Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein Yiddish: אַלבערט אײַנשטײן, romanized: Albert Aynshteyn; July 22, 1947)[1] is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for 1987's Broadcast News and was widely praised for his performance in the 2011 action drama film Drive.[2] Brooks has also acted in Taxi Driver (1976), Private Benjamin (1980), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), and My First Mister (2001). He has written, directed, and starred in several comedy films, such as Modern Romance (1981), Lost in America (1985), and Defending Your Life (1991). He is also the author of 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America (2011).

Albert Brooks
Born
Albert Lawrence Einstein

(1947-07-22) July 22, 1947
Alma materCarnegie Mellon University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • writer
Years active1969–present
Spouse
(m. 1997)
Children2
Parents
Relatives
Websitealbertbrooks.com

His voice acting credits include Marlin in Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016), Tiberius in The Secret Life of Pets (2016), and several one-time characters in The Simpsons, including Hank Scorpio in "You Only Move Twice" (1996) and Russ Cargill in The Simpsons Movie (2007).

Early life

Brooks was born Albert Lawrence Einstein on July 22, 1947 into a Jewish show business family in Beverly Hills, California,[3][1] to Thelma Leeds (née Goodman), an actress, and Harry Einstein, a radio comedian who performed on Eddie Cantor's radio program and was known as "Parkyakarkus".[1] He is the youngest of three sons. His older brothers are the late comedic actor Bob Einstein (1942–2019), and Clifford Einstein (b. 1939), a partner and longtime chief creative officer at Los Angeles advertising agency Dailey & Associates. His older half-brother was Charles Einstein (1926–2007), a writer for such television programs as Playhouse 90 and Lou Grant. His grandparents emigrated from Austria and Russia. He grew up among show business families in southern California, attending Beverly Hills High School with Richard Dreyfuss and Rob Reiner.[4]

Career

Early career

Brooks attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (where his classmates included Michael McKean and David L. Lander), but dropped out after one year to focus on his comedy career.[5] By the age of 19, he had changed his professional name to Albert Brooks, joking that "the real Albert Einstein changed his name to sound more intelligent".[6] He quickly became a regular on variety and talk shows during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was on the writing staff for the ill-fated ABC show Turn-On, which was cancelled after one episode.[7] In 1970-71, he also worked with college friends McKean and Lander (alongside Harry Shearer) as a writer/guest performer on some early material by radio and LP record comedy group The Credibility Gap. Brooks led a new generation of self-reflective baby-boomer comics appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. His on-stage 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 '70s post-modern comedians, including Steve Martin, Martin Mull, and Andy Kaufman.

After two successful comedy albums, Comedy Minus One (1973) and the Grammy Award–nominated A Star Is Bought (1975), Brooks left the stand-up circuit to try his hand as a filmmaker. He had already made his first short film, The Famous Comedians School, a satiric short and an early example of the mockumentary subgenre that was aired in 1972 on the PBS show The Great American Dream Machine.[8]

In 1975, Brooks directed six short films for the first season of NBC's Saturday Night Live.[9] In 1976, he appeared in his first mainstream film role, in Martin Scorsese's landmark Taxi Driver; Scorsese allowed Brooks to improvise much of his dialogue. Brooks had landed the role after moving to Los Angeles to enter the film business.[10]

Brooks directed his first feature film, Real Life, in 1979, which he co-wrote with Harry Shearer. The film, in which Brooks (playing a version of himself) 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. It has also been viewed as foretelling the future emergence of reality television.[11] Brooks also appeared in the film Private Benjamin (1980), starring Goldie Hawn.[12]

1981–1999

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Brooks co-wrote (with long-time collaborator Monica Johnson), directed and starred in a series of well-received 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.[13] His best-received film, Lost in America (1985), featured Brooks and Julie Hagerty as a couple who leave their yuppie lifestyle and drop out of society to live in a motor home as they have always dreamed of doing, meeting disappointment.

