From the Sea to the Stars: 

The Remarkable History of Treasure Island at Disney

From movie-musicals like Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992), to sci-fi flicks like The Black Hole (1979) and the Star Wars reboot trilogy (2015-2019), Disney has produced films of nearly every genre throughout their history. Another genre they are known for producing is action-adventure, best demonstrated by The Pirates of the Caribbean series (2003-2017) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960). Long before they produced those films, however, Disney’s first live-action film was Treasure Island, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novel of the same name. Released on July 19th, 1950, it was also readapted by Disney two other times. In today’s blog I’d like to tell you about these three adaptations, beginning with a brief history on the novel itself.

Robert Louis Stevenson first published the novel Treasure Island or the Mutiny of the Hispaniola on November 14th, 1883. He had been inspired to write the story from drawing an imaginary treasure map with his stepson, Lloyd Osbourne at their home in Braemar, Scotland. He said that the novel “was to be a story for boys; no need of psychology or fine writing; and I had a boy at hand to be a touchstone.” Stevenson had previously written a novel called The Hair Trunk or The Ideal Commonwealth but that work was never finished or published, but Treasure Island was the first big success he ever had. It’s success paved the way for him to write other novels like Prince Otto in 1885 and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886. 

During the late 1940s, Walt Disney was on the verge of having to close his studio due to an unfortunate strike and the dismal performance of films the studio produced in the ‘40s. They had experimented with live-action/animated hybrid films at the time with Song of the South (1946) and So Dear to My Heart (1948) and revisited the hybrid idea for Mary Poppins (1964). Walt’s brother Roy, who oversaw all the financing of the studio was confident that it was time to close their doors, but Walt, being the unrelentingly stubborn genius that he was, refused. They argued a great deal, but ultimately reached a compromise, where they would keep making movies, but separate the animation department from the live-action department.

In addition to remaining true to the original novel, “Treasure Island,” was critically well-received, and made a great deal of money (grossing over $4 million dollars in worldwide rentals). It also paved the way for live-action films to follow at the studio, such as The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954). The film starred Bobby Driscoll (future of voice of Peter Pan in Peter Pan (1953)) as Jim Hawkins and Robert Newton as Long John Silver and was directed by Byron Haskin. Newton later reprised his role of Long John Silver in a non-Disney produced sequel called Long John Silver which was released in 1954 and was directed by Haskin. Although “Treasure Island,” was a hit when it was released, it didn’t quite outdo the success of Cinderella (1950), which had also been green-lit at the Disney Animation Department around the same time. 

Flash forward again to the mid-1990s, Disney was looking for a new film that would be a collaborative production effort with Jim Henson Productions. Their first collaboration (in 1992 with The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)) was a moderate box-office success, but it’s popularity was outdone by Disney’s Aladdin (1992) much like what “Cinderella” had done with the original “Treasure Island,” film. Muppet Treasure Island (1996) was ultimately green-lit thanks to the suggestion of “Muppets,” co-writer Kirk R. Thatcher who wanted to adapt a story with the Muppets that would either be loosely based off of “Treasure Island,” or “King Arthur,” but the rest of the “Muppets” crew decided that “Treasure Island,” would work much better than “King Arthur.” 

The Muppet version was directed by Brian Henson (son of Jim Henson) and it opened on February 16th, 1996. It was a much bigger success than “Muppet Christmas Carol,” grossing $7.9 million dollars opening weekend, a new record at the time for Disney openings in February. The movie also remained faithful to the novel, like the original version, though obviously, the writers rewrote the story to fit the personalities of the Muppet characters, for example, Jim Hawkins having the Great Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat for companions instead of living the adventure by himself or Kermit the Frog playing a strict, though friendly Captain Smollett as opposed to the more stern, rule-obsessed figure that Captain Smollett is in the book.

To acknowledge the third “Treasure Island,” adaptation at Disney involves going back to the mid-1980s. John Musker and Ron Clements, both had already been working at Disney for a while at the time, and proven themselves worthy of directing animated movies. In 1985, they had a meeting with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner where they pitched a concept for a film called “Treasure Island in Space,” but Eisner rejected it. Fortunately for Musker and Clements, this was also the same meeting where they pitched the idea that became The Little Mermaid (1989).

