Christopher Guest

Last updated

Jamie Lee Curtis
(m. 1984)
The Lord Haden-Guest
Christopher Guest 2016.jpg
Guest in 2016
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer
8 April 1996 11 November 1999
Children2
Parent(s) Peter Haden-Guest, 4th Baron Haden-Guest (father)
Jean Pauline Hindes (mother)
Relatives Elissa Haden Guest (sister)
Nicholas Guest (brother)
Anthony Haden-Guest (half-brother)
Education Bard College
New York University (MFA)

Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born 5 February 1948), [1] known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy films shot in mockumentary style. He wrote and acted in the rock satire This Is Spinal Tap (1984), and later directed a string of satirical mockumentary films such as Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). His acting credits include roles in Death Wish (1974), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), The Princess Bride (1987) and A Few Good Men (1992). For one season (1984-85), he was a regular cast member on the long running NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live .

Contents

Guest holds a hereditary British peerage as the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, but has publicly expressed a desire to see the House of Lords reformed as a democratically elected chamber. [2] Though he was initially active in the Lords, his career there was cut short by the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the right of most hereditary peers to a seat in the parliament. When using his title, he is normally styled as Lord Haden-Guest. Guest is married to the actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who is styled as The Right Honourable the Lady Haden-Guest; however, she opts not to use her title.

Early life

Guest was born 5 February 1948 [3] in New York City, the son of Peter Haden-Guest, a British United Nations diplomat who later became the 4th Baron Haden-Guest, and his second wife, the former Jean Pauline Hindes, an American former vice president of casting at CBS. [4] Guest's paternal grandfather, Leslie, Baron Haden-Guest, was a Labour Party politician, who was a convert to Judaism. Guest's paternal grandmother, a descendant of the Dutch Jewish Goldsmid family, was the daughter of Colonel Albert Goldsmid, a British officer who founded the Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade and the Maccabaeans. [5] [6] Guest's maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Russia. [4] Both of Guest's parents had become atheists, and Guest himself had no religious upbringing. [6] In 1938, his uncle, David Guest, a lecturer and Communist Party member, was killed in the Spanish Civil War, fighting in the International Brigades.

Guest spent parts of his childhood in his father's native United Kingdom. He attended the High School of Music & Art (New York City), studying classical music (clarinet) at the Stockbridge School in the village of Interlaken in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He later took up the mandolin, became interested in country music, and played guitar with Arlo Guthrie, a fellow student at Stockbridge School. [7] Guest later began performing with bluegrass bands until he took up rock and roll. [8] Guest went to Bard College for a year [6] and then studied acting at New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, graduating in 1971. [9]

Career

1970s

Guest began his career in theatre during the early 1970s with one of his earliest professional performances being the role of Norman in Michael Weller's Moonchildren for the play's American premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC, in November 1971. Guest continued with the production when it moved to Broadway in 1972. The following year, he began making contributions to The National Lampoon Radio Hour for a variety of National Lampoon audio recordings. He both performed comic characters (Flash Bazbo—Space Explorer, Mr. Rogers, music critic Roger de Swans, and sleazy record company rep Ron Fields) and wrote, arranged, and performed numerous musical parodies (of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and others). He was featured alongside Chevy Chase and John Belushi in the off-Broadway revue National Lampoon's Lemmings . Two of his earliest film roles were small parts as uniformed police officers in the 1972 film The Hot Rock and 1974's Death Wish .

Guest played a small role in the 1977 All in the Family episode "Mike and Gloria Meet", where in a flashback sequence Mike and Gloria recall their first blind date, set up by Michael's college buddy Jim (Guest), who dated Gloria's girlfriend Debbie (Priscilla Lopez).

Guest also had a small but important role in it Happened One Christmas, the 1977 gender-reversed TV remake of the Frank Capra classic it's a Wonderful Life, starring Marlo Thomas as Mary Bailey (the Jimmy Stewart role), with Cloris Leachman as Mary's guardian angel and Orson Welles as the villainous Mr. Potter. Guest played Mary's brother Harry, who returned from the Army in the final scene, speaking one of the last lines of the film: "A toast! To my big sister Mary, the richest person in town!"

