Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward Aykroyd CM (born
July 1,
1952 as Daniel Agraluscarsacra) is an
Academy Award-nominated
Canadian comedian,
actor,
screenwriter, and
musician. He was an original cast member of
Saturday Night Live, an originator of
the Blues Brothers (with
John Belushi), and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.
Early life
Aykroyd was born in
Hull, Quebec and grew up in
Ottawa,
Ontario. His father, Peter Hugh Samuel Cuthbert Aykroyd, was a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Gougeon, is
Franco-Ontarian.
Aykroyd was born with
syndactyly (webbed toes) and
heterochromia (the condition of having two differently-colored eyes). In an audio interview with
Terry Gross, he described himself as having mild
Tourette syndrome that was successfully treated with therapy when he was a preteen, as well as mild
Asperger syndrome. The latter can manifest itself in a fascination with narrowly-defined interests, such as police work, and Aykroyd carries a police badge at all times. (It is unclear if Aykroyd received these diagnoses from a medical source or whether they were self-made. The interviewer indicated that she couldn't tell if Aykroyd was kidding.)
Aykroyd attended
Roman Catholic high schools at Ottawa,
St Pius X and
St. Patrick's, where he was briefly expelled from the latter. (He dressed up a pig to look like the head of the Roman Catholic Church and brought it to school for show and tell. Predictably, the nuns were not amused.) Aykroyd went on to study
criminology and
sociology at
Carleton University but dropped out before completing.
He worked as a comedian in various Canadian
nightclubs. Aykroyd went on to gain experience in
The Second City comedy troupe and in the
National Lampoon stage shows. While working with Second City, Aykroyd moonlighted as the announcer for
Citytv in Toronto.
Saturday Night Live
Aykroyd gained fame on the American late-night comedy show
Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer and cast member for its first four seasons, from
1975 to
1979. Aykroyd brought a unique sensibility to the show, combining youth, unusual interests, talent as an
impersonator and an almost lunatic intensity. (
Eric Idle, of
Monty Python, once said that Aykroyd's ability to write and act out characters flawlessly made him the only member of the
SNL cast capable of having been a Python.)
He was known for his impersonations of celebrities like
Jimmy Carter (where the President talked someone down from a bad by telling them to listen to some
Allman Brothers),
Richard Nixon,
Julia Child (in an oft-replayed sketch where she cannot stop bleeding after cutting herself while cooking),
Tom Snyder, and others. He was also known for his recurring roles, such as Beldar, father in the
Coneheads family; with
Steve Martin, one of the "Two Wild and Crazy Guys"
Czech brothers; sleazy late-night cable TV host E. Buzz Miller and his cousin, corrupt maker of children's toys and costumes Irwin Mainway; Fred Garvin â€" male prostitute; and high-bred but low-brow critic
Leonard Pinth-Garnell. He also co-hosted the
Weekend Update segment for a season with
Jane Curtin, coining the famous
catchphrase "Jane, you ignorant slut" during point-counterpoint segments.
Aykroyd's talent was recognized by others in the highly competitive
SNL environment: when he first presented his famous "Super Bass-O-Matic '76" sketch, a fake commercial in which a garish, hyper pitchman (modeled after
Ron Popeil) touts a
food blender that turns an entire
bass into liquid pulp, "to [other writers and cast members] the 'Bass-O-Matic' was so exhilaratingly strange that many remember sitting and listening, open-mouthed ... Nobody felt jealous of it because they couldn't imagine writing anything remotely like it." [Hill and Weingrad p. 143]
While Aykroyd was a close friend and partner with fellow cast member
John Belushi and shared some of the same sensibilities, Aykroyd was more reserved and less self-destructive.
In
1977 he received an
Emmy Award for writing on
Saturday Night Live; he later received two more nominations for writing, and one each for acting and Outstanding Comedy-Variety series.
In later decades, Aykroyd made occasional guest appearances and unannounced
cameos on
Saturday Night Live, often impersonating the humorous but slightly bitter American politician
Bob Dole.
Blues and the Blues Brothers
Aykroyd was good friends with
John Belushi, who recruited him for
Saturday Night Live. According to Aykroyd, it was his first meeting with Belushi that helped spark their popular
Blues Brothers act. When they met in a
speakeasy Aykroyd frequented, Aykroyd put on a blues record to play in the background, and it stimulated a fascination with Blues in Belushi, who was primarily a fan of heavy metal. Aykroyd educated John on the finer points of blues music and, with a little encouragement from then-
SNL music director
Paul Shaffer, it led to the creation of their Blues Brothers characters.
Aykroyd and Belushi were scheduled to present the first ever Visual Effects Award, but Belushi died only a few weeks prior to the ceremony. Though devastated by his friend's death, Aykroyd presented the award alone, remarking from the stage "My partner would have loved to have been here to present this, given that he was something of a visual effect himself."
In
1992, Aykroyd, along with many other notable music and Hollywood personalities, founded the
House of Blues. Its mission is to promote
African-American cultural contributions of
blues music and
folk art. As of
2004, it was the second-largest live music promoter in the world, with seven venues and 22 amphitheaters in the
United States and
Canada.