    The “Treasure Island in Space,” idea was pitched again at another meeting after “Little Mermaid,” was released, but Eisner remained uninterested in the idea. Musker and Clements tried pitching it a third time to the other former Disney head, Jeffrey Katzenberg, but just like Eisner, Katzenberg wasn’t interested in the idea either. Angered by the constant rejection, Musker and Clements turned to Roy E. Disney for support, and fortunately he supported both them and their idea and convinced Eisner to reconsider. (Katzenberg resigned from Disney after the release of The Lion King (1994). In 1995, Musker and Clements contract with Disney was re-negotiated, and they began development on “Treasure Planet.” They reinvented the classic novel in space and that they “did a lot of things to make the film more modern,” which were the words of screenwriter Rob Edwards. “Treasure Planet,” opened on November 27th, 2002, grossing $12 million. It later grossed $109.5 million worldwide, received kind reviews from critics, and even received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Animated Feature. (It lost that year to Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away (2002) which was released under the Disney label).

“Treasure Island,” has a very interesting history at Disney. It’s a very thrilling adventure story, but it also inspires us to always be on the lookout for opportunities to take adventures. Walt Disney only lived to see the final cut of the original “Treasure Island,” but I personally find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t appreciate the uniqueness and the humor of “Muppet Treasure Island,” and “Treasure Planet.”

 

Thomas F. Wilson: Why don’t you “make like a tree and…”

It takes a lot of qualities to make the main antagonist in a film entertaining: a resonant voice, diabolical actions, verbal threats, a spoiled or selfish personality, and throw some greedy desires in for good measure. But on special occasions, actors can also bring humor to the antagonist they portray on screen. Humor is an endearing quality as well, because it can make you either make you root for them, or feel compassion, and it helps you love to hate them. It depends on your point-of-view. In today’s blog, I’d like to tell you about the actor who portrayed one of cinema’s most hilarious main antagonists, over the course of three different movies, Thomas F. Wilson…

Thomas F. Wilson was born on April 15th, 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in nearby Wayne, which is where he attended Radnor High School and became involved with the dramatic arts. He was an exceptional student, a tuba player and drum major of his high school band, and was the president of the school debate team. After graduating high school, he even studied international politics at Arizona State University. Despite that, he always felt that acting was his true calling and he relocated to New York City to study that at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. While attending there, he began performing stand-up comedy.  

After studying in New York, he relocated again to Los Angeles in the early 1980s to try his luck. He landed his first acting job ever in an episode of the NBC series Knight Rider (1982-1986), and had a small role in an episode of The Facts of Life (1979-1988). It wasn’t long after Wilson performed in these two episodes that he heard NBC’s parent company, Universal Studios, was casting for a new film entitled “Spaceman From Pluto.” The film was to be about a young teenage boy and his middle-aged scientist best friend and how they time traveled from the 1980s to the 1950s and then back to the 80s again. They were looking for someone to play the teenager’s bully, but who could bring humor to the part. The producers originally considered Tim Robbins and J.J. Cohen for the part, but when Wilson auditioned, Director Robert Zemeckis and Screenwriter Bob Gale, knew they had found their Biff Tannen (J.J. Cohen, was later cast as Skinhead, one of Biff’s cronies.) The film was later renamed Back to the Future (1985). 

    While portraying Biff, Wilson based his personality upon experiences that he had had, being bullied as a child. He improvised the catchphrases “Make like a tree and get outta here,” and “butthead.” He didn’t get along terribly well with Eric Stoltz, whom they had originally cast as Marty McFly. Stoltz took the physical aspects of playing Marty McFly too seriously, nearly breaking Wilson’s collarbone in the cafeteria scene where Marty and Biff are on the verge of a fight. Wilson in real life, was on the verge of returning the favor, before he was replaced by Michael J. Fox. Fortunately, Fox and Wilson got along perfectly well, and so did the rest of the cast. Wilson also returned for both the film’s two sequels, Back to the Future part 2 (1989) and Back to the Future part 3 (1990) playing not only Biff Tannen, but also the roles of Biff’s extended family, grandson Griff Tannen in “part 2,” and great-grandfather Buford “Mag Dog” Tannen in “part 3.” He also voiced Biff and other various Tannen relatives in the CBS television show Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991-1992). He voiced Biff yet again for Back to the Future: The Ride at Universal Studios theme part in Orlando which opened in 1991.  

