Steve Guttenberg
Steven Robert Guttenberg is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including Cocoon, Police Academy, Three Men and a Baby, Diner, The Bedroom Window, Three Men and a Little Lady, The Big Green and Short Circuit.
Early life
Guttenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Ann Iris, a surgical assistant, and Jerome Stanley Guttenberg, an electrical engineer. He had a Jewish upbringing in the Flushing neighborhood of the borough of Queens before his family moved to North Massapequa, New York, where he graduated from Plainedge High School in 1976. During high school, he attended a summer program at the Juilliard School where he studied under John Houseman, and he won a role in an off-Broadway production of The Lion in Winter. After his high school graduation, he attended the State University of New York at Albany for a year. He moved to California to pursue an acting career. As Guttenberg recounts, within weeks he was cast in a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial playing opposite Colonel Sanders.Career
Guttenberg's film career has spanned four decades. He has been an actor, director, writer and producer. His production company, Mr. Kirby Productions, is named after Gerald J. Kirby, his high school drama teacher.Early films
After playing an uncredited bit part in Rollercoaster, Guttenberg had his first screen credit in the TV movie Something for Joey. He then played the starring role in the 1977 California high school comedy The Chicken Chronicles, set in Beverly Hills in 1969. He also appeared in the 1978 film The Boys From Brazil, based on the Ira Levin best seller, and guest starred on the show Family.Guttenberg starred in the short-lived TV series Billy, based on Billy Liar. He had a supporting role in the tennis romance film Players. In 1980, a Coca-Cola commercial featured him trying to help a non-English-speaking woman whose car stalled.
Guttenberg starred in the TV-movie To Race the Wind playing blind lawyer Harold Krents. The same year he starred in the Nancy Walker-directed Can't Stop the Music, a semi-autobiographical movie about the disco group Village People.
Guttenberg played Jim Craig in the TV movie Miracle on Ice. He appeared in Barry Levinson's Diner, then starred in another short-lived TV series No Soap, Radio. He starred in the action-comedy The Man Who Wasn't There and had a supporting part in the television movie The Day After. Guttenberg starred in The Ferret a pilot for a TV series that was not picked up.
''Police Academy'' and busiest actor
Guttenberg starred in an enormous hit when he played the lead role in Police Academy. He then became the busiest star over the next four years, appearing in 9 starring roles, tying with Gene Hackman. Police Academy was quickly followed by a sequel, '.Guttenberg then had the romantic male lead in Cocoon, another box office success. A comedy he starred in, Bad Medicine, was not particularly successful. Guttenberg played Pecos Bill in an episode of Tall Tales & Legends then was in '.
Guttenberg starred in Short Circuit opposite Ally Sheedy, another very popular film. He changed pace with the thriller The Bedroom Window, directed by Curtis Hanson, then made , his last Police Academy Film.
Guttenberg had a cameo in Amazon Women on the Moon and supported Michael Caine and Sally Field in Surrender.
''Three Men and a Baby''
Guttenberg had the biggest financial success of his career to date with Three Men and a Baby with Tom Selleck and Ted Danson. He supported Peter O'Toole and Daryl Hannah in High Spirits, which flopped. was a commercial disappointment as was Don't Tell Her It's Me. 3 Men and a Little Lady however was a hit.In 1989 he appeared in the Michael Jackson music video "Liberian Girl".
1990s
In 1990 he replaced Timothy Hutton in the lead role of Prelude to a Kiss at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway.He also performed in London's West End, where he starred in The Boys Next Door. He appeared in the world stage premiere production of Furthest From the Sun, which Woody Harrelson directed and co-authored.
He directed "Love Off Limits" for CBS Schoolbreak Special in 1993 and starred in The Big Green in England. He was among the ensemble in Home for the Holidays and starred in It Takes Two with Kirstie Alley and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. He also starred in Zeus and Roxanne, and alongside Kirsten Dunst in Disney's Tower of Terror, based on the attraction at the Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
In the late 90s he made some action films, Airborne and Overdrive and the comedy Home Team.
