Steve Guttenberg - Biography

Steven Robert "Steve" Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor and comedian. He became well known during the 1980s, after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, and Short Circuit.

Early life

Guttenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Ann Iris (née Newman), and Jerome Stanley Guttenberg, an electrical engineer. He was in a family of five which included two sisters. He had a Jewish upbringing in North Massapequa, New York, where he graduated from Plainedge High School in 1976. He attended The Juilliard School, State University of New York at Albany, and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Career

Acting career

His studies, which include years with teacher Herbert Berghof and with the improvisational comedy school, The Groundlings, took him to such theaters as the Helen Hayes on Broadway, where he was cast in the lead role in Prelude to a Kiss and The Comedy. He was also on the stage in London's West End, where he starred in The Boys Next Door. He won kudos in the world stage premiere production of Furthest From the Sun, which Woody Harrelson directed and co-authored. Guttenberg has also appeared on TV. His television films include the critically acclaimed Miracle on Ice (1981), To Race the Wind (1980), Something for Joey (1977) and the controversial nuclear holocaust picture, The Day After (1983). Prior to becoming well known, Guttenberg played the title role in the short-lived 1979 sitcom Billy as a teenage boy with a Walter Mitty complex. In 1980, a Coca-Cola commercial featured him trying to help a non-English-speaking woman whose car stalled. They share a common bond in their love of Coke. Also in 1980, Guttenberg starred in the Nancy Walker-directed movie Can't Stop the Music---a semi-autobiographical movie about the disco group The Village People.

Guttenberg has starred in three film franchises: Police Academy, Cocoon, and Three Men and a Baby. He has also appeared in such renowned films as Diner, The Bedroom Window, The Boys from Brazil, and Short Circuit. Although Guttenberg is known as a film actor, his roots are in the theater. His first film as director/producer/co-screenwriter/star was the adaptation of a Broadway hit, the stage comedy/drama P.S. Your Cat Is Dead (2002) by James Kirkwood Jr., co-author of A Chorus Line. Guttenberg also starred in the Cinderella pantomime at Churchill Theatre in Bromley, playing the Baron (father of Cinderella) in 2008.

Guttenberg was seen less during the 1990s. He starred in It Takes Two with Kirstie Alley and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. He also starred alongside Kirsten Dunst in Disney's Tower of Terror, based on the attraction at the Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. He had a recurring role on the second season of the television series Veronica Mars as Woody Goodman, a wealthy businessman and community leader and 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.

More recently, 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.

The sixth-annual Golden Wagon Film Festival honored Steve Guttenberg, with the 2008 Tony Randall Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the entertainment industry, as well as his numerous and generous community service efforts. The Tony Randall Lifetime Achievement Award was created in tribute to the first Golden Wagon honoree, Tony Randall. The award is given to a member of the entertainment industry who embodies the same love of Fire Island, independent spirit, and community service that Tony Randall shared.

On August 25, 2008, Guttenberg released a video entitled "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 also played himself in an episode of the Starz comedy Party Down that originally aired May 21, 2010.

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.

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 and Sharon Stone to return for an 8th sequel though Goldthwait said he had no desire to return to the series. Steve Guttenberg is heading to Broadway. The show is titled, "Relatively Speaking" and was written in part by Woody Allen.

Other work

Guttenberg is involved with charities whose goal is to improve opportunities for the homeless and for young people. He founded Guttenhouse, an apartment complex in South Los Angeles he funded to accommodate young people after their graduation from foster child status, with on-site social worker direction to assist their assuming adult responsibilities. The Entertainment Industry Foundation, Hollywood's charity arm, selected him to be Ambassador for Children's Issues because of his work on behalf of children and the homeless. In this capacity, he spearheads Sight for Students, a $7-million program in which, together with VSP and Altair Eyeglasses, he helps provide glasses for 50,000 underprivileged and visually challenged children throughout their school years. He also supports the Plainedge School District, where he went to high school and often sponsors charity events.

His interest in the welfare of youngsters is reflected in his work as a producer and director. He executive-produced Gangs, a CBS School Break Special which earned an Emmy nomination, and debuted as a director with a CBS School Break Special, Love Off Limits (1993). Guttenberg's spare time is occupied up by his charitable activities for such kids-oriented agencies as Friends of the Children/Bridges, The Starlight Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. He is also a surfer, golfer and devoted dog owner.

His production company, "Mr. Kirby Productions", is named after Gerald J. Kirby, his high school drama teacher.

In early November 2008, allegedly Guttenberg was filmed jogging semi-naked through Central Park, New York. On November 12, Guttenberg appeared as a guest on British Channel 4's 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.

From Friday 5 December 2008 through 18 January 2009, he appeared in the pantomime "Cinderella", at The Churchill Theatre in Bromley, England. To celebrate the star being in Bromley, that year there was a special screening of Police Academy at the local Empire Cinema on the 19th November, which Mr. Guttenberg introduced and had a question and answer session.

Guttenberg starred in the 2008 spring season of Dancing with the Stars, although he was eliminated on April 1.

Music videos

In 1989 he appeared in the Michael Jackson music video, "Liberian Girl".

Filmography

External links