Jane Curtin Movies
Famed for (and lucky enough to be) one of Saturday Night Live's original Not Ready for Primetime Players, Jane Curtin made her debut in 1975 among such heavies as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner. Together they formed the sketch comedy troupe that wrote a new chapter in American comedy.Curtin is different from many of her famous SNL cohorts in that she left the show without being easily identified with a single character. Audiences loved her as Mrs. Conehead and as the co-anchor of Weekend Update with Dan Akroyd, but Curtin remained as understated as someone could be with a two-foot cone on her head; in short, she didn't become those characters to the public. With her motherly features and subtle acting style, Curtin never seems to intrude upon her characters. She doesn't force her own personality onto them, but instead, genuinely takes on the character and works through them.
After her two Emmy nominations from Saturday Night Live, Curtin went on to star in two other long-running sitcoms in the next 20 years, making her only the second comedy television star to burn brightly throughout three decades, a feat only matched by Lucille Ball. In the 1980s, viewers empathized with her as Allie Lowell in Kate and Allie (for which she won back-to-back Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmys in 1984 and 1985); in the 1990s, she kept audiences in stitches with her wacky characterization of Dr. Mary Albright, the anthropologist love interest of John Lithgow on 3rd Rock From the Sun.
She has also appeared in the TV-miniseries Common Ground and the made-for-TV movies Divorce Wars (1982) with Tom Selleck and Maybe Baby (1988) with Dabney Coleman. She co-hosted the retrospective Bob & Ray, Jane, Loraine, and Gilda -- 30 Years of Comedy's Greatest Hits (1979). She has toured with a number of plays and also appeared on Broadway, in Candida and A.R. Gerney's Love Letters. She also starred in the off-Broadway production of Pretzels, a musical revue that she co-wrote.
Before hitting it big, Jane Curtin studied drama at Northeastern College in Cambridge, MA. She lives with her husband and daughter in Connecticut. ~ Sandy Lawson, All Movie Guide
- 1985
Assembled long after John Belushi's death in 1982, The Best of John Belushi is at once hilarious and melancholy. From 1975 to 1979, Belushi was a member in excellent standing of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on NBC's Saturday Night Live. This 60-minute video covers those amazing years, offering such highlights as "Samurai Delicatessen" and "The Honeybees." Best and most poignant of all the scenes is the elegiac "Don't Look Back in Anger". This is the one wherein an aged John Belushi strolls reflectively past the graves of all his SNL costars-then breaks into an exuberant dance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Belushi
In what can only be described as a dramatic change of pace, Robert Altman directed this raunchy teen comedy based on the antics of two characters featured in a series of stories published in the National Lampoon. Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie (Daniel Jenkins), aka O.C., and his buddy Mark Stiggs (Neil Barry), are a pair of misfit teenagers whose greatest joy in life is making those around them miserable. O.C.'s ancient grandfather (Ray Walston) has just had his insurance cancelled, and when he discovers that suburbanite salesman Randall Schwabb (Paul Dooley) is responsible, O.C. and Stiggs swing into a summer-long campaign to get revenge on Schwabb and his family. While it received some of the most brutally negative reviews of Altman's career, O.C. and Stiggs is worth a quick look for its cast, which includes fellow outcast auteurs Dennis Hopper and Melvin Van Peebles, comics Louis Nye and Jane Curtain, the one-time glamour girl of the Clifford Irving scandal Nina Van Pallandt, and Thomas Hal Phillips, reprising his role as Hal Phillip Walker from Nashville. World music superstars King Sunny Ade and his African Beats appear and provide the musical score. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Jenkins, Neil Barry, (more)
- 1983
This comical video features the cast of the original Saturday Night Live and the quietly riotous Bob and Ray. Also featured is Willie Nelson who croons three tunes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This superior ABC Theatre of the Month presentation is not so much about the reasons for divorce as it is about the tensions surrounding the actual litigation. Tom Selleck plays a topnotch Seattle divorce lawyer, juggling several delicate cases at once. Arrogantly secure in his legal prowess, Selleck suffers a major ego blow when his own wife (Jane Curtin) files for divorce. In a half-comic, half-serious manner, the travails of Selleck and Curtin are counterpointed with those of Selleck's clients. Donald Wrye and Linda Elstad's high-quality script for Divorce Wars: A Love Story bears a very faint resemblance to the recent movie hits Kramer vs. Kramer and Ordinary People--a resemblance pounced upon and amplified by the print ads for this TV movie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- PG
