J R Tomlin Popular Books

J R Tomlin Biography & Facts

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career to acting onstage and on-screen. In a career spanning over fifty years, Tomlin has received numerous accolades, including seven Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and two Tony Awards. She was also awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2014 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2017.Tomlin started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1969 until 1973. Her signature role, which was written by her then partner (now wife) Jane Wagner, was in the show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which opened on Broadway in 1985 and earned Tomlin the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She won Emmy Awards for the special Lily (1973) and received a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for This Is a Recording (1972). In 1975, Tomlin made her film debut with Robert Altman's Nashville, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1977, her performance as Margo Sperling in The Late Show won her the Silver Bear for Best Actress and nominations for the Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for Best Actress. Her other notable films include All of Me (1984), Big Business (1988), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Tea with Mussolini (1999), I Heart Huckabees (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and Grandma (2015). Tomlin is known for her collaborations with Jane Fonda starring in the films 9 to 5 (1980), 80 for Brady (2023), and Moving On (2023). She also starred with Fonda on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, which ran from 2015 to 2022. She earned four Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nominations. From 2002 to 2006, she portrayed Deborah Fiderer on the Aaron Sorkin series The West Wing. She also voiced Ms. Frizzle for the children's animated series The Magic School Bus (1994–1997) and The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017–2020). Early life Tomlin was born in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Lillie Mae (née Ford; January 14, 1914 – July 12, 2005), a housewife and nurse's aide, and Guy Tomlin (March 3, 1913 – October 24, 1970), a factory worker. She has a younger brother named Richard Tomlin. Tomlin's parents were Southern Baptists who moved to Detroit from Paducah, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. Although she attended a Southern Baptist church as a child, she later grew to become irreligious. She is a 1957 graduate of Cass Technical High School. Tomlin attended Wayne State University and originally studied biology. She auditioned for a play, and it sparked her interest in a career in the theatre and she changed her major. After college, Tomlin began doing stand-up comedy in nightclubs in Detroit and later in New York City. She continued studying acting at the HB Studio. Career Tomlin's first television appearance was on The Merv Griffin Show in 1965. A year later, she became a cast member on the short-lived third and final incarnation of The Garry Moore Show Tomlin characters In 1969, after a stint as a hostess on the ABC series Music Scene, Tomlin joined NBC's sketch comedy show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Signed as a replacement for the departing Judy Carne, Tomlin was an instant success on the already established program, in which in addition to appearing in general sketches and delivering comic gags, she began appearing as the regular characters she created; they became well known and she portrayed them outside of the show in later recordings and television specials: Ernestine was a brash, tough and uncompromising telephone operator who generally treated customers with little sympathy. Ernestine often snorted when she let loose a barbed response or heard something salacious; she also wore her hair in a 1940s hairstyle with a hairnet, although the character was contemporary. Her opening lines were often the comical "one ringy dingy... two ringy dingy", and, "Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?" In the sketches, Ernestine was usually at her switchboard taking calls. She occasionally phoned her boyfriend, Vito, a telephone repair man, or her pal Phenicia, another operator. Tomlin reprised the role in 2016 for a TV ad as part of PETA's campaign against SeaWorld. Tomlin has also reprised the role on several episodes of Sesame Street. Edith Ann is a precocious five-and-a-half-year-old girl who waxes philosophical on everyday life, either about life as a kid or things for which she feels she has the answers, although she is too young to fully understand. She often ends her monologues with "And that's the truth", punctuating it with a noisy raspberry. Edith Ann sits in an oversized rocking chair (to make Tomlin seem child-sized) with her rag doll, Doris, and often talks of life at home with her battling parents and bullying older sister, Mary Jean (Lily Tomlin's given birth names). Edith Ann has an oversized, playfully aggressive dog named Buster and a boyfriend named Junior Phillips, a possibly unrequited love. (Only Edith Ann and "Doris" appear in the Edith Ann sketches.) Tomlin reprised the character for a series of sketches on Sesame Street in the 1970s, and voiced her in three prime-time cartoon specials in the 1990s (including Edith Ann: A Few Pieces of the Puzzle). Mrs. Judith Beasley is a housewife and mother from Calumet City, Illinois, who is often chosen for television commercials and offers "good consumer advice". She appears in the film The Incredible Shrinking Woman as the lead character's neighbor. Mrs. Earbore (The Tasteful Lady) is a somewhat prudish and prissy, conservatively dressed middle-aged apolitical woman who dispenses advice on gracious living and a life of elegance. Susie the Sorority Girl is a blonde collegiate who could be the Tasteful Lady's daughter. Humorless and melodramatic, her biggest worries are the likes of who took her missing album by The Carpenters. The Consumer Advocate Lady is a dour, austere woman who rigidly inspects and tests products for their alleged value. The Consumer Advocate Lady is something of a variation of Mrs. Beasley. Lucille the Rubber Freak is a woman addicted to eating rubber, whose monologue details her habit from its beginning (chewing the eraser on pencils) to her obsessive rock bottom (eating the tip off mother's cane). Tomlin performed this character as part of her Laugh-In audition. Tess/Trudy is a homeless bag lady who accosts theater-goers and various passers-by with her offbeat observations and tales of communications with extraterrestrials. ("They don't care if you believe in 'em or not—they're different from God.") Bobbi-Jeanine is a showbiz veteran of the lounge circuit where she sings and plays organ. She often dispenses advice. ("It's not called Show Art, it's S.... Discover the J R Tomlin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular J R Tomlin books.

Best Seller J R Tomlin Books of 2024

  • Trust and Treason synopsis, comments

    Trust and Treason

    J. R. Tomlin

    Since the Scots' horrific loss at the Battle of Neville's Cross, the powerful English hungrily eye Scotland. Archibald Douglas, a landless bastard and knight, will defend the kingd...

  • Noble Traitor synopsis, comments

    Noble Traitor

    J. R. Tomlin

    Scotland, 1306: Young Thomas Randolph joins Robert the Bruce in the fight for Scotland's freedom. After a disastrous loss in battle, Thomas is a prisoner and the Bruce has fled. On...

  • Murder at Saint Giles synopsis, comments

    Murder at Saint Giles

    J. R. Tomlin

    Sir Law Kintour is deeply suspicious of the apparent suicide of one of the King's subjects, particularly when it emerges that the dead man is suspected of murder. Assisted by his l...

  • A Time for War synopsis, comments

    A Time for War

    J. R. Tomlin

    The city of Berwick, stolen by the English, lies ripe for retaking.With the English King Edward away attempting to conquer France, Archie joins his cousin, the Lord of Douglas, in ...

  • Fate of Kings synopsis, comments

    Fate of Kings

    J. R. Tomlin

    After the great victory at the Battle of Bannockburn, the King of England barely escapes capture by Thomas Randolph, yet he continues his war to claim Scotland as his own. As King ...

  • The Douglas Bastard, A Historical Novel of Scotland synopsis, comments

    The Douglas Bastard, A Historical Novel of Scotland

    J. R. Tomlin

    Young Archibald, the Black Douglas's bastard son, eagerly returns home to fight for a Scotland ravaged by war.Archie is determined to learn the skills of a knight from the man he n...

  • The Noblest Knight synopsis, comments

    The Noblest Knight

    J. R. Tomlin

    Thomas Randolph, the Earl of Moray, rides with the King as they drive the last English invaders from Scotland, but Robert the Bruce is beginning to fail. His time is running perilo...