Brooks' Defending Your Life (1991) placed his lead character in the afterlife, put on trial to justify his human fears and determine his cosmic fate. Critics responded to the off-beat premise and the chemistry between Brooks and Meryl Streep, as his post-death love interest. His later efforts did not find large audiences, but still retained Brooks' touch as a filmmaker. He garnered positive reviews for Mother (1996), which starred Brooks as a middle-aged writer moving back home to resolve tensions between himself and his mother (Debbie Reynolds). 1999's The Muse featured Brooks as a Hollywood screenwriter who has "lost his edge", using the services of an authentic muse (Sharon Stone) for inspiration. In an interview with Brooks with regards to The Muse, Gavin Smith wrote, "Brooks's distinctive film making style is remarkably discreet and unemphatic; he has a light, deft touch, with a classical precision and economy, shooting and cutting his scenes in smooth, seamless successions of medium shots, with clean, high-key lighting."[14]

Brooks has appeared as a guest voice on The Simpsons seven times during its run (always under the name A. Brooks). He is described as the best guest star in the show's history by IGN, particularly for his role as supervillain Hank Scorpio in the episode "You Only Move Twice".[15]

Brooks also acted in other writers' and directors' films during the 1980s and 1990s. He had a cameo in the opening scene of Twilight Zone: The Movie, playing a driver whose passenger (Dan Aykroyd) has a shocking secret. In James L. Brooks's hit Broadcast News (1987), Albert Brooks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing 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.

2000–present

Brooks with Sheetal Sheth at the premiere of Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World in 2006

Brooks received positive reviews for his portrayal of a dying retail store owner who befriends a disillusioned teenager (played by Leelee Sobieski) in My First Mister (2001). Brooks continued his voiceover work in Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003), as the voice of Marlin, one of the film's protagonists.

In 2005, his film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World was dropped by Sony Pictures due to their desire to change the title. 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. As with Real Life, Brooks plays a fictionalized "Albert Brooks", a filmmaker ostensibly commissioned by the U.S. government to see what makes the Muslim people laugh, and sending him on a tour of India and Pakistan.

In 2006 he appeared in the documentary film Wanderlust as David Howard from Lost in America. In 2007, he continued his long-term collaboration with The Simpsons by voicing Russ Cargill, the central antagonist of The Simpsons Movie.

He has played Lenny Botwin, Nancy Botwin's estranged father-in-law, on Showtime's television series Weeds.[16] St. Martin's Press published his first novel, 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America, on May 10, 2011.[17]

In 2011, Brooks co-starred as the vicious gangster Bernie Rose, the main antagonist in the film Drive, alongside Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. His performance received much critical praise and positive reviews. After receiving awards and nominations from several film festivals and critic groups, but not an Academy Award nomination, Brooks responded humorously on Twitter, "And to the Academy: ‘You don't like me. You really don't like me’."[18][19]

In 2016, Brooks voiced Tiberius, a curmudgeonly red-tailed hawk, in The Secret Life of Pets, and reprised the role of Marlin from Finding Nemo in the 2016 sequel Finding Dory.

Personal life

In 1997, Brooks married artist Kimberly Shlain, daughter of surgeon and writer Leonard Shlain.[20][1] They have two children, Jacob and Claire.[21][1]

Works

Films

Year Title Distribution
1972 (or 1971) "Albert Brooks' Famous School for Comedians"[22] PBS
1979 Real Life Paramount Pictures
1981 Modern Romance Columbia Pictures
1985 Lost in America Warner Bros.
1991 Defending Your Life
1996 Mother Paramount Pictures
1999 The Muse October Films
2005 Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World Warner Independent Pictures

Comedy albums

Year Title Type
1973 Comedy Minus One live[23]
1975 A Star Is Bought studio[24]

Literature

Year Title
2011 2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1976 Taxi Driver Tom
1979 Real Life Albert Brooks Also writer/director
1980 Private Benjamin Yale Goodman
1981 Modern Romance Robert Cole Also writer/director
1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie Car Driver Segment: "Prologue"
Terms of Endearment Rudyard Voice; credited as "A. Brooks"
1984 Unfaithfully Yours Norman Robbins
1985 Lost in America David Howard Also writer/director
1987 Broadcast News Aaron Altman Oscar nomination for “Best Supporting Actor”
1991 Defending Your Life Daniel Miller Also writer/director
1994 I'll Do Anything Burke Adler
The Scout Al Percolo Also writer
1996 Mother John Henderson Also writer/director
1997 Critical Care Dr. Butz
1998 Dr. Dolittle Jacob the Tiger Voice
Out of Sight Richard Ripley
1999 The Muse Steven Phillips Also writer/director
2001 My First Mister Randall 'R' Harris
2003 Finding Nemo Marlin Voice
Exploring the Reef with Jean-Michel Cousteau Voice, short film
The In-Laws Jerry Peyser
2005 Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World Himself Also writer/director
2007 The Simpsons Movie Russ Cargill Voice; credited as "A. Brooks"
2011 Drive Bernie Rose
2012 This Is 40 Larry
2014 A Most Violent Year Andrew Walsh
2015 The Little Prince The Businessman Voice
Concussion Cyril Wecht
2016 Finding Dory Marlin Voice
The Secret Life of Pets Tiberius
2017 I Love You, Daddy Dick Welker Voice; credited as "A. Brooks"

