Rick Moranis
Moranis in March 1990
Born
Frederick Allan Moranis

(1953-04-18) April 18, 1953
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • musician
  • songwriter
  • writer
  • producer
Years active1976–present
Spouse
Ann Belsky
​
​
(m. 1986; died 1991)​
Children2

Frederick Allan Moranis (/məˈrænɪs/; born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, writer, and producer.

Moranis appeared in the sketch comedy series Second City Television (SCTV) in the 1980s and several Hollywood films, including Strange Brew (1983), Streets of Fire (1984), Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Spaceballs (1987), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989, and its 1992 and 1997 sequels), Parenthood (1989), My Blue Heaven (1990), and The Flintstones (1994).

In 1997, Moranis began a long break from acting to dedicate his time to his two children as a widower.[1] He has not appeared in a live-action film for over 25 years, although he provided voice-over work for a few animated films, including Disney's Brother Bear (2003). He also released comedy albums and made appearances at fan conventions.

In 2020, after a hiatus of nearly 23 years from live-action films, Moranis signed to appear in a new sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, called Shrunk.

Early life

Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a Jewish family.[2] He went to elementary school with Geddy Lee, frontman of the rock band Rush.[3][4]

Career

His career as an entertainer began as a radio disc jockey in the mid-1970s, using the on-air name "Rick Allan" at three Toronto radio stations.[3]

In the mid-1970s, Moranis and comedy partner Rob Cowan, also a budding young radio announcer, performed on CBC-TV. Their spoof of Hockey Night in Canada was popular, and they periodically performed it on the road, including a charity sports dinner in Sarnia, Ontario.

In 1977, he teamed up with Winnipeg-born writer/director and performer Ken Finkleman on a series of live performances on CBC's 90 Minutes Live; comedy radio specials; and television comedy pilots, including one called Midweek and another called 1980 (produced at CBC Toronto in 1979). Both pilots starred Finkleman and Moranis in a series of irreverent sketches, including an early mockumentary sketch featuring Moranis as a Canadian movie producer, and another featuring the dubbed-in voiceovers of Nazi war criminals as they appear to be discussing their Hollywood agents and the money one can earn being interviewed on major documentary series like The World at War.

In 1980, Moranis was persuaded to join the third-season cast of Second City Television (SCTV) by friend and SCTV writer/performer Dave Thomas.[5] At the time, Moranis was the only cast member not to have come from a Second City stage troupe. He is known for such impressions as Woody Allen, George Carlin, Merv Griffin, and David Brinkley.

With SCTV moving to CBC in 1980 (and syndicated in the United States), Moranis and Thomas were challenged to fill two additional minutes with "identifiable Canadian content", and created a sketch called The Great White North featuring the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, a couple of Canadian buffoons. By the time NBC ordered 90-minute programs for the U.S. in 1981 (the fourth season of SCTV overall), there had been such favourable feedback from affiliates on the McKenzies that the network requested the duo have a sketch in every show.[6]

Bob and Doug became a pop-culture phenomenon, which led to a top-selling and Grammy-nominated album, Great White North,[7] and the 1983 movie Strange Brew, Moranis's first major film role.

Another notable Moranis character on SCTV was Gerry Todd, a disc jockey who presented music clips on television. The sketch aired before the debut of MTV in the United States, leading both Sound & Vision and Martin Short to dub Moranis as the creator of the video jockey. "There had been no such thing" up until that point, recalled Short, so "the joke was that there would be such a thing."[8][9]

Feature films

The handprints of Rick Moranis in front of the Chinese Theatre at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World

After his SCTV work and the Strange Brew movie, Moranis had a busy career in feature films that lasted over a decade, most notably Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of Horrors; and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequels. He also did the voice-over for a short-lived cartoon series on NBC called Gravedale High (1990).