After the BTTF trilogy, Wilson continued acting, taking roles in High Strung (1991) and Blood In Blood Out (1993). He took up voice acting and has lent his voice to numerous cartoon television shows, Gargoyles (1994-1997), 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997-1998), and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001). He appeared in Disney’s remake of That Darn Cat (1997) opposite Christina Ricci and Doug E. Doug and lent his voice to Atlantis: Milo’s Return (2003), the direct-to-video sequel to Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001). Besides all his Disney work, Wilson has voiced numerous characters on the classic Nickelodeon series Spongebob Squarepants (1999-present). In “The Bully,” episode of Spongebob, Wilson voices a character called Flats the Flounder who threatens to “kick” Spongebob’s butt, very similar and reminiscent of Biff. Wilson voiced the first two “Spongebob” movies: The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (2004) and The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015).) Before the second “Spongebob” movie Wilson played Captain Frank Woods in The Heat (2013) starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.

Besides acting, Wilson is an exceptional writer and painter. The same year as “BTTF part 2,” he wrote a short film called The Last Ride (1989) and inspired by his Catholic faith, he wrote, co-produced and starred in a television series called Get Serious: Seven Deadly Sins in 1996. His paintings, were primarily of classic children’s toys, including the View-Master and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. He also painted the beloved Disneyland Attraction “Dumbo the Flying Elephant,” so it was only natural that his art would be selected to join the California Featured Artist Series at Disneyland in 2006. In 2009, he wrote a new stand-up comedy routine that includes the “Biff Question Song,” which answers all the questions that fans of BTTF have asked him over the years. Although still proud to this day of having been a part of the series, it was always frustrating to him to have to answer the same questions over and over again, which is why he wrote that song. When not performing the song he gives fans a postcard with the answers to the questions as a timesaver. He wrote a memoir called The Masked Man: A Memoir and Fantasy of Hollywood in 2012. 

Thomas F. Wilson has had a career in show business for nearly four decades. Looking back at everything he’s done from live acting and voice-acting to writing and producing, to even painting and stand-up performing, he really is a jack or in his case a “Tom” of all trades. He will forever be remembered as the disgruntled, wisecracking Biff Tannen in the “Back to the Future” trilogy, though he brings humor to every role he plays. And for that, he will always be beloved.   

Eric Goldberg: The King of Clown Character Animating

In animated movies, there are the heroes/heroines that we root for and the villains that we jeer, (or possibly root for, depending on your point of view!) But there are also the supporting “clown” characters. “Clown” cartoons make animated movies endearing because they provide humor throughout the plot of the movie, often when the hero/heroine experiences trouble at the hands of the villain. But…somebody has to create those characters visually and bring them to life. Today, I’d like to tell you about someone who is known for animating some of Disney’s most beloved “clowns” Eric Goldberg.

Goldberg was born on May 1st, 1955 in Levittown, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where he graduated Cherry Hill High School East. After graduation, he relocated again to New York to major in illustration at Pratt Institute. Determined to have a career as an animator, he moved again, this time to London to begin working on the animated film Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure (produced by the Richard Williams London-based studio and released in 1977). Prior to working on that film, he made two films by himself called For Sale and Good Old Fashioned Cartoon Violence in 1973, which have since then been preserved by the Academy Film Archive. Not long after “Raggedy Ann and Andy,” Goldberg started his own London-based studio where he began producing television commercials. 