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1969 Hot Wheels Mickey Barnes / Kip Chogi Voice
1970 The Odd Couple Rudy 2 episodes[25]
1971 Love, American Style Christopher Leacock Episode 2.16: "Love and Operation Model"
1972 The New Dick Van Dyke Show Dr. Norman Episode 2.2: "The Needle"
1975–1976 Saturday Night Live Interviewer / Bob / Heart Surgeon Assistant director: 7 episodes
Writer: 5 episodes

Actor: 4 episodes

1990–present The Simpsons Hank Scorpio, Jacques, Various roles Voice, 8 episodes; credited as "A. Brooks"
2008 Weeds Lenny Botwin 4 episodes
2021 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself Episode: "The Five-Foot Fence"


Awards and nominations

Year Award Work Result
1985National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ScreenplayLost in AmericaWon
1987American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Supporting ActorBroadcast NewsWon
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorWon
Academy Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor2nd place
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor3rd place
1996National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ScreenplayMotherWon
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ScreenplayWon
2011African American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorDriveWon
Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureWon
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Village Voice Film Poll – Supporting ActorWon
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorWon
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actorrunner-up
Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated
Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting MaleNominated
Indiana Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actorrunner-up
London Film Critics Circle Award for Supporting Actor of the YearNominated
Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActorNominated
Southeastern Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actorrunner-up

References

  1. "Albert Brooks Biography (1947-)". www.filmreference.com. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  2. "Academy Awards 1987". filmsite.org.
  3. Astarte Piccione, Rachel (January 2006). "Comedy in The Muslim World". EGO Magazine. Archived from the original on February 10, 2006.
  4. Kaufman, Peter (January 22, 2006). "The background on Albert Brooks". The Washington Post, The Buffalo News. Accessed April 24, 2008. "Albert Brooks, who grew up in a showbiz family and attended Beverly Hills High School, has never been interested in being an outsider."
  5. Lambert, Pam (January 27, 1997). "Mother Lode". People. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  6. McCall, Cheryl. "Psst! Albert Brooks Isn't Kin to Mel Except in Comedy". People. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015.
  7. "Turn-On (TV Series 1969-) Full Cast and Crew". Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  8. Ramsey Ess (January 4, 2013). "The Short Films of Albert Brooks". Archived February 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. Ess, Ramsey (January 4, 2013). "The Short Films of Albert Brooks". Vulture. Vox Media, LLC. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  10. "Albert Brooks takes a look back on his career". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  11. Montoya, Maria (February 28, 2009). "Albert Brooks 'Real Life' film is an unexpected classic" Archived July 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Times-Picayune.
  12. Howard Zieff (director) (October 10, 1980). Private Benjamin (Film). Warner Brothers.
  13. "Modern Romance box office". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on March 19, 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2006.
  14. Film Comment, Jan/Feb 1999, All The Choices: Albert Brooks Interview
  15. Goldman, Eric; Iverson, Dan; Zoromski, Brian. "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances". IGN. Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  16. Ausiello, Michael (April 14, 2008). "Weeds Scoop: Albert Brooks Is Nancy's 'Dad'". TV Guide.
  17. Maslin, Janet (May 1, 2011). "A Wry Eye on Problems of the Future". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 1, 2022.
  18. Hughes, Sarah Anne (January 24, 2012). "Albert Brooks not nominated for Oscar: 'I got ROBBED ... I mean literally. My pants and shoes have been stolen'". The Washington Post.
  19. Barmak, Sarah (January 27, 2012). "Talking Points: Hollywood abuzz over Oscar snubs". Toronto Star.
  20. Rochlin, Margy (August 22, 1999). "A Funnyman Whose Muse is in the Mirror". The New York Times.
  21. Apatow, Judd (January 2013). "Our Mr. Brooks". Vanity Fair. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  22. Tropiano, Stephen (November 1, 2013). Saturday Night Live FAQ: Everything Left to Know About Television's Longest Running Comedy. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4803-6686-2.
  23. "Albert Brooks - Comedy Minus One". Discogs. 1973. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  24. "Albert Brooks - A Star Is Bought". Discogs. 1975. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  25. The Odd Couple - Felix Is Missing at IMDb
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