Moranis was also slated to appear (as the janitor) in the 1985 John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. After a week or so of filming,[10] Moranis was released by producer Ned Tanen because he felt Moranis' interpretation of the role as an over-the-top Russian caricature was not appropriate for the serious nature of the film.[11] Moranis presented the departure as a mutual decision and hoped to work with Hughes in the future.[12]

Moranis was originally cast as Phil Berquist in the 1991 film City Slickers, but later dropped out due to his wife's illness.[13]

Moranis's last film roles were Barney Rubble in The Flintstones (1994) and the box-office flop Big Bully (1996). Other than the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequels, by the mid-1990s his only appearance in that genre was a 1993 music video, "Tomorrow's Girls" by Donald Fagen, in which he played a man married to an extraterrestrial woman. Disney's final film in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise is 1997's direct-to-video film Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, in which Moranis is the final remaining original cast member. The series Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show also launched in 1997 but without Moranis; it concluded in 2000. He worked for Disney twice more (with his fellow SCTV alumnus Dave Thomas), voicing Rutt the moose in the 2003 animated film Brother Bear and its direct-to-video sequel.

In a 2004 interview, Moranis talked about his favourite kinds of films:

On the last couple of movies I made—big-budget Hollywood movies—I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters or Spaceballs. By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn't for me. I'm really not an actor. I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody's precious words work.[8]

Acting hiatus

In 1997, Moranis took a hiatus from working in the film industry. He later explained, "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage to raise my kids and to do the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it."[14]

After having declined an invitation to make a cameo appearance in 2016's Ghostbusters, Moranis clarified in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that despite his hiatus he had not, in fact, retired from acting in films, but instead had become selective about future roles.[15]

Later work

In 2001, Moranis received his first film credit since 1997 when he provided voice work in the animated film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.

As of 2004, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program at Humber College.[16]

In 2005, Moranis released an album titled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics that Moranis says follow in the comic tradition of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller, Kinky Friedman, and Jim Stafford. The album was produced by Tony Scherr and is distributed through ArtistShare, as well as Moranis's official website. Commenting on the origins of the songs, he said that in 2003, "Out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they're more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I'm not sure at this point what I'm going to do with them—whether I'm going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that."[8]

On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was nominated for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed "Press Pound" on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and discussed the development of his music career.

In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2–4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug, for his company Animax Entertainment. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier, but remained involved in the series as an executive producer.[17]

On June 18, 2013, Moranis released the comedy album titled My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs, his first album in eight years.[18] Moranis said of the release, "When I first began writing jokes and sketches with various Jewish partners one of us would inevitably stop at some point and announce, 'Too Jewish!' Too Jewish for the star, the show, the network, or the audience. The songs on this album are all in that category. I grew up hearing the Allan Sherman and the You Don't Have to Be Jewish albums in the '60s. Now I am in my 60s."[19]

In a June 2013 interview, Moranis talked about reprising his role as Louis Tully in a third Ghostbusters film and his disappointment with the sequel. Moranis said, "I haven't talked to Dan Aykroyd about it. Somebody he's associated with called me and I said, 'I wouldn't not do it, but it's got to be good.' You know, I'm not interested in doing anything I've already done, and I thought the second one was a disappointment. But I guess I'm interested in where that guy is now. I sort of see him as being Bernie Madoff's cellmate in jail. Both of them being so orderly that they race to get up and make their beds."[20] In 2015, regarding an offer for a brief appearance in the 2016 film, he concluded, "Ghostbusters didn't appeal to me. I wish them well, but it just makes no sense to me."[1]

In July 2017, Moranis and Dave Thomas reprised their Bob and Doug characters at a benefit concert in Toronto. Proceeds from the benefit went toward caring for Jake Thomas, Dave's nephew, who suffered a spinal cord injury that has left him paralyzed from the waist down.[21]

On May 9, 2018, Moranis returned as the character Pannakin Crybaby / Lord Dark Helmet from Spaceballs in an episode of The Goldbergs, albeit as a voice.[22] He also appeared in an episode of Prop Culture discussing the film.[23]

Moranis appears in the Martin Scorsese–directed Second City TV reunion documentary, titled An Afternoon with SCTV, set to premiere on Netflix.[24]

In 2020, Moranis signed on to reprise his role as Wayne Szalinski in Shrunk, a new sequel in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series. When completed, it will mark a return to live-action films for Moranis after a hiatus of over two decades.[25] Later the same year he appeared in a commercial for Mint Mobile alongside Ryan Reynolds.[26][27]

Personal life

Moranis married make-up designer Ann Belsky in 1986; together they had two children, a son and a daughter.[28] Belsky died of cancer in February 1991.[28][29] Moranis then slowly left public life to become a full-time single father.[28][15]