In 1982, Goldberg married his wife, Susan—also an accomplished artist, having attended Walt Disney’s California-based art school, CalArts (California Institute of the Arts). It was through her that Eric met and developed friendships with future employees at Disney, including John Musker. When Musker and his filmmaking partner, Ron Clements, were hired to co-write/co-direct Aladdin (1992) for the studio, they immediately knew that Eric would be the perfect supervising animator for the character of the Genie in the film. Fortunately for them, Eric was hoping he would get that assignment, and he closed his London studio to begin full-time work at Disney. Animating the Genie was a great challenge because Robin Williams, tapped to voice the Genie was VERY clever and frenetic with improvisation. (Williams improvised almost 16 hours of dialogue!) Prior to making the film, Goldberg also did test animation of the Genie performing Robin William’s stand-up routine in order to persuade Williams to do the part. Goldberg relied primarily on inspiration from the caricaturist Al Hirschfeld to design the Genie, as well as inspiration from the jazz greats, Fats Waller and Cab Calloway. 

Thanks to the success of “Aladdin,” Goldberg was hired by Disney to direct Pocahontas (1995) with Mike Gabriel. His wife, Susan, was the key assistant animator for the character of “Percy” and “Wiggins” in the film. His next assignment was supervising animator for Phil in Hercules (1997). For this character, Goldberg came up with a design that he stated was a combination of Grumpy the Dwarf from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bacchus, the Roman God of Parties, who was in Fantasia (1940). Susan Goldberg collaborated on that design and they collaborated together on the short films: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” and Camille Saint-Saens “The Carnival of the Animals.” Both films were later edited into Disney’s Fantasia 2000 (1999). Eric wrote and directed the segments, while Susan served as art director.

Eric briefly left Disney in the early 2000’s to be the animation director for Warner Bros. live-action/animation hybrid film Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). He also provided the voices of Marvin the Martian, Tweety Bird, Michigan J. Frog and Speedy Gonzales in the film. After “Looney Tunes,” he animated the title sequence of MGM’s (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s) 2006 remake of The Pink Panther starring Steve Martin. He later came back to Disney to do animation on the Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007) and the supervising animation for Louis the Alligator in The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh (2011). He was the Final Line Animator on the Oscar-winning short Paperman (2012), which meant that he gave all the animators more influence and control over the final cut of the short. He also served as the Head of the Animation on Get a Horse! (2013), and most recently, he animated Maui’s tattoos in Moana (2016) and was credited as an additional animator in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). Going beyond movies and shorts, Goldberg has also been the animator of Mickey Mouse in Disney Park nighttime shows, including Disney Gifts of Christmas, and Celebrate!, in Tokyo Disneyland, and the We Love Mickey Main Street Projection Show in Hong Kong Disneyland.

Eric Goldberg is a multi-talented artist! Besides animating several of Disney’s most humorous characters, he also gave exceptional direction to some Disney Movies and Shorts and to live shows in Disney Parks. The films that he contributed to continue be classics, and inspire artists, especially those who animate supporting characters. 

The Hauntingly Interesting Origin of The Haunted Mansion

Throughout the history of the Disney Parks, there are many beloved attractions. From Peter Pan’s Flight to It’s a Small World to Pirates of the Caribbean, each continues to keep fans standing in line and smiling when they leave (similar to Disney movies!). Another example of a classic park attraction is The Haunted Mansion, which opened in Disneyland on August 9th, 1969, making today, August 9th, its 51st birthday! I thought we could explore the origin of this classic attraction.

Walt Disney first began thinking about  “The Haunted Mansion,” as early as the 1950’s when he was developing Disneyland. He asked Harper Goff, one of the main designers of Disneyland and the uncredited production designer of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), to design the attraction. Goff initially conceived a rural American theme, as the ride’s original locale was to be at end of a path that led away from the Mainstreet U.S.A. area of the park. However, he the rest of the designers at WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises later decided to put the ride in the New Orleans Square section of the park. Disney, Goff, and team had planned to introduce the attraction at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, along with “It’s a Small World,” and “The Carousel of Progress,” but that unfortunately was delayed due to the ride having to undergo too many conceptual changes. 

At one point, it was considered that the attraction could actually be a walk-through instead of a ride, and it would be called “The Museum of the Weird.” They also came up with a more stereotypical design of a haunted house, but Walt wanted to make sure that his haunted house would be unique from any other theme park haunted houses saying “We’ll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside.” Ultimately, it was decided in favor of the attraction being a ride-through, and the exterior was redesigned with an antebellum theme, to fit the New Orleans Square.