2000s
His first film as director/producer/co-screenwriter/star was P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, a film adaptation of a novel and Broadway play by James Kirkwood, Jr.. He starred in Mojave Phone Booth as Barry, and Making Change as Trafton. In Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and its sequel Meet the Santas, he played the starring role of Nick.He had a recurring role on the 2005-2006 season of the television series Veronica Mars as Woody Goodman, a wealthy businessman and community leader. He appeared as a lead in the NBC made-for-TV remake of The Poseidon Adventure, which aired on November 20, 2005, playing Richard Clarke, a failing writer having an affair with a massage therapist. He also appeared in According to Jim episode "Two for the Money" in 2008
On August 25, 2008, Guttenberg released a video titled "Steve Guttenberg's Steak House" on funnyordie.com. There are rumors that he will star as comedian Tony Martin in a movie adapted from Martin's book, A Nest of Occasionals. Guttenberg took part in the 2008 spring season of Dancing with the Stars with professional pro Anna Trebunskaya and was eliminated on April 1.
During an interview on November 4, 2009, Guttenberg mentioned that Disney was developing a second sequel to Three Men and a Baby, entitled Three Men and a Bride. Guttenberg stated that his co-stars, Ted Danson and Tom Selleck, would return for the sequel. Guttenberg also mentioned how he would like to make another Police Academy and Cocoon movie, saying they are surefire hits if they were to be made.
2010s
In an interview published August 1, 2010, Guttenberg revealed that David Diamond and David Weissman were writing a script for Police Academy 8. Eight days later, actor Bobcat Goldthwait released a statement urging Hollywood to reboot the Police Academy series with a new group of actors instead of the original cast members. Goldthwait confirmed that Steve Guttenberg would return and that movie bosses were trying to get Kim Cattrall to return for an eighth sequel though Goldthwait said he had no desire to return to the series.Guttenberg also played himself in an episode of the Starz comedy Party Down that originally aired May 21, 2010.
Guttenberg starred in Season 7 Episode 6 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
He appeared on Broadway in late 2011 to early 2012 in Woody Allen's one-act play "Honeymoon Hotel" which was part of the show Relatively Speaking.
Guttenberg can be seen on History Channel's 2015 miniseries Sons of Liberty. He plays Jack Bonner.
In Fall 2014, Guttenberg wrapped production on SyFy Channel's Lavalantula, scheduled to premiere Summer 2015.
Guttenberg was also featured in the Season 6, Episode 8 of Community, "Intro to Recycled Cinema", which aired on Yahoo Screen in April 2015.
Guttenberg starred in the Cinderella pantomime at Churchill Theatre in Bromley, UK, playing the Baron in 2008. To celebrate Guttenberg's involvement, the local Empire Cinema screened Police Academy on 19 November. Guttenberg introduced the film and answered questions.
On November 12, Guttenberg appeared as a guest on the British talk show The Paul O'Grady Show, he said he made the video for Will Ferrell's Funny or Die website, but then decided to release it virally "as if it were real". As part of challenge set on the show, he then went on to become the Guinness World Record Holder for preparing the most hot-dogs in one minute.
On September 3, 2018, Guttenberg told a fan on Twitter that a new Police Academy film was being planned.
Awards
The sixth-annual Fire Island Golden Wagon Film Festival honored Guttenberg with the 2008 Tony Randall Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the entertainment industry, as well as his community service. The award was created in tribute to the first Golden Wagon honoree, Tony Randall, and is given to a member of the entertainment industry who embodies the same love of Fire Island, independent spirit, and community service that Randall shared.On December 12, 2011, Guttenberg received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6411 Hollywood Blvd.
On October 19, 2014, Guttenberg received a key to the city from Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine for his work with Fun Paw Care, raising awareness for animal rights.
Publications
- The Guttenberg Bible - A memoir published in May 2012 by Thomas Dunne Books
- The Kids from D.I.S.C.O.
Philanthropy
At the 2016 New York Walk to Fight Lymphedema & Lymphatic Diseases in Brooklyn, Guttenberg announced via a pre-recorded message, that he had joined the Lymphatic Education & Research Network's Honorary Board.