Jane Wagner | |
|---|---|
 Wagner in 2011 | |
| Born | February 26, 1936 Morristown, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Screenwriter, director, producer |
| Spouse | |
| Awards | Writing in a Comedy Series 1974 Lily |
Jane Wagner (born February 26, 1935) is an American writer, director and producer. She is Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, collaborator, and wife. [1] [2] [3]
Wagner was born and raised in Morristown, Tennessee, where she developed an interest in writing. She attended Morristown High School, where she wrote for the school newspaper. At 17, she moved from East Tennessee to New York City, where she studied painting and sculpture at the School of Visual Arts and pursued an acting career. [4]
Early in her life , she toured with the Barter Theatre of Abingdon, Virginia, and later became a designer for such firms as Kimberly-Clark and Fieldcrest. [5]
She made her writing debut with the CBS afternoon special J.T. (1969), for which she won the Peabody Award — and drew the attention of Tomlin, who was looking for someone to help develop the Laugh-In character Edith Ann. It was the beginning of a collaboration that continues to this day. [6]
Wagner has been nominated for Grammy Awards, with Tomlin, for the comic's recorded albums and has won three Emmy Awards and a Writers Guild of America award, also with Tomlin, for the comic's television specials. [7] [8]
She wrote and directed Moment by Moment , starring Tomlin and John Travolta, and wrote The Incredible Shrinking Woman, which starred Tomlin. [9] [10]
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe won Wagner a Special Award from the New York Drama Critics' Circle and a New York Drama Desk Award. The film adaptation of the play brought Wagner a Cable ACE Award. [11]
Wagner won a second Peabody for the ABC special, Edith Ann's Christmas: Just Say Noel (1996). [12]
Since its launch in 2008, Wagner has been a contributor to wowOwow.com, a website for women to discuss culture, politics and gossip. [13]
Annie Award
1997: nominated – Best Individual Achievement: Writing in a TV Production – Edith Ann's Christmas: Just Say Noel [14]
Drama Desk Award
2001: nominated – Outstanding Revival of a Play – The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [15]
1986: won – Unique Theatrical Experience – The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [15]
Emmy Award
1993: nominated – Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special – The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [16]
1981: won – Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program – Lily: Sold Out [16]
1981: nominated – Outstanding Writing in a Variety, Music or Comedy Program – Lily: Sold Out [16]
1976: won – Outstanding Writing in a Comedy-Variety or Music Special – The Lily Tomlin Special [16]
1976: nominated – Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special – The Lily Tomlin Special [16]
1974: won – Outstanding Writing in Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music – Lily [16]
Peabody Award
1996: won – Edith Ann's Christmas: Just Say Noel [17]
1970: won – J.T. [18]
Tony Award
2001: nominated – Best Revival of a Play – The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [15]
2020: won – Lambda Literary Visionary prize [6]
Wagner met her future wife, writer Lily Tomlin, in March 1971. After watching the after-school TV special J.T. written by Wagner, Tomlin invited Wagner to Los Angeles to collaborate on Tomlin's comedy LP album And That's The Truth. [19] On December 31, 2013, Wagner and Tomlin married in a private ceremony in Los Angeles after 42 years together. [20] [21]
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In was an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin. It originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States.
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. Tomlin started her career in stand-up comedy and sketch comedy before transitioning her career as an actress on stage and 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.
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Mike Birbiglia is an American stand-up comedian, actor, storyteller, director, producer and writer. He is a frequent contributor to This American Life and The Moth, and has released several comedy albums and television specials. His feature-length directorial debut Sleepwalk with Me (2012), based on his one-man show of the same name and in which he also starred, won awards at the Sundance and Nantucket film festivals. He also wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy-drama Don't Think Twice (2016). His 2010 book Sleepwalk with Me and Other Painfully True Stories was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2011 Thurber Prize for American Humor. Birbiglia has appeared in films such as Your Sister's Sister (2011), Cedar Rapids (2011), and Trainwreck (2015), played a recurring role in Orange Is the New Black, Billions and has guest starred in episodes of Girls, Inside Amy Schumer, and Broad City. He also replaced Jimmy Kimmel on his talk show for a week, as Kimmel caught COVID-19.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Jane Wagner and starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover, and Elizabeth Wilson. This film parodies the 1957 science-fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man, and credited as based on Richard Matheson's 1956 novel, The Shrinking Man. The original music score was composed by Suzanne Ciani.
Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's The Practice (1998–2003) and she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her portrayal of Evelyn Harper on the CBS comedy Two and a Half Men (2003–15).
Kate Flannery is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series The Office, which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. She went on to guest star on CBS shows Magnum PI and Young Sheldon. She competed on the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars and voiced Barb on the animated series Steven Universe.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985) is a one-woman stage show written by Jane Wagner. The original Broadway production starred Lily Tomlin, won the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and was turned into a film in 1991.
Edith Ann: A Few Pieces of the Puzzle is a 1994 animated television special created by Lily Tomlin. It was produced by Klasky Csupo. The main character, Edith Ann, was created by Tomlin for the 1968 sketch comedy show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. The special aired on January 18, 1994 on ABC.
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Neil Peter Jampolis was a light designer, set designer, and stage director. He was best known for the light designing he did for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s 1975 production of Sherlock Holmes for which he won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. Jampolis went on to win an American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award in 1982 and three more Tony Award nominations for The Innocents, Black and Blue, and Orpheus Descending. He also won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for lighting Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner's Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Jampolis had also worked as either a light designer, set designer, or stage director with Pilobolus Dance Theatre the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Pacific, the New York City Opera, Pasadena Playhouse, and Hollywood's Matrix Theatre among others. He was most recently one of the main light designers for the Seattle Opera and a distinguished professor of theatre at UCLA's School of Theatre, Film, and Television. He also occasionally worked as a stage director and set designer for Seattle Opera.
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The following is a complete Jane Fonda filmography. An American actress, writer and former fashion model and fitness guru, Fonda has won two Academy Awards, for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978).
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