Lorne Michaels
From Freepedia
Lorne Michaels C.M (born November 17, 1944) is a television producer and writer best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.
Contents |
Early career
Michaels was born Lorne Michael Lipowitz to a Jewish family in Toronto; he moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as a writer for Laugh-In and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Michaels wrote for a number of Canadian TV series and specials such as Barris & Company in 1968 and The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour in 1971. He was a cast member of the Canadian That's Show Biz in 1970.
SNL
In 1975, Michaels created the TV show Saturday Night Live. The show, which was filmed live in front of a studio audience, immediately established a reputation for being cutting edge and unpredictable. It became a vehicle for launching the careers of some of the best-known comedians in North America, including: Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, and Will Ferrell. Originally the producer of the show, Michaels was also a writer and later became executive producer. The show has been nominated for more than 80 Emmy Awards and has won 18. It has consistently been one of the highest-rated late-night television programs.
Other work
Michaels started Broadway Video in 1979, producing such shows as The Kids in the Hall.
In the 1980s, Lorne Michaels appeared in an HBO mockumentary titled The Canadian Conspiracy about the supposed subversion of the United States by Canadian-born media personalities, with Lorne Greene as the leader of the conspiracy. Michaels was identified as the anointed successor to Green.
Michaels has been executive producer of NBC’s Late Night with Conan O'Brien since it debuted in 1993.
Honors
In 1999, Michaels was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame. In 2002, Michaels was made a Member of the Order of Canada, that country's highest honor for lifetime achievement, and awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2004, he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the first non-American to earn this honor. Speaking at the awards ceremony, original Saturday Night Live cast member Dan Aykroyd described Michaels as "the primary satirical voice of the country.”
Selected filmography
As producer, except as noted
- Gilda Live, (1980) (writer and producer)
- Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
- ¡Three Amigos!, (1986)
- Wayne's World, (1992)
- Coneheads, (1993)
- Wayne's World 2, (1993)
- Lassie, (1994)
- Tommy Boy, (1995)
- Stuart Saves His Family (1995)
- Black Sheep, (1996)
- Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy, (1996)
- A Night at the Roxbury, (1998)
- The Ladies Man (2000)
- Enigma (2001)
- Mean Girls, (2004)
Selected television credits
- All You Need Is Cash (aka "The Rutles"), (1978) (executive producer)
- Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979) (executive producer)
- The New Show, (1984) (producer)
- The Kids in the Hall, (1989) (executive producer)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien, (1993-present) (executive producer)
- Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch, (2002) (executive producer)
- The Colin Quinn Show, (2002) (executive producer)
See also
- Dr. Evil, a character said to be partly based on Michaels
External links
- Official website
- The Museum of Broadcast Communications - Encyclopedia of Television "Saturday Night Live"
- Lorne Michaels at the Internet Movie Database
- Broadway Video productions from Internet Movie Database
- SNL creator Michaels honored
Categories: 1944 births | Canadian comedians | Canadian television personalities | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Jewish Canadians | Members of the Order of Canada | Producers | SNL people | Torontonians | Writers of Ontario