On October 1, 2020, Moranis was the victim of an anti-Semitic knock-out game assault in New York City, in the vicinity of West 70th St, Manhattan. He suffered minor injuries to his head, back, and hip. He reported the incident to the New York Police Department (NYPD) who posted security footage from the attack.[30] The alleged perpetrator was arrested in New York City on November 14, 2020.[31]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1982Twilight TheaterTelevision film
1983Strange BrewBob McKenzieAlso co-writer and co-director
1984Streets of FireBilly Fish
GhostbustersLouis Tully
The Wild LifeHarry
Hockey NightCoachTelevision film
1985The Last PolkaLinsk MinykTelevision film
Brewster's MillionsMorty King
Head OfficeHoward Gross
1986Club ParadiseBarry Nye
Little Shop of HorrorsSeymour Krelborn
1987SpaceballsPannakin Crybaby / Lord Dark Helmet
1989Ghostbusters IILouis Tully
Honey, I Shrunk the KidsWayne Szalinski
The Rocket BoyAutomatic Safety SystemTelevision film
ParenthoodNathan Huffner
1990My Blue HeavenBarney Coopersmith[32]
1992Honey, I Blew Up the KidWayne Szalinski
1993Splitting HeirsHenry Bullock
1994The FlintstonesBarney Rubble
Little GiantsDanny O'Shea
1996Big BullyDavid Leary
1997Honey, We Shrunk OurselvesWayne Szalinski
2001Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit ToysThe Toy Taker / Mr. CuddlesVoices; Direct-to-DVD
2003Brother BearRuttVoice
2006Brother Bear 2Voice; Direct-to-DVD
TBAShrunkWayne SzalinskiUpcoming film in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1980–1981SCTVVarious roles25 episodes; also writer
1981–1982SCTV NetworkVarious roles26 episodes; also writer
1983, 1989Saturday Night LiveHimself/host2 episodes
1988The Best of SCTVVarious rolesTelevision special
Also writer
1990Gravedale HighMax SchneiderVoice; 13 episodes
1990The Earth Day SpecialVic's BuddyTelevision special
1992Shelley Duvall's Bedtime StoriesNarratorEpisode: Little Toot & the Loch Ness Monster/ Choo Choo
1997Muppets TonightHimselfGuest; 1 Episode
2003Miss Spider's Sunny Patch KidsHolleyVoice; Television special
2007Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four AnniversaryBob McKenzieTelevision special
2009Bob & DougCo-creator and executive producer
2018The GoldbergsPannakin Crybaby / Lord Dark HelmetVoice; Episode: "Spaceballs"
2020Prop CultureHimselfEpisode: "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"
TBAAn Afternoon with SCTVHimselfTelevision special[24]

Video games

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994The FlintstonesBarney RubbleArcade game
2003Brother BearRuttPlatform game

Discography

Albums

  • 1989: You, Me, the Music and Me
  • 2005: The Agoraphobic Cowboy
  • 2013: My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs

Bob and Doug McKenzie

Other soundtrack appearances

YearFilmSongsArtist(s)/Writer(s)Role
1986Little Shop of Horrors"Skid Row Downtown"; "Da-Doo"; "Grow For Me"; "Feed Me (Git It!)"; "Suddenly, Seymour"; "The Meek Shall Inherit"Howard Ashman, Alan MenkenSeymour Krelborn
1997Muppets Tonight"High Hopes"
"Salute to the late fifties crooners, obscure British bands and Bill Withers"		Various artistsHimself

Audio/video

  • 1973: "Rock Radio Scrapbook" (as Rick Allan)[33]

Awards and nominations

YearAssociationCategoryWorkResult
1982Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Writing in a Variety or Music ProgramSCTV (shared with other writers)Won
1990American Comedy AwardsFunniest Supporting Actor in a Motion PictureParenthoodWon
1995Gemini AwardsEarle Grey Award for Best CastSCTVWon
2006Grammy AwardsBest Comedy Album[34]The Agoraphobic CowboyNominated

