Line #69 Creator/RickMoranis


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rick_moranis_today.jpg]]
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3	->''"I always find it flattering when somebody recognizes me."''
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5	Frederick Alan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) was born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario. As a boy, he spent his summers at Camp New Moon, located in Baysville, Ontario, north of his native Toronto. During his last summer as a camper, Moranis achieved his Master Canoeist's award, qualifying him to teach canoeing.
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7	In the 1970s, he worked (using the stage name Rick Allen) as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Toronto, including CFTR, CKFH, and CHUM-FM. Together with Ken Finkleman, he tried his hand at stand-up and did some comedy for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He followed that with his work at ''Series/{{SCTV}}'', enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug [=McKenzie=]. Doug was played by Canadian actor Dave Thomas. His other memorable ''SCTV'' characterizations include motor-mouthed film producer Larry Siegel, terminally-ill rock star Clay Collins, smooth-voiced video deejay Gerry Todd, cool Leutonian pop star Linsk Minyk, kid-brother amateur comic Skip Bittman, head cheese butcher Carl Scutz, and morning homily intellect Rabbi Karlov.
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9	After ''SCTV'' and its Creator/{{NBC}} continuation, ''SCTV Network 90'', Rick ended up in a bunch of movies throughout the '80s and for over half of the '90s. During his career, he got married to an artist named Ann, and they had two kids, Rachel and Mitchell. In late 1990, Ann was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, prompting Rick to decline the offer of doing ''Film/CitySlickers'' in order to nurse her back to health. Sadly, she died 5 months later.
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11	By 1997, he had become sick of the lackluster roles he was then taking, which were making him, in his own words, "a marketable entity," and was struggling with the impossible task of being a full-time actor and full-time single father, convincing him to semi-retire from acting. Since then, he's contributed the occasional witty article for ''The New York Times'' and voice-over for animated films.
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13	In 2005, Rick also released a comedy album entitled ''The Agoraphobic Cowboy'', which draws influence from country music. To his and everyone else's surprise, it was nominated for a UsefulNotes/GrammyAward. 8 years later in 2013, Rick made a comeback with ''My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs'', an album based around his Jewish heritage. [[{{Feelies}} Special orders of the CD came with a purple yarmulke]], similar to what Rick wore on the album cover.
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15	In 2020, [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/rick-moranis-returning-honey-i-shrunk-kids-reboot-1279000 it was announced]] that Rick is coming out of retirement after 24 years and 14 years after his last film (''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear2'') for a reboot of ''Honey, I Shrunk The Kids''. In September 2020, he appeared in [[https://youtu.be/SfpUM5Wrh2A a commercial]] for American mobile virtual network operator Mint Mobile alongside fellow Canadian actor Creator/RyanReynolds (who owns that company).
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17	Some information can be found [[http://www.rickmoranisfanpage.com/moranis.html here]].
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19	!!Films and shows (pre-hiatus):
20	* ''Series/{{SCTV}}'' (1976)[[note]]Joined the cast in 1980.[[/note]]
21	* ''Film/StrangeBrew'' (1983)[[note]]Movie debut[[/note]] - Bob [=McKenzie=]
22	* ''[[Film/StreetsOfFire Streets of Fire: A Rock and Roll Fable]]'' (1984)[[note]]One of his more memorable performances, if for no other reason as he utterly subverts his own stereotype as a pencil-necked geek. He, however, [[CreatorBacklash didn't like the role]] because he was banned from ad-libbing by director Creator/WalterHill.[[/note]] - Billy Fish
23	* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}'' (1984)[[note]]His most famous project, though he plays only a supporting role.[[/note]] - Louis Tully
24	* ''Film/HeadOffice'' (1985) - [[note]]As an {{Expy}} of SCTV's Larry Siegel, who dies after 3 minutes of screentime.[[/note]] - Howard Gross
25	* ''Film/ClubParadise'' (1986) - Barry Nye
26	* ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'' (1986)[[note]]Out of all the movies he did, he says it was his favorite, and for good reason.[[/note]] - Seymour Krelborn
27	* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' (1987) - Lord Dark Helmet
28	* ''Film/GhostbustersII'' (1989) - Louis Tully
29	* ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids'' (1989)[[note]]Arguably his biggest role, the first time he received top billing, and the first time he was BilledAboveTheTitle.[[/note]] - Wayne Szalinski
30	* ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'' (1989) - Nathan Huffner
31	* ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'' (1990) - Barney Coopersmith
32	* ''WesternAnimation/GravedaleHigh'' (1990)[[note]]Short-lived cartoon series on Creator/{{NBC}}.[[/note]]
33	* ''Film/HoneyIBlewUpTheKid'' (1992) - Wayne Szalinski
