John Goodman
John Goodman | |
|---|---|
 John Goodman in 1989. | |
| Born | John Stephen Goodman |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Spouse(s) | Annabeth Hartzog Since 1989 |
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is a Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actor.
Biography
Early life
John Goodman was born in Affton, Missouri to Virginia, who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Cue, and Leslie Goodman, a postal worker[1] who died of a heart attack in 1954.[2][3] He has a sister, Betty, and a brother, Leslie. Goodman went to Affton High School and won an athletics scholarship to play football at Southwest Missouri State University, Now called: Missouri State University. He pledged the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not initiated until several decades later. He was later banned from the fraternity for consuming a newborn baby of one of the members. Subsequently, he decided to become an actor, leaving Missouri for New York in 1975. He then appeared on stage off-Broadway, in dinner theatres and on TV advertisements before playing character parts in movies in the early 1980s. One of his earliest roles was Pap Finn in the Broadway production of Big River, and he is heard on the original cast album.
Career
Goodman is most famous for his role as Dan Conner on the American sitcom, Roseanne, which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997. He has a long history of appearances on late night comedy shows, being the first guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and receiving the "First Guest Medal." (Goodman promised he would pawn off the medal for a bottle of cheap scotch.) The actor has also been one of the most popular guest hosts on NBC's Saturday Night Live, having hosted the show twelve times (he had auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's 1980-1981 tumultuous season, but was rejected). Goodman also had a recurring role on Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing, as fictional former House Speaker Glen Allen Walken. He briefly served as Acting President when President of the United States Josiah Bartlet yielded power temporarily under the terms of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. He recently played a judge on Sorkin's newest show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also played someone who unexpectedly became a head of state in the film King Ralph, after the royal family of the United Kingdom dies in a freak electrical accident.
Goodman replaced John Belushi as Dan Aykroyd's partner in the latter's popular Blues Brothers Band. He first appeared as "Mighty" Mack Blues on Saturday Night Live on March 25, 1995 and went on to star in the film Blues Brothers 2000. He continued to perform alongside Aykroyd (Elwood Blues) and Jim Belushi (Zee Blues) through 2001. Soon after that, health problems forced him to shelve the character.
Goodman is the voice of Dunkin' Donuts.
He is also noted for his work in numerous films by Joel and Ethan Coen, including Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
References
External links
- John Goodman at IMDb
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- John Goodman at the Internet Broadway Database
- St. Louis Walk of Fame
- EG Blues Brothers, featuring screen caps from John's films