References

  1. 1 2 Parker, Ryan (October 6, 2015). "Rick Moranis Is Not Retired". The Hollywood Reporter.
  2. ↑ "Rick Moranis, going from 'Ghostbusters' to mom's brisket, draws on Jewish roots in new album". JNS.org. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Rick Moranis". Yuddy.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2009.
  4. ↑ Lee, Geddy (November 2023). My Effin' Life. Harper. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-06-315941-9.
  5. ↑ "SCTV Guide – People – Cast". SCTV Guide. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  6. ↑ Plume, Kenneth. "Interview with Dave Thomas (Part 1 of 5)", movies.img.com, February 10, 2000.
  7. ↑ Hanna, Erin (2009). "Second City or Second Country?". Cineaction. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 Mettler, Mike (August 2004). "An Hour with SCTV's Rick Moranis". Sound & Vision. Archived from the original on July 14, 2009.
  9. ↑ Ryan, Mike (June 7, 2012). "Martin Short On The Differences Between 'SNL' & 'SCTV'". Huffington Post.
  10. ↑ "Back to the 80s: Interview with John Kapelos from The Breakfast Club & much more". Kickin' it Old School. November 16, 2012. Archived from the original on November 16, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2023 – via tBlog.
  11. ↑ Honeycutt, Kirk (March 12, 2015). "How the Female Stars of The Breakfast Club Fought to Remove a Sexist Scene, and Won". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  12. ↑ Rick Moranis for 'Ghostbusters' 1984 – Bobbie Wygant Archive, retrieved January 10, 2023 – via YouTube
  13. ↑ Evans, Bradford (February 14, 2013). "The Lost Roles of Rick Moranis". Vulture.
  14. ↑ "Rick Moranis: From 'Spaceballs' to country 'Cowboy'". USA Today. October 13, 2005. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023.
  15. 1 2 Parker, Ryan (October 7, 2015). "Rick Moranis Reveals Why He Turned Down 'Ghostbusters' Reboot: 'It Makes No Sense to Me'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  16. ↑ Peterson, Dean (October 4, 2012). "Hey, Whatever Happened to Rick Moranis?". My Damn Channel. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2013.
  17. ↑ Rob Salem (April 19, 2009). "Bob & Doug taking off again". Toronto Star.
  18. ↑ Dionne, Zach (May 9, 2013). "Rick Moranis Is Ready to Return to the World". Vulture. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Rick Moranis – My Mother's Brisket & Other Love Songs". Amazon Music. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ Plumb, Ali (June 25, 2013). "Exclusive: Rick Moranis On Ghostbusters 3". Empire. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  21. ↑ Vlessing, Etan (June 2017). "Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas to Reunite as McKenzie Brothers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
  22. ↑ Keveney, Bill (May 7, 2018). "Exclusive: 'The Goldbergs' snags Rick Moranis to reprise the Dark Helmet of 'Spaceballs'". USA Today. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  23. ↑ Hughes, William (May 9, 2020). "Disney+'s Prop Culture scores rare Rick Moranis interview". The A.V. Club.
  24. 1 2 Vlessing, Etan (May 10, 2018). "Rick Moranis Joins 'SCTV' Reunion Documentary for Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter.
  25. ↑ Warner, Sam (July 22, 2020). "Josh Gad offers 'heartbreaking' update on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel". Digital Spy. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  26. ↑ Nolfi, Joey. "Rick Moranis returns to acting in Ryan Reynolds commercial". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Rick Moranis Returns To The Screen After Two Decades In An Advertisement With Ryan Reynolds". Digg. September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  28. 1 2 3 Lloyd, Brian (July 25, 2015). "Whatever happened to... Rick Moranis?". entertainment.ie. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
  29. ↑ Black, Shelby (October 23, 2020). "Actor Rick Moranis Took 23-Year On-Screen Hiatus After Wife Died of Breast Cancer, But He's Back In Spotlight With Ryan Reynolds & Fans Are Thrilled". Survivor Net. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  30. ↑ "Actor Rick Moranis randomly attacked in Manhattan". BBC News. October 2, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  31. ↑ Romero, Dennis (November 15, 2020). "Man arrested in New York City attack on actor Rick Moranis". NBC News. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  32. ↑ "L.A. Story (1991) Acting Credits". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Rock Radio Scrapbook: 1973 airchecks". rockradioscrapbook.ca.
  34. ↑ Gerstein, Ted; Berman, John (February 5, 2006). "Rick Moranis on His Transformation Into a Grammy-Nominated Country Western Singer". ABC News.
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