34	* ''Film/SplittingHeirs'' (1993) - Henry Bullock
35	* ''Film/TheFlintstones'' (1994) - Barney Rubble
36	* ''[[Film/HoneyIShrunkTheAudience Honey, I Shrunk the Audience]]'' (1994)[[note]]4D film spin-off of ''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' shown at Ride/DisneyThemeParks until 2010, when it was replaced by the very film it replaced, ''Film/CaptainEO''.[[/note]] - Wayne Szalinski
37	* ''Film/LittleGiants'' (1994) - Danny O'Shea
38	* ''Film/BigBully'' (1995) - David Leary
39	* ''Film/HoneyWeShrunkOurselves'' (1997)[[note]]Final live action feature to date.[[/note]] - Wayne Szalinski
40	!!Films and shows (post-hiatus):
41	* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer [[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeerAndTheIslandOfMisfitToys And The Island Of Misfit Toys]]'' (2001) - The Toy Taker / Mr. Cuddles (voice)
42	* ''[[WesternAnimation/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriends Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids]]'' (2003) - Holley (voice)
43	* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' (2003) - Rutt (voice)
44	* ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear2'' (2006) - Rutt (voice)
45	* ''Series/TheGoldbergs'' (2018)[[note]]Reprised the role of Dark Helmet for a voice-only cameo.[[/note]]
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47	!!Albums:
48	* ''The Great White North'' (1982; alongside Dave Thomas)
49	* ''You, Me, The Music and Me'' (1989)
50	* ''The Agoraphobic Cowboy'' (2005)
51	* ''My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs'' (2013)
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53	* BeamMeUpScotty: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnLzz_hxzxo Partially due to James Rolfe]], Rick is believed to have said, "It just makes no sense to me", in regards to there being a ''Ghostbusters'' remake. While Rick did say those words, the statement [[ItMakesSenseInContext was taken out of context]]. What he meant was that ''doing a cameo'' didn't make sense, because it would have been nothing more than an in-joke, and thus, pointless.
54	-->[[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/rick-moranis-reveals-why-he-829779 "I wish them well. I hope it's terrific. But it just makes no sense to me. Why would I do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago?"]]
55	* CreatorBacklash: He hated filming ''Streets of Fire'', as director Creator/WalterHill forbade him from improvising, and hated the final product even more as a result.
56	* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Many of his most celebrated roles involve considerable improvisation on his part, and one of the reasons he left Hollywood is because he was increasingly being offered roles which required him to stick to the scripts he was given, most of which he found decidedly sub-par.
57	** ''The Great White North'' on ''SCTV'' was entirely unscripted.
58	** Much of his dialogue on ''Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}'' was ad-libbed.
59	** Creator/MelBrooks gave him free rein to improvise on ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', and one of the film's most beloved scenes (Dark Helmet playing with his dolls) was entirely unscripted.
60	** He was allowed to improvise in his scenes with the twin boys who played his character's son Adam on ''Film/HoneyIBlewUpTheKid'', as toddlers don't take direction well and the filmmakers needed his help to get usable takes out of them.
61	** One of his conditions for coming out of retirement to do ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' is that he and Thomas be allowed to improvise all their scenes, which they did.
62	* ReclusiveArtist: He famously disappeared from acting in the late '90s to become a full-time single father, refusing most any role offered to him, including vocally reprising Louis in ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame''. As mentioned above, he's only willing to spend time away from his family if the role is good enough, as most of the movies he made in the '90s only used him for his recognition and not for the talents; he was getting fewer and fewer opportunities to show off.
63	* StarMakingRole: Made it big on ''SCTV'' with characters such as Bob [=McKenzie=] and Gerry Todd. And as for the big screen, it's his role as Louis in ''Ghostbusters''.
64	* ThoseTwoActors: Moranis frequently appeared in multiple projects with the same small group of collaborators.
65	** He and his fellow [=McKenzie=] brother, Dave Thomas, shared the screen not only in ''SCTV'' and ''Film/StrangeBrew'', but also ''WesternAnimation/BrotherBear'' and its DTV sequel. These latter films are among the ''very'' few projects he's worked on since retiring.
66	** He also appeared with another ''SCTV'' co-star, Creator/JohnCandy, in ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'', and ''Film/BrewstersMillions1985''.
67	** He and Creator/SteveMartin worked on four films together: ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'', ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'', ''Film/MyBlueHeaven'', and ''Film/LAStory''. Their partnership was so successful that Moranis has (jokingly) said he would come out of retirement if Martin ever wanted to make another movie with him.
68	* TypeCasting: [[http://rickmoranisfanpage.com/Articles/underglass.html His characters range between nerds, sleazes, weasels, geeks, and goofs]]. Keep in mind that the roles are more versatile than you think (in ''Streets of Fire'', for example, he got to play a nerdy JerkWithAHeartOfGold badass).

Context Creator / RickMoranis