Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, director, comedian and television host. 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..., City Slickers, and Analyze Thisand providing the voice of Mike Wazowski in the Monsters, Inc. franchise...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth14 March 1948
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
Nobody is more truthful when he's acting than De Niro.
When I've gotten criticism, it's that it's too long, too soft, didn't hit the government hard enough. Then when I do hit the government, they go, What's he doing hitting the government?
I was introducing [director and producer] Hal Roach - Mr. Roach was 100 years old, he was one of the fathers of early days in films, he put Laurel with Hardy, he created the Our Gang kids, and all these silent movies he did - he was a giant.
My mind is always going. I'm always thinking what I need to do, what I haven't done, what I did do, what I didn't do as well as I could - I'm relentless that way with myself.
I'm married - I've caught my limit.
Don't give up your power.
I think when I feel I'm at my best is when I'm on stage, and it's my version of jazz because it's just riffing or something.
When comedy is good, it's jazz. The beats of it, the looseness, the improvisational part, the music-the way you hit the inflection, the high notes of a joke. It's all melody to me.
It's money. I remember it from when I was single
That's the thing about jazz: it's free flowing, it comes from your soul.
A laugh is a weird sound, and when you get a couple thousand people making it at once, it's really strange. But when I can feel proud of myself for causing it, it's great.
Every time I was with Sammy [Davis Jr.] it was like going to the show business museum because the stories were so extraordinary, and I didn't care if they were true or not after a while. ... I don't know if he really got high with Humphrey Bogart or not. It didn't matter because he was painting these fantastic pictures.
Gentlemen, start your egos.
As a director and an actor, I encourage improvisation but in character and in the moment of what it is.