1980s

Guest's biggest role of the first two decades of his career is likely that of Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 Rob Reiner film This Is Spinal Tap . Guest made his first appearance as Tufnel on the 1978 sketch comedy program The TV Show.

Along with Martin Short, Billy Crystal, and Harry Shearer, Guest was hired as a one-year-only cast member for the 1984–1985 season on NBC's Saturday Night Live . [10] Recurring characters on SNL played by Guest include Frankie, of Willie and Frankie (coworkers who recount in detail physically painful situations in which they have found themselves, remarking laconically "I hate when that happens"); Herb Minkman, a novelty toymaker with his brother Al (played by Crystal); Rajeev Vindaloo, an eccentric foreign man in the same vein as Andy Kaufman's Latka character from Taxi ; and Señor Cosa, a Spanish ventriloquist often seen on the recurring spoof of The Joe Franklin Show . He also experimented behind the camera with pre-filmed sketches, notably directing a documentary-style short starring Shearer and Short as synchronized swimmers. In another short film from SNL, Guest and Crystal appear in blackface as retired Negro league baseball players, "The Rooster and the King".

He appeared as Count Rugen (the "six-fingered man") in The Princess Bride . He had a cameo role as the first customer, a pedestrian, in the 1986 musical remake of The Little Shop of Horrors . As a co-writer and director, Guest made the Hollywood satire The Big Picture .

Upon his father succeeding to the family peerage in 1987, he was known as "the Hon. Christopher Haden-Guest". This was his official style and name until he inherited the barony in 1996.

1990–present

The experience of making This is Spinal Tap directly informed the second phase of his career. Starting in 1996, Guest began writing, directing, and acting in his own series of substantially improvised films. Many of them are considered definitive examples of what came to be known as "mockumentaries"—not a term Guest appreciates. [11]

Together, Guest, his frequent writing partner Eugene Levy, and a small band of actors have formed a loose repertory group, which appears in several films. These include Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Jane Lynch, John Michael Higgins, Harry Shearer, Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Begley Jr., Jim Piddock and Fred Willard. Guest and Levy write backgrounds for each of the characters and notecards for each specific scene, outlining the plot, and then leave it up to the actors to improvise the dialogue, which is supposed to result in a much more natural conversation than scripted dialogue would. Typically, everyone who appears in these movies receives the same fee and the same portion of profits. [12] Among the films performed in this manner, which have been written and directed by Guest, include Waiting for Guffman (1996), about a community theatre group, Best in Show (2000), about the dog show circuit, A Mighty Wind (2003), about folk singers, For Your Consideration (2006), about the hype surrounding Oscar season, and Mascots (2016), about a sports team mascot competition.

Guest had a guest voice-over role in the animated comedy series SpongeBob SquarePants as SpongeBob's cousin, Stanley.

Guest again collaborated with Reiner in A Few Good Men (1992), appearing as Dr. Stone. In the 2000s, Guest appeared in the 2005 biographical musical Mrs Henderson Presents and in the 2009 comedy The Invention of Lying .

He is also currently a member of the musical group The Beyman Bros, which he formed with childhood friend David Nichtern and Spinal Tap's current keyboardist C. J. Vanston. Their debut album Memories of Summer as a Child was released on January 20, 2009. [13]

In 2010, the United States Census Bureau paid $2.5 million to have a television commercial [14] directed by Guest shown during television coverage of Super Bowl XLIV. [15]

Guest holds an honorary doctorate from and is a member of the board of trustees for Berklee College of Music in Boston. [16]

In 2013, Guest was the co-writer and producer of the HBO series Family Tree, in collaboration with Jim Piddock, a lighthearted story in the style he made famous in This is Spinal Tap, in which the main character, Tom Chadwick, inherits a box of curios from his great aunt, spurring interest in his ancestry. [17]