Buddy Baker was hired to compose the music for the attraction and Paul Frees (Disney’s original voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake) was hired as the voice of the Ghost Host (the narrator of the attraction). Eleanor Audley, who is best known at Disney for doing the voices of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother/Lady Tremaine in Cinderella (1950) and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959), was also hired to voice Madame Leota, the crystal ball woman in the attraction. New Orleans Square opened at the park on July 24th, 1966, though Walt Disney tragically died on December 15th, 1966, which delayed the opening of the attraction. The ride officially opened on August 9th, 1969, and to this day, it has been unchanged, with the exception a “Haunted Mansion Holiday,” celebration in which the attraction is redecorated with a The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) theme every September, since 2001. 

Haunted Mansion was an instant hit with park guests, and inspired the WED Imagineers to create a second version at Walt Disney World, opened in Magic Kingdom during Disney World’s official opening (October 1st, 1971). 12 years later, another mansion was constructed and opened at Tokyo Disneyland on the park’s official opening date, April 15th, 1983. Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland also have their own, unique versions of the attractions, Phantom Manor, which opened at Disneyland Paris on April 12, 1992 and Mystic Manor which opened on May 17th, 2013. In 2003, the attraction was made into a movie starring Eddie Murphy. The film unfortunately was a flop, but there is another one in development at Disney. 

      “The Haunted Mansion,” attraction remains a beloved attraction for today’s park visitors and shows no signs of stopping!

Billy Crystal: The World’s Greatest City Slicker

“Have fun stormin’ da castle,” “Oh, but baby fish-mouth is sweeping the nation,” “I can’t believe it. I WAS ON TV! What can I say, the camera loves me!” These three lines were delivered by none other than the great Billy Crystal, who has been “fooling the world,” (in his words) for nearly a half century. Having conquered the mediums of Television, Movies and Broadway with his beautiful sense of humor, he’s also written some hilarious and heartfelt books, as well. I thought we could explore his remarkable career in today’s blog.

William Edward Crystal was born on March 14th, 1948 at Doctors Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He grew up the youngest of three brothers, born to Jack and Helen Crystal. The family, including brothers Richard “Rip” and Joel all relocated to Long Beach when Billy was a toddler. Jack managed a record store in New York City called “The Commodore Music Shop,” originally founded by Helen’s father, Julius Gabler, and her brothers, Milt and Danny. Although his mother became a full-time housewife when she started having kids, she was a very talented singer and tap dancer, and she even provided the voice of Minnie Mouse in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was through his father, though, that young Billy was exposed to jazz, of which he became an instant fan, along with his brothers. Jack also regularly took his sons to New York Yankees Baseball games and even let them watch the great stand-up comedians at the time, i.e.: Bob Newhart, Sid Caesar, Rich Little, and others. (Sadly, Billy Crystal lost his father when he was just 15 years old and his father’s death would be the inspiration for one of his most special projects.) 

Billy was determined to be a New York Yankee when he grew up, and after graduating Long Beach High School in 1965, he attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, on a Baseball Scholarship. When he came back to New York in the summer the following year, he met his future wife, Janice Goldfinger-Crystal and decided not to return to West Virginia so they could be together. He also decided to study film and television in New York, starting at Nassau Community College with Janice and later NYU (New York University), where he graduated with a BFA from the School of Fine Arts. While studying there, he was instructed by Martin Scorsese and was classmates with Oliver Stone and future lifelong friend, Christopher Guest. After his graduation, like all who are determined to become stars, he headed for Hollywood to try his luck in acting.

Crystal made his first appearance on television in the series Keep on Truckin’ in 1975. His first credited appearance, however, was on an episode of hit series, All in the Family (1971-1979), playing Al Bender, a friend of Rob Reiner’s Michael “Meathead” Stivic. It led to a real life friendship between Crystal and Reiner that continues, and they later collaborated together on several movies. After portraying Jodie Dallas on the ABC series Soap (1977-1981) and making his film debut in Joan Rivers’ Rabbit Test (1978), Crystal reunited with Reiner to act in the groundbreaking documentary film This Is Spinal Tap (1984), a “mockumentary/rockumentary,” Reiner directed, which also featured appearances by Christopher Guest and the late great Bruno Kirby, both of whom became frequent collaborators and friends of Crystal’s and Reiner’s.

