At age 75, three-time Golden Globe nominee Billy Crystal can look back at a full career in TV and film as well as on Broadway. Only a year ago Crystal adapted his 1992 movie, Mr. Saturday Night, into a Broadway musical.
He will go down in history not only as one of the best comedic actors but also as the most loved host of the Academy Awards. He has done the job a record nine times between 1990 and 2012. This makes him second only to Bob Hope, who took on that job 19 times. “I always knew I wanted to be a performer from the time I was three standing on a coffee table imitating my relatives. I always wanted to be what I’m doing now. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

He is of Jewish Austrian, Lithuanian, and Russian ancestry. He grew up in Manhattan but was raised on Long Island with a father who, as a successful concert promoter and record company founder, brought legends like Billie Holiday over for dinner. Holiday once even babysat him. Tragically, his father died when Billy was only 15, which made him appreciate his knack for humor at an early age – making people laugh was his saving grace. He told the HFPA: “My grandmother was Russian. She was almost 300 pounds. My grandfather was from Austria. When he was 60, he looked 80 and smelled 90. They were wonderful people and always inspired me to keep doing what I was doing. They loved to laugh. I loved to perform for them.”
He got his Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU, where one of his teachers was Martin Scorsese. Turning back to comedy after making a living as a substitute teacher, he did the usual standup gigs, formed his own improv group, and opened for Sammy Davis Jr. and Barry Manilow.  His first break came with a role on the sitcom Soap, where he played the first openly gay character on TV.
In 1975 he became a regular on Saturday Night Live. 1986 marked the year when he broke into film with Running Scared and Throw Momma from the Train. Three years later he became a star with When Harry Met Sally. The rest is Hollywood history. He has won six Emmys and one Tony.
Crystal was best friends with Robin Williams, whom he paid tribute to at the Emmys. He’s still very good friends with Whoopi Goldberg. In 2016, Crystal gave one of the eulogies for Muhammed Ali. He talked about his admiration for Ali as a boxer, and humanitarian: “Only once in a thousand years, or so, do we get to hear a Mozart, or see a Picasso or read a Shakespeare. Ali was one of them. And yet, at his heart, he was still a kid from Louisville who ran with the Gods and walked with the crippled and smiled at the foolishness of it all.” He also shared stories of their unlikely friendship after Crystal did a series of impersonations of him.
Getting older means fewer opportunities in Hollywood, which is why he is grateful and happy for his other endeavors: “Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. You go: hey, what happened? I haven’t made a movie in a while, but I’ve been doing so many things. I spent five years alone doing my Broadway show and touring with it. I was much happier doing that than making movies because it was mine and I didn’t get interrupted – when I was on stage I didn’t go ‘Cut, we got to do it again.’ I loved the challenge of 1500 people a night. No one works constantly. I’m most comfortable, really, when I’m in front of people performing.”
Which, hopefully, he will never stop doing. For all our sakes and a good laugh.