Dan Aykroyd,
Famous Canadian Actor
Canadian Actor, director, and screenwriter
Born Daniel Edward Aykroyd (often misspelled Akroyd) , July 1, 1952, in Ottawa,
Ontario; son of Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh (a Canadian government official)
and Lorraine (Gougeon) Aykroyd; married Maureen Lewis (an actress;
divorced); married Donna Dixon (actress); children: Mark, Lloyd, Oscar (from
first marriage); Danielle Alexandra, Belle Kingston (from second marriage).
Education: Attended Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario.
Addresses: Agent--Creative Artists Agency, 9830
Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212; Publicist--Susan Patricola Public
Relations, Inc., 8455 Beverly Blvd., Ste. 410, Los Angeles, CA 90048.
Career
Akroyd's film appearances include: Gift of Winter, 1974; Love at
First Sight, (also co-screenwriter), 1977; The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash,
1978; 1941, 1979; Mr. Mike's Mondo Video, 1979; The Blues Brothers (also
screenwriter), 1980; Neighbors, 1981; It Came From Hollywood (narrator),
1982; Doctor Detroit (also screenwriter), 1983; Trading Places, 1983;
Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1983; Ghostbusters (also screenwriter), 1984;
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1984; Nothing Lasts Forever, 1984;
Into The Night, 1985; Spies Like Us (also screenwriter), 1985; Comedy Music
Videos, 1986; Dragnet (also screenwriter), 1987; Caddyshack II, 1988; The
Couch Trip, 1988; Great Outdoors, 1988; My Stepmother Is An Alien, 1988;
Driving Miss Daisy, 1989; Ghostbusters II, (also screenwriter), 1989; Loose
Cannons, 1989; Masters of Menace, 1991; My Girl, 1991; Chaplin, 1992;
Sneakers, 1992; This Is My Life, 1992; Coneheads (also screenwriter), 1993;
Canadian Bacon, 1994; Getting Away With Murder, 1994; Exit To Eden, 1994; My
Girl, Part 2, 1994; North, 1994; Tommy Boy, 1995; Celtic Pride, 1996;
Feeling Minnesota, 1996; My Fellow Americans, 1996; Sgt. Bilko, 1996; Gross
Pointe Blank, 1997. Executive producer of One More Saturday Night, 1986.
Director of Nothing But Trouble, 1991. Television appearances include: A
Change for a Quarter (also producer and cowriter), 1972; Coming Up Rosie
(children's program for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; also cowriter),
1973; Greed (Canadian variety show), 1973; Saturday Night Live 1975-79; The
Beach Boys Special, 1976; The Best of John Belushi, 1985; The Best of Dan
Aykroyd, 1986; The Real Ghostbusters, (co-creator), 1986; The Best of Chevy
Chase, 1987; Will Rogers: Look Back in Laughter, 1988; The Best of Gilda
Radner, 1989; Earth Day Special, 1990; Tales from the Crypt ("Yellow"
episode), 1991; Psi Factor (host of syndicated television program
chronicling paranormal activities), 1997; Soul Man (sitcom) 1997. Writer for
Everything Goes (Canadian variety/talk show), 1973.
Sidelights
Most people know Dan Aykroyd in his various
incarnations as an actor, one of the Blues Brothers, a screenwriter, a
director, and a restaurant entrepreneur, but very few know about his
life-long interest in paranormal research. It's a family affair: his father
was a psychic researcher and his great-grandfather was a principal member of
the British Society of Psychic Research. At an early age, Aykroyd read the
journals of respected paranormal organizations and he remains a supporter of
them. Aykroyd's passion for the paranormal led him to create The Coneheads
on Saturday Night Live and to host and co-write the syndicated series, Psi
Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, a drama based on files from the Office
of Scientific Investigation and Research. In fact, Aykroyd credits that
organization as a source for the Ghostbusters movies.
Canadian-born Dan Aykroyd was on his way to becoming a
priest at a Catholic seminary before he was expelled. Instead he attended
Carleton University in Ottawa, where he studied political science, criminal
sociology, and, most prophetically, became active in his college's drama
guild. In 1972 Aykroyd entered show business by producing, co-writing and
acting in a series of 15-minute comedy shows entitled A Change for a Quarter
for a private cable company. That same year he joined the famed Second City
Comedy Troupe, which he performed with in Chicago and Toronto until 1974.
In his next major career move, Aykroyd joined the cast
and writing staff of a show that would go down in television history. On
October 11, 1975, NBC debuted Saturday Night Live (SNL). Producer and brain
child Loren Michaels envisioned anti-establishment humor that pushed
television boundaries. The original line-up consisted of Aykroyd, Chevy
Chase, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, and Gilda
Radner. During Aykroyd's five years with SNL, he displayed his comic talent
by creating memorable sketch personalities. He also did impressions of
presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter, and TV cooking show personality
Julia Child. Aykroyd's fascination with UFOs gave way to The Coneheads, a
recurring skit about a family from an alien planet, who had long,
cone-shaped heads and consumed large quantities of beer and potato chips.