On August 11, 2015, Netflix announced that Mascots , a film directed by Guest and co-written with Jim Piddock, about the competition for the World Mascot Association championship's Gold Fluffy Award, would debut in 2016. [18]

Guest replayed his role as Count Tyrone Rugen in the Princess Bride Reunion on September 13, 2020. [19]

Family

Coat of arms - Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex Coat of Arms - Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex.png
Coat of arms – Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex

Guest became the 5th Baron Haden-Guest, of Great Saling, in the County of Essex, when his father died in 1996. He succeeded upon the ineligibility of his older half-brother, Anthony Haden-Guest, who was born before his parents married. According to a 2004 article in The Guardian , Guest attended the House of Lords regularly until the House of Lords Act 1999 barred most hereditary peers from their seats. In the article Guest remarked: [2]

"There's no question that the old system was unfair. I mean, why should you be born to this? But now it's all just sheer cronyism. The prime minister can put in whoever he wants and bus them in to vote. The Upper House should be an elected body, it's that simple."

Guest married actress Jamie Lee Curtis in 1984 at the home of their mutual friend Rob Reiner. They have two daughters, through adoption. Guest was played by Seth Green in the film A Futile and Stupid Gesture. [20]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleActorScreenwriterDirectorProducerRoleNotes
1971 The Hospital YesNoNoNoResidentUncredited
1972 The Hot Rock YesNoNoNoPoliceman
1973 National Lampoon Lemmings YesYesNoNoMusical arranger
1974 Death Wish YesNoNoNoPatrolman Jackson Reilly
1975 The Fortune YesNoNoNoBoy Lover
Tarzoon: Shame of the Jungle YesNoNoNoChief M'Bulu / Short /
Nurse
Voice only
1978 Girlfriends YesNoNoNoEric
1979 The Last Word YesNoNoNoRoger
1980 The Long Riders YesNoNoNoCharley Ford
The Missing Link YesNoNoNoNo LobesEnglish version; voice
1981 Heartbeeps YesNoNoNoCalvin
Likely Stories, Vol. 1 YesYesYesNoAll roles (segment "Dead Ringer")
1983 Likely Stories, Vol. 3 YesYesNoNoFrankie (segment "Split Decision")
1984 This Is Spinal Tap YesYesNoNo Nigel Tufnel Composer, musician
1985Martin Short: Concert for the
North Americas
YesNoNoNoRajiv Vindaloo
1986 Little Shop of Horrors YesNoNoNoThe First Customer
1987 Beyond Therapy YesNoNoNoBob
The Princess Bride YesNoNoNoCount Tyrone Rugen,
the six-fingered man
1988 Sticky Fingers YesNoNoNoSam
1989 The Big Picture NoYesYesNo
1992 A Few Good Men YesNoNoNoDr. Stone
1994 The Return of Spinal Tap YesNoNoNoNigel Tufnel
1996 Waiting for Guffman YesYesYesNoCorky St. Clair
1998 Almost Heroes NoNoYesNo
Small Soldiers YesNoNoNoSlamfist/Scratch-ItVoices
2000 Best in Show YesYesYesNoHarlan Pepper
2003 A Mighty Wind YesYesYesNoAlan Barrows
2005 Mrs Henderson Presents YesNoNoNo Lord Cromer
2006 For Your Consideration YesYesYesNoJay Berman
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian YesNoNoNo Ivan the Terrible
The Invention of Lying YesNoNoNoNathan Goldfrappe
2012Her Master's VoiceNoNoNoYes
2016 Mascots YesYesYesNoCorky St. Clair
TBA Spinal Tap II YesYesNoNo Nigel Tufnel Filming