Film career
After leaving
Saturday Night Live, Aykroyd starred in a number of mainly comedy films, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. When starting out in the film industry Aykroyd would star with his old friend Belushi in three films, the above-mentioned
The Blues Brothers as well as
Neighbors and
1941. One of his best-received performances was as a blueblood-turned-wretch in the 1983 comic drama
Trading Places; a notable flop was in the earlier
1941 (though director
Steven Spielberg received the brunt of the criticism).
Aykroyd originally wrote the role of Dr. Peter Venkman in
Ghostbusters (1984) with John Belushi in mind, but rewrote the part for another famous SNL player,
Bill Murray, after Belushi died. Aykroyd used to joke that the green ghoul (who would later come to be known as "Slimer" in the
animated series) was "the ghost of John Belushi", based on the similar party animal personality.
Ghostbusters became a huge success for Aykroyd as a co-creator, co-writer, and one of the lead actors.
Aykroyd's acting career reached its peak when he received an
Academy Award nomination as
Best Supporting Actor for
1989's
Driving Miss Daisy'.
His professional nadir might have been his 1991 directorial debut, "Nothing But Trouble", with Demi Moore, Chevy Chase, John Candy and Aykroyd himself, sporting an oddly-phallic prosthetic nose. The film was a critical and box office flop. Other efforts in the 1990s, including Exit to Eden, Blues Brothers 2000, and Getting Away with Murder, were also poorly received.
In the 2000s, Aykroyd's film appearances have tended to be small character parts in big-budget productions, such as a signals analyst in Pearl Harbor and a neurologist in 50 First Dates''.
Family and honors
For a time, Aykroyd was engaged to
Star Wars actress
Carrie Fisher. She hosted the
Saturday Night Live episode in which Aykroyd and Belushi gave their first polished performance as the Blues Brothers. Fisher also had a cameo in
The Blues Brothers as the mysterious woman trying to kill "Joliet" Jake Blues (Belushi).
He has been inducted into
Canada's Walk of Fame and maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of
Kingston,
Ontario. In
1994 Aykroyd received an
honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University. In
1998, he was made a Member of the
Order of Canada.
Aykroyd married actress
Donna Dixon in 1983. They have three daughters.
He is Canadian of
French and
English extraction and can trace his family name back to the
Norman Conquest.
Wine Maker
As of 2006 Dan Aykroyd has entered a partnership with a Niagara region winery called Lakeview. Lakeview is an established winery that includes EastDell estates, Thomas & Vaughn, and Birchwood Cellars. Dan is in the process of getting a red wine under his name and has teamed up with winemaker Tom Green (not the TV actor) and is also considering a beer and vodka label with the
Coneheads name.
Love at First Sight (
1977)
1941 (
1979)
The Blues Brothers (
1980) (also writer)
Neighbors (
1981)
It Came from Hollywood (
1982) (documentary)
Doctor Detroit (
1983)
Trading Places (
1983)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (
1983)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (
1984) (Cameo)
Ghostbusters (
1984) (also writer)
Nothing Lasts Forever (
1984)
Into the Night (
1985)
Spies Like Us (
1985) (also writer)
Dragnet (
1987) (also writer)
The Couch Trip (
1988)
She's Having a Baby (
1988) (Cameo)
The Great Outdoors (
1988)
Caddyshack II (
1988)
My Stepmother Is an Alien (
1988)
Ghostbusters II (
1989) (also writer)
Driving Miss Daisy (
1989)
Masters of Menace (
1990)
Loose Cannons (
1990)
Nothing But Trouble (
1991) (also director and writer)
My Girl (
1991)
This Is My Life (
1992)
Sneakers (
1992)
Chaplin (
1992)
Coneheads (
1993) (also writer)
A Century of Cinema (
1994) (documentary)
My Girl 2 (
1994)
North (
1994)
Exit to Eden (
1994)
The Random Factor (
1995) (voice only)
Tommy Boy (
1995)
Casper (
1995) (Cameo)
Canadian Bacon (
1995) (Cameo)
Sgt. Bilko (
1996)
Getting Away with Murder (
1996)
Celtic Pride (
1996)
Rainbow (
1996)
The Arrow (
1996)
Feeling Minnesota (
1996)
Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal (
1996-200) (as host)
My Fellow Americans (
1996)
Grosse Pointe Blank (
1997)
Blues Brothers 2000 (
1998) (also producer and writer)
Antz (
1998) (voice)
Susan's Plan (
1998)
Diamonds (
1999)
Stardom (
2000)
Loser (
2000)
The House of Mirth (
2000)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (
2001)
Pearl Harbor (
2001)
Evolution (
2001)
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (
2001)
The Frank Truth (
2001) (documentary)
On the Nose (
2001)
Crossroads (
2002)
Unconditional Love (
2002)
Bright Young Things (
2003)
50 First Dates (
2004)
Intern Academy (
2004)
Christmas with the Kranks (
2004)
Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs (
2005)
* Hill, Doug, and Weingrad, Jeff,
Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. Vintage Books, 1986. ISBN 0394750535.
*
House of Blues*
Dan Aykroyd: 'Soul Man' Post-Mortem interview on TVDads.com
*
Dan Aykroyd, Still Full of the 'Blues' - interview on
NPR's
Fresh Air with
Terry Gross - originally aired Nov. 22, 2004
*
BluesBrothers Central*
Dan Aykroyd on Northern Stars - Canadians in the Movies