With comedian Steve Martin, Aykroyd also created Jorge and Yortuck Festrunk,
two "wild and crazy guys" from Czechoslovakia, wannabe playboys who couldn't
get dates.
The Blues Brothers began as a novelty musical act
formed by Aykroyd and John Belushi. The two had met when Belushi went to
check out the Toronto version of Second City, where Aykroyd was playing.
They became fast friends and together found themselves as cast members of
SNL. At first overshadowed by popular comedian Chevy Chase, they eventually
came into their own with comedy sketches such as "The Coneheads" and
"Samurai Warrior," and Aykroyd became a favorite amongst writers and players
alike. Early in the SNL tenure, Aykroyd introduced Belushi to blues music.
Neither man had professional musical training, but Aykroyd managed to become
a decent harmonica player. A prototype of the Blues Brothers was first seen
on SNL on January 17, 1976. The pair asked producer Loren Michaels to let
them perform a blues number on the show; but Michaels wanted them to do a
"Killer Bees" skit, which Belushi despised. The night the bee skit was
aired, Aykroyd wore a fedora with antenna and sunglasses, while Belushi
dressed in his bee costume and wired rim glasses. Aykroyd played harmonica
while Belushi sang "I'm A King Bee" and did full body flips. The skit was a
huge success.
Later, in costumes that would become the Blues Brothers
standard look, Aykroyd and Belushi warmed up the SNL audience before the
shows. By that time they had invented their Blues Brothers alter egos,
Elwood and Joilet Jake. Aykroyd and Belushi enjoyed their alter egos so much
that they persuaded their agent to set up a recording contract and a series
of concert performances. On September 8, 1978, they did their first show
opener for comedian Steve Martin at the Universal Amphitheater in Los
Angeles, California. They performed eight more nights and recorded the live
album, A Briefcase Full of Blues. The album was a great success, selling
more than 2.8 million copies. In 1980, Jake and Elwood Blues became
principal characters in The Blues Brothers, primarily written by Aykroyd.
Meanwhile, Belushi had developed a wild drug habit.
Although Aykroyd told People that his partner was not a regular drug user,
and tried to convince Belushi to curb his habits, Belushi failed to heed his
advice and died of a cocaine and heroin overdose on March 5, 1982. Like most
of the original cast members, Aykroyd left Saturday Night Live to make
movies. During the 1980s, he appeared in many comedies, teaming with some of
SNL's greatest alumni, including Eddie Murphy in Trading Places and Bill
Murray in Ghostbusters. In 1983 he starred in and co-wrote Doctor Detroit
and later married his co-star, Donna Dixon. In 1989 Aykroyd performed his
first dramatic role in Driving Miss Daisy, which earned him an Oscar
nomination for best supporting actor. In a slight career deviation, Aykroyd
co-founded The House Of Blues, a restaurant/nightclub/entertainment
establishment with several locations across the U.S. His efforts of the
early 1990s, including his debut directorial debut, Nothing But Trouble
(1991) and a film reprisal of the Coneheads (1993), for which he also wrote
the screenplay, garnered little public or critical response. In 1997,
Aykroyd appeared as a rival assassin to John Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank
and began work on two films, Cops (co-starring James Belushi) and Blues
Brothers 2000.
In the late 1990s, Aykroyd returned to television. In
1996 Aykroyd's fascination with the paranormal (previously demonstrated in
the Ghostbusters movies) was more fully revealed in his role as television
host of Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, a syndicated weekly
dramatic anthology based on files from the Office of Scientific
Investigation and Research. The series has also been featured on CBS radio
stations and as a weekly newspaper column. Aykroyd's ABC sitcom Soul Man
also debuted in April 1997 to good ratings. The show centered around Aykroyd
as a widowed Detroit priest (reformed from his bad-boy, motorcycle-riding
past) who raises his kids alone.
Online
http://cinemania.msn.com/cinemania/artists/biographies/danaykroyd.html
http://whyy.org/flicks/martin_interview/html
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.movies.com/grosspointe/grocer/grocerbio.html#dan
http://www.mrshowbiz.com/starbios/danaykroyd/a.html
http://www.musicblvd.com
http://www.psifactor.com
Periodicals
Entertainment Weekly, February 11, 1994, p. 64; April
26, 1996, p. 10.
Maclean's, January 29, 1996, p. 40; January 13, 1997,
p. 53.
People, May 16, 1994, p. 122.
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