Television

YearTitleActorScreenwriterDirectorProducerRoleNotes
1975 Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell NoYesNoNoVariety series
The Lily Tomlin Special NoYesNoNoTV special
1976 The Billion Dollar Bubble YesNoNoNoAl GreenTV film
TVTV Looks at the Oscars NoYesNoNoTV special
TVTV: Super Bowl NoYesNoNo
The TVTV ShowYesYesNoNoVarious
1977 It Happened One Christmas YesNoNoNoHarry BaileyTV film
The Andros Targets YesNoNoNoGordon HamiltonEpisode: "A Currency for Murder"
All in the Family YesNoNoNoJimEpisode: "Mike and Gloria Meet"
1978 Laverne & Shirley YesNoNoNoGreg HarrisEpisode: "Bus Stop"
Peeping Times NoYesNoNoTelevision special
1979 Blind Ambition YesNoNoNo Jeb Stuart Magruder Miniseries
The Chevy Chase National Humor Test YesYesNoNoVariousTelevision special
1980 Haywire YesNoNoNoThe T.V. DirectorTelevision film
1982 Million Dollar Infield YesNoNoNoBucky Frische
A Piano for Mrs. Cimino YesNoNoNoPhilip Ryan
St. Elsewhere YesNoNoNoH.J. Cummings2 episodes
1984–85 Saturday Night Live YesYesNoNoVarious19 episodes
1986 Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends NoYesNoNoEpisode: "Johnny Appleseed"
1989 Trying Times NoNoYesNoEpisode: "The Sad Professor"
Billy Crystal: Midnight Train to
Moscow
YesNoNoNoThe VoiceStand-up special
I, Martin Short, Goes HollywoodYesNoNoNoAntoninus DiMentabella
1991 Morton & Hayes YesYesYesYesEl Supremo / Crooner /
Dr. Von Astor
Directed 5 episodes;
acted 3 episodes;
composed theme music
Amnesty International's Big 3-0 YesNoNoNoNigel TufnelTelevision special
1992 The Simpsons YesNoNoNoNigel TufnelEpisode: "The Otto Show"
Voice
1993 Animaniacs YesNoNoNoUmlattEpisode: "King Yakko"
Voice
Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman NoNoYesNoTelevision film; composer
1999 Dilbert YesNoNoNoThe DupeyEpisode: "The Dupey"
Voice
2003 MADtv YesNoNoNoNigel TufnelEpisode: season 8, episode 21
2007, 2021 SpongeBob SquarePants YesNoNoNo Stanley S. SquarePants / Clem Clam 2 episodes: "Stanley S. SquarePants", "Goofy Scoopers"
Voice
2009Stonehenge: 'Tis a Magic PlaceYesNoNoNoNigel Tufnel3 episodes
2012 84th Academy Awards YesNoYesNoFocus Group MemberDirected focus group segment
2013 Family Tree YesYesYesYesDave Chadwick /
Phineas Chadwick
8 episodes; also co-creator
composed credits theme

Recurring cast members

Guest has worked multiple times with certain actors, notably with frequent writing partner Eugene Levy, who has appeared in five of his projects. Other repeat collaborators of Guest include Fred Willard (7 projects); Michael McKean, Bob Balaban, and Ed Begley Jr. (6 projects each); Paul Benedict, Parker Posey, Jim Piddock, Michael Hitchcock and Harry Shearer (5 projects each); Catherine O'Hara, Larry Miller, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, and Jennifer Coolidge (4 projects each); Fran Drescher and Rob Reiner (3 projects each)

Work
Actor
This Is Spinal Tap The Big Picture Morton & Hayes Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman Waiting for Guffman Almost Heroes Best in Show A Mighty Wind For Your Consideration Family Tree Mascots Spinal Tap II
Bob Balaban Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Ed Begley Jr. Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Paul Benedict Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Jennifer Coolidge Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Fran Drescher Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Christopher GuestCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
John Michael Higgins Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Michael Hitchcock Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Eugene Levy Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Jane Lynch Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Michael McKean Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Larry Miller Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Catherine O'Hara Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Jim Piddock Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Parker Posey Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Rob Reiner Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Harry Shearer Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg
Fred Willard Check-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svgCheck-green.svg