After appearing with Gregory Hines in Running Scared (1986), Crystal was directed by Reiner for the second time as “Miracle Max” in The Princess Bride (1987). What is arguably his most quotable line from that role is “Have fun stormin’ da castle,” though one could also remember “The King’s stinking son fired me. And thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you’re at it, why don’t you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it. WE’RE CLOSED!” The same year he made Throw Momma from the Train (1987), co-starring and directed by Danny Devito, and in 1989, he worked with Rob Reiner for their third collaboration, When Harry Met Sally (1989), starring opposite Meg Ryan. He also began hosting the Academy Awards in 1990, a gig that he did a total of nine times throughout his career. 

Although one could argue that Billy Crystal’s role as Harry Burns is his most iconic role, the next film he made was special too, because he included memories of his real life in it. In the mid-1980’s, Billy Crystal started his own production company, FACE Productions. It was called “FACE” because that was Billy Crystal’s childhood nickname. Billy Crystal executive-produced several of his own television appearances at FACE, and he also produced a movie that was directed by Henry Winkler called Memories of Me in 1988, which didn’t do particularly well. The next film that Billy Crystal starred in, and executive produced, was City Slickers (1991). A sleeper hit, it became a huge success later on. While working on it, Crystal was reunited with Bruno Kirby and he incorporated the yearly tradition of his mother phoning him at the exact moment of his birthday to tell him the story of how he was born (a tradition that she continued till her death in 2001). His character, Mitch Robbins also tells about his first Yankee game as a child, and was the story of his real-life experience at his fist Yankee game.

What was particularly special about working on City Slickers was that he hired Jack Palance to play Curly Washburn the cowboy. As a child, his very first movie to see in the theaters was Shane (1953), which also starred Jack Palance. (Ironically, Palace had received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for his performance in “Shane,” and was told he would win. He lost to Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity (1953), but he was also nominated for his performance in “City Slickers,” and won that year.) “City Slickers,” spawned a sequel in 1994, though prior to that, Billy Crystal made his directorial debut in Mr. Saturday Night (1992), which earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for David Paymer, whom Crystal had worked with in both “City Slickers,” films. He starred in (and directed) Forget Paris, opposite Debra Winger in 1995. He made Father’s Day in 1997 starring opposite close pal, the late great Robin Williams and in 1999 he starred in Analyze This opposite Robert DeNiro and directed by Harold Ramis. 

He opened the 2000s by providing the voice of Mike Wazowski in Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. (2001) and directing the HBO film 61 (2001), a film which told the story of how New York Yankees Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle both competed to break Babe Ruth’s 61-home-run record in the summer of 1961. It was a story that was very near and dear to Billy Crystal’s heart, considering he had witnessed that as a child. (Ironically, he had been Pixar’s first choice for the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995), though he declined the offer. After seeing “Toy Story,” he deeply regretted his decision, but he was thrilled when he received the call to be Mike Wazowski.) He also made America’s Sweetheart’s that year, starring opposite Julia Roberts, and in 2004, lent his voice to the Disney/Studio Ghibli film Howl’s Moving Castle. 

In 2005, Billy Crystal wrote a one-man play which he called 700 Sundays, a play that was to acknowledge he still continues to grieve for his father today, but in a hilarious way. The play won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. He took the show on tour throughout the US in 2006 and revived it for Broadway in 2013. HBO also filmed the show live for their network in 2014. In 2012, Billy Crystal starred as Grandpa Artie Decker in the film, Parental Guidance, opposite Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei and he reprised the role of Mike Wazowski in Pixar’s “Monsters,” prequel, Monsters University (2013). That same year, he also published his memoir Still Foolin’  ‘Em: Where I’ve Been, Where I’m Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys?

Billy Crystal is one of the greatest comedians of all time. Most of the world will remember him best as either Harry in “When Harry Met Sally,” Miracle Max in “The Princess Bride,” or as the host of the Oscars. Disney lovers might initially remember him as the voice of Mike Wazowski also, but whether he’s acting or just portraying himself he brings humor and heart to everything that he does. And there is no doubt he will continue to fool us for the rest of his life.