award for Executive Producing the film adaptation of The Search; a Grammy Award for her comedy album, This is a Recording (a collection of Ernestine the Telephone Operator routines¹³) as well as nominations for her subsequent albums Modern Scream, And That's the Truth, and On Stage; and two Peabody Awards — the first for the ABC television special, Edith Ann’s Christmas: Just Say Noël and the second for narrating and executive producing the HBO film, The Celluloid Closet.

Tomlin was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2003 she was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

In March 2009, Tomlin received Fenway Health's Dr. Susan M. Love Award for her contributions to women's health.¹⁴

(Selected list)

Tony Awards

Best Actress in a Play

• 1986 The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe¹²

Special Tony Award

• 1977 Lifetime Achievement¹²

Grammy Awards

Best Comedy Album

• 1972 This Is A Recording¹³

Emmy Awards¹⁵

Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

• 1981 Lily: Sold Out (ABC)

Lily Tomlin, executive producer and star; Rocco Urbisci, producer; Jane Wagner, executive producer

Outstanding Writing - Comedy-Variety or Music Special

• 1974 Lily (CBS)

Rosalyn Drexler, Ann Elder, Karyl Geld, Robert Illes, Lorne Michaels, Richard Pryor, Jim Rusk, Herb Sargent, James R. Stein, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren, George Yanok, Writers

• 1976 Lily Tomlin (ABC)

Ann Elder, Christopher Guest, Lorne Michaels, Earl Pomerantz, Jim Rusk, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Rod Warren, George Yanok, Writers

• 1978 The Paul Simon Special (NBC)

Chevy Chase, Tom Davis, Al Franken, Charles Grodin, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, Lily Tomlin, Alan Zweibel, Writers

Additionally, Lily (1973; above), in which she starred but did not produce, won for Outstanding Comedy-Variety, Variety Or Music Special, 1974 (Jerry McPhie, Herb Sargent, producers; Irene Pinn, executive producer)

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1969	Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In	Ernestine, the telephone operator; five-year-old Edith Ann; tasteful lady; other characters
1973-74	Lily		Television special
1975	The Lily Tomlin Special
	Nashville	Linnea Reese	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (nomination), BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (nomination), Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (nomination), Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, National Society of Film Critics Award, New York Film Critics Circle Award
1977	The Late Show	Margo Sperling	BAFTA for Best Actress (nomination), Berlin International Film Festival for Best Actress (won), Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical / Comedy (nomination)
1978	Moment by Moment	Trisha Rawlings
1980	9 to 5	Violet Newstead
1981	The Incredible Shrinking Woman	Pat Kramer/Judith Beasley
1984	All of Me	Edwina Cutwater	Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical / Comedy (nomination)
1988	Big Business	Rose Ratliff/Rose Shelton
1991	The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe	Trudy, et. all	Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program (nomination), Golden Needle Award for Best Actress (won), Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress (nomination)
1992	Shadows and Fog	Prostitute
1993	The Beverly Hillbillies	Miss Jane Hathaway
	And the Band Played On	Dr. Selma Dritz	Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special (nomination)
	Short Cuts	Doreen Piggot
1994-1997	The Magic School Bus	Ms. Frizzle
1995	Blue in the Face	Waffle eater
1996	Getting Away with Murder	Inga Mueller
	Flirting with Disaster	Mary Schlichting	Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress (nomination)
1996-98	Murphy Brown	Kay Carter-Shepley
1998	Krippendorf's Tribe	Prof. Ruth Allen
	The X-Files	Lyda on "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas"
1999	Tea with Mussolini	Georgie Rockwell
2000	Disney's The Kid	Janet
2002-06	The West Wing	Deborah Fiderer
2002	Orange County	Charlotte Cobb
2004	I Heart Huckabees	Vivian Jaffe
2005	The Simpsons	Tammy	Episode:The Last of the Red Hat Mamas
2005-2006	Will & Grace	Margot	2 episodes
2006	A Prairie Home Companion	Rhonda Johnson	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress (nomination)
	The Ant Bully	Mommo	Voice
2007	The Walker	Abigail
2008-09	Desperate Housewives	Roberta
2009	The Pink Panther 2	Miss Berenger
	Ponyo	Toki	Voice

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lily Tomlin

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lily Tomlin

• Lily Tomlin Official website
• Lily Tomlin at the Internet Movie Database
• Lily Tomlin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lily Tomlin at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Tomlin profile at AfterEllen.com
• Lily Tomlin at wowOwow
• AARP Magazine: Who's Lily Now?
• Time Magazine cover: March 28, 1977
• Lily Tomlin Quotes - The Quotations Page
• Lily Tomlin - BrainyQuote.com
• Metro Weekly interview
• The Advocate interview March 15, 2005

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series James Allardice / Jack Douglas / Hal Kanter / Harry Winkler (1955) · Arnold M. Auerbach / Barry Blitser / Vincent Bogert / Nat Hiken / Coleman Jacoby / Harvey Orkin / Arnold Rosen / Terry Ryan / Tony Webster (1956) · Billy Friedberg / Nat Hiken / Coleman Jacoby / Arnold Rosen / A.J. Russell / Terry Ryan / Phil Sharp / Tony Webster / Sidney Zelinka (1958) · George Balzer / Hal Goldman / Al Gordon / Sam Perrin (1959) · George Balzer / Hal Goldman / Al Gordon / Sam Perrin (1960) · Dave O'Brien / Martin Ragaway / Sherwood Schwartz / Al Schwartz / Red Skelton (1961) · Carl Reiner (1962) · Carl Reiner (1963) · Sam Denoff / Bill Persky (1966) · Buck Henry / Leonard B. Stern (1967) · Allan Burns / Chris Hayward (1968) · James L. Brooks / Allan Burns (1971) · Burt Styler (1972) · Lee Kalcheim / Michael Ross / Bernard West (1973) · Treva Silverman (1974) · Rosalyn Drexler / Ann Elder / Karyl Geld Miller / Robert Illes / Lorne Michaels / Richard Pryor / Jim Rusk / Herb Sargent / James R. Stein / Lily Tomlin / Jane Wagner / Rod Warren / George Yanok (1974) · Stan Daniels / Ed. Weinberger (1975) Complete list: (1955–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)

v • d • e Mark Twain Prize winners Richard Pryor (1998) · Jonathan Winters (1999) · Carl Reiner (2000) · Whoopi Goldberg (2001) · Bob Newhart (2002) · Lily Tomlin (2003) · Lorne Michaels (2004) · Steve Martin (2005) · Neil Simon (2006) · Billy Crystal (2007) · George Carlin (2008) · Bill Cosby (2009)

v • d • e Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play Irene Worth (1976) · Julie Harris (1977) · Jessica Tandy (1978) · Constance Cummings / Carole Shelley (1979) · Phyllis Frelich (1980) · Jane Lapotaire (1981) · Zoe Caldwell (1982) · Jessica Tandy (1983) · Glenn Close (1984) · Stockard Channing (1985) · Lily Tomlin (1986) · Linda Lavin (1987) · Joan Allen (1988) · Pauline Collins (1989) · Maggie Smith (1990) · Mercedes Ruehl (1991) · Glenn Close (1992) · Madeline Kahn (1993) · Diana Rigg (1994) · Cherry Jones (1995) · Zoe Caldwell (1996) · Janet McTeer (1997) · Marie Mullen (1998) · Judi Dench (1999) · Jennifer Ehle (2000) Complete list: (1947–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)