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Jane Curtin and Susan Saint James share star-billing with Jessica Lange in this uninspired comedy about three women who need a cash infusion. (Curtin and Saint James would later co-star in the popular sitcom Kate and Allie.) Jane (Saint James) is divorced and financially pressed to raise her children in the manner to which they were accustomed. Elaine's (Curtin) husband left with all their assets except for the house and car, and Louise's (Lange) antique store is going to go bust unless she gets rid of the red ink. After the three women share their angst, they hit on a scheme of robbing cash from the local shopping mall, a place they know quite well. That familiarity, it turns out, cannot guarantee success. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Saint James, Jessica Lange, (more)
Returning for a fourth season (1978-79), the cast and writers of Saturday Night Live maintained their reputation for hilarious characters and innovative sketch-comedy, creating characters such as the Blues Brothers (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd), Nick the Lounge Singer (Bill Murray), Candy Slice (Gilda Radner), the Loud Family (Jane Curtin, Murray, and Radner), Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute (Aykroyd), and the Nerds (Murray and Radner). Other favorites include the return of iconic host Steve Martin (with Aykroyd as the "wild and crazy" Festrunk Brothers) and Buck Henry's inappropriate Uncle Roy. The 20 episodes of Season 4 feature classic performances from hosts Fred Willard, Carrie Fisher, Kate Jackson, Milton Berle, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Elliott Gould, Frank Zappa, Gary Busey, and Walter Matthau. Unforgettable musical guests include Peter Tosh, Mick Jagger, the Doobie Brothers, Bette Midler, Talking Heads, Devo, Van Morrison, Grateful Dead, Rickie Lee Jones, James Taylor, and the Rolling Stones.
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, (more)
Continuing the enormous success of the previous two years, the third season of SNL (1977-78) showcased a fearless cast that created some of the most memorable sketches to ever appear on the show. With hilarious breakthrough characters like The Nerds (Bill Murray and Gilda Radner), Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin), lounge singer Nick Winters (Bill Murray), Samurai Warrior (John Belushi), a singing King Tut (legendary SNL host Steve Martin) and featuring Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) as well as "The Franken and Davis Show" (Al Franken and Tom Davis), SNL continued to define itself as the pinnacle of irreverent humor and political satire.
The complete third season of SNL contains unforgettable appearances by hosts Steve Martin, Michael Palin, Hugh Hefner, Buck Henry, Robert Klein, Chevy Chase, Madeline Kahn, Richard Dreyfuss, O.J. Simpson and the winner of the "Anyone Can Host" contest, Miskel Spillman, and classic musical performances by Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Leon Redbone, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ashford & Simpson, Meat Loaf and The Blues Brothers.
The complete third season of SNL contains unforgettable appearances by hosts Steve Martin, Michael Palin, Hugh Hefner, Buck Henry, Robert Klein, Chevy Chase, Madeline Kahn, Richard Dreyfuss, O.J. Simpson and the winner of the "Anyone Can Host" contest, Miskel Spillman, and classic musical performances by Elvis Costello, Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Leon Redbone, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Ashford & Simpson, Meat Loaf and The Blues Brothers.
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, (more)
For over three decades, Saturday Night Live has been the source of young comedic talent and helped to launch the careers of countless performers, making them household names. Still considered iconic for their live performances from Studio 8H in New York, the original cast of SNL (including Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and John Belushi) set the tone for years to follow with their irreverent, edgy humor. They combined anti-establishment political satire with rock-and-roll attitude for a show that spoke to the youth of the 1970's, turning it into an instant sensation. Although only the second year on the air, the 1976-1977 season turned out to be the last for Chevy Chase, but the first for a young comedian named Bill Murray. The complete second season of SNL contains legendary musical performances by artists Joe Cocker, The Band, Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Santana and Tom Waits and classic appearances by hosts Lily Tomlin, Norman Lear, Steve Martin, Dick Cavett, Jodie Foster, Candice Bergen, Ralph Nader, Fran Tarkenton, Sissy Spacek, Elliott Gould and Shelly Duvall.
- Starring:
- Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, (more)
