Steve was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas. At age 5 his family moved from Waco to Inglewood, California, and then at age 10 they moved again- this time to Garden Grove, California (a few miles from Anaheim.)
It was while living in Garden Grove Steve got one of his first jobs, selling guidebooks at Disneyland. Being among the musicians, and the actors that made Disneyland the attraction it is, Steve became hooked. Pursuing his new found interest, at age 18 he started to work as an entertainer at the nearby Knotts Berry Farm, performing in up to 4 shows daily.
But soon it was time to move onto more "serious" matters and he attended Long Beach State College, majoring in philosophy. It didn't last long however; he left the program to transfer into theater at University of California, Los Angelas. Through a friend he got a job as a comedy writer for "The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour"(1967-1968). Steve was now "in the Buisness" and left acedemia. He was performing in stand-ups in night clubs and wrting for numerous televisions program shows including The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour(1972-1973). His big break however, came when he made his first apperence on Saturday Night Live in 1976. In one night he went from being a night club standup to a national sensation.
By the end of the 1970's Steve had made more than a half-dozen apperences on SNL, released numerous comedy albums, offered a of short essays in Cruel Shoes, and stared in his 1st film, "The Jerk"(1979).
His greatest success and visibility have been in the films Steve made and continues to make. Titles such as The Jerk, All of Me, Parenthood, and Father of the Bride showcased his many talents as both a comedian and a drametic actor. With them he attained a level of success matched by fewer other comedians.
From his early television days to now, Steve continues to be a writer, creating much of his own material, both for film, and more recently, for the stage. He wrote the screenplay for L.A. Story, Roxanne, A Simple Twist of Fate, and Bowfinger and was a cowriter for many other of his films. Steve is the autor of the play Picasso at the Lapin Agile first produced in 1993 in Chicago, and more recently the play WASP which was staged in New York.
While likes to keep his private life exactly that, he was known to have been dating his co-star Bernedete Peters for a time during the late 1970s, but eventually married Victoria Tennant(his co-star in L.A. Story.)in a ceremony in Rome City's hall in 1986. Sadly, they divorced in 1994. Steve's passion in her life is collecting late 19th and early 20th century American art, and he has reportedly created an outstanding collection. |