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult [21]
1976 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Special Ann Elder
Shared with Earl Pomerantz, Jim Rusk, Lily Tomlin, Rod Warren, George Yanok
The Lily Tomlin Special Won
1995 International Fantasy Film Award Best Film Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman Nominated
1998 Independent Spirit Award Best Male Lead Waiting for Guffman Nominated
Best Screenplay
Shared with Eugene Levy
Nominated
Lone Star Film & Television AwardBest DirectorWon
2001 DVD Exclusive Award Best DVD Audio Commentary This Is Spinal Tap Won
American Comedy Award Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Best in Show Nominated
Golden Satellite Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or MusicalNominated
Independent Spirit Award Best DirectorNominated
Writers Guild of America Award Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Shared with Eugene Levy
Nominated
2003Seattle Film Critics AwardBest Music
Shared with John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Michael McKean, Catherine O'Hara, Annette O'Toole, Harry Shearer, Jeffrey C. J. Vanston
A Mighty Wind Won
2004 Grammy Award Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
Shared with Eugene Levy, Michael McKean [22]
A Mighty Wind Won

Notes

References

  1. "Join Ancestry®". Ancestry.com .
  2. 1 2 Richard Grant (January 9, 2004). "Nowt so queer as folk". The Guardian Weekend . Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  3. Rubinstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; Rubinstein, Hilary L., eds. (2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 386. ISBN   9780230304666.
  4. 1 2 Witchel, Alex (November 12, 2006). "The Shape-Shifter". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
  5. Murray, William Henry (1952). Adam and Cain: Symposium of Old Bible History, Sumerian Empire, Importance of Blood of Race, Juggling Juggernaut of the Leaders of the Jews, the Gothic Civilization of Adam and the Ten Commandments of His Church. Murray.
  6. 1 2 3 Rosen, Steven (November 16, 2006). "Want to spoof Purim and the Oscars? Be our Guest!". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. 21 (39). Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2006.
  7. Richard Grant (January 10, 2004). "Nowt so queer as folk". The Guardian Weekend . Archived from the original on December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  8. Gross, Terry (September 14, 1989). "Christopher Guest Plays with Parody". Fresh Air, WHYY . Philadelphia: NPR. Archived from the original on April 24, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  9. "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. Archived from the original on July 5, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  10. Wezerek, Gus (December 14, 2019). "The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out" . The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019. Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
  11. Hogan, Michael (March 5, 2023). "Eugene Levy: 'The eyebrows didn't hinder or help my career, I don't think'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved June 10, 2024.
  12. Rose, Charlie (May 12, 2003). "A conversation with director Christopher Guest". Charlie Rose LLC. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  13. Moon, Tom (February 2, 2009). "Beyman Bros: The Thinking Person's Americana". All Things Considered. NPR. Archived from the original on April 23, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  14. "U.S. Census Bureau - Preproduction Location Video from Ad Age". Ad Age. February 7, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  15. "Taxpayers to Fork Out $2.5 Million for Single Census Ad During Super Bowl". Fox News. February 3, 2010. Archived from the original on October 5, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  16. Shanahan, Mark (October 18, 2011). "Christopher Guest parties for Berklee". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  17. Rampton, James (July 9, 2013). "Christopher Guest: From Spinal Tap to Family Tree". The Independent. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  18. McNary, Dave (August 11, 2015). "Netflix Acquires Christopher Guest's Mascots Mockumentary". Variety. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  19. Ehrlich, Brenna (September 14, 2020). "'The Princess Bride' Cast Reunite for Hilarious Table Read". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  20. "A Futile and Stupid Gesture". IMDb .
  21. "Christopher Guest – Awards". IMDb. Archived from the original on March 23, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  22. "46th Annual GRAMMY Awards". GRAMMY.com. January 15, 2013. Archived from the original on June 24, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
Media offices
Preceded by "Weekend Update" anchor
1984–1985
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Haden-Guest
1996–present
Member of the House of Lords
(1996–1999)
Incumbent
Heir presumptive:
Hon. Nicholas Haden-Guest