In this weekend's The Big Year, Steve Martin stars as a wealthy retiree who spends his free time spanning the globe in search of rare bird species -- a passion that gives way to a competition against his similarly "birding" enthused friends played by Jack Black and Owen Wilson. So just how does a Texas-born stand-up transform himself into the only successful actor/comedian/author/playwright/banjo player/Emmy winner/onscreen bird watcher in Hollywood history?
You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor's current success. As such, let's look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Steve Martin.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1968)
Although born in Texas, Martin was raised in California where he studied magic, worked with a comedy troupe at Knott's Berry Farm and eventually studied philosophy as an undergraduate at California State University, Long Beach. By the age of 23, Martin had transferred colleges, switched majors (to theater), appeared on an episode of The Dating Game and was ready for his big Hollywood break: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. After being hired as a writer on the show (which would earn him an Emmy his first year), Martin was occasionally pulled onstage by the stars of the series for comedy routines that in some cases (like below), involved his adolescent hobby, magic.
Saturday Night Live (1976)
Although, contrary to popular belief, Martin was never a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series, the actor has hosted the show fifteen times beginning with an appearance in 1976 that would help popularize the comedian with American audiences. It was during the mid-to-late '70s that the actor's comedy career took off because of his television appearances, his comedy albums (that went platinum) and his "King Tut" single, which the actor performed during one of the most expensive SNL sketches at the time. Thanks to that national exposure, the single sold over a million copies and helped his album A Wild and Crazy Guy win a Grammy. Having achieved success in writing, recording and small screen comedy, the multi-talent was now poised for his big screen breakthrough.
The Jerk (1979)
Bringing us to The Jerk, which remains many Steve Martin fans' favorite Steve Martin movie as well as his feature screenwriting debut and his big screen acting breakthrough. (Months before, Martin served Kermit and Miss Piggy as "Insolent Waiter" in The Muppet Movie.) Martin starred as Navin R. Johnson, a simple-minded fellow who finds fortune through an unlikely invention -- even though he is so imbecilic that he doesn't realize that because his parents are black, and he is white, he must be adopted. The film was a hit with critics (well, except for Roger Ebert, who "didn't find The Jerk very funny). This was also Martin's first of four collaborations with director Carl Reiner -- who went on to direct the writer/actor in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains and All of Me.
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Instead of coasting off The Jerk's success by cranking out a few cash-grab comedies, Martin followed his big screen breakthrough with his first dramatic role in Herbert Ross's musical film Pennies From Heaven. Martin was so dedicated to the project -- which was based on a British miniseries he considered "the greatest thing [he'd] ever seen -- that he spent six months learning to tap dance. As a married sheet music salesman who falls for a schoolteacher (Bernadette Peters), Martin was criticized for giving a heartless (although technically proficient) performance. Later that decade, Martin would more successfully combine darkness and dancing in the adaptation format with Little Shop of Horrors, where he played a sadistic singing dentist.
Parenthood (1989)
After failing to impress anyone really with his dramatic turn in Pennies, Martin spent the next eight years delivering a steady stream of comedies including The Man with Two Brains; The Lonely Guy; All of Me; Movers & Shakers;Three Amigos; Roxanne; Planes, Trains & Automobiles -- the beloved John Hughes film featuring John Candy and Martin as a grumpy ad man capable of hurling 18 variations of the word "f*ck" at a rental car agent in a minute -- and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Martin ended the decade just how he started it though, with a dramatic role -- this time one that would prove him as a serious actor. As a sales executive dealing with an emotionally troubled son, his own father issues and countless other parenting stresses, Martin's sincere performance was applauded by critics and helped the Ron Howard film become one of the biggest box office successes of Martin's career. Unfortunately for the actor, his upcoming dramatic roles in forgettable titles like The Spanish Prisoner and Grand Canyon would be largely ignored.
Bowfinger (1999)
After peaking in the '90s early on with the brilliant, Steve Martin-penned rom-com L.A. Story and the Father of the Bride remake, Martin's career hit a lull. Although he was working just as steadily as ever, the movies he was attaching himself to -- like Housesitter, Leap of Faith, A Simple Twist of Fate, Mixed Nuts, Sgt. Bilko, The Spanish Prisoner -- pause for breath -- and The Out-of-Towners were disappointments for loyal Martin fans.
At long last, the comedian resurfaced from box office drudge to star in another clever comedy based on a script of his own. This mid-career comeback starred Martin as a hacky film producer who enlists the untalented look-a-like (Eddie Murphy) of a Hollywood star (also Eddie Murphy) to star in his low-budget movie so that it will get distribution. Bowfinger grossed nearly twice its budget at the box office and garnered well-earned positive reviews for Martin...
Bringing Down the House (2003
...which meant that the actor was free to embark on the WTF leg of his film career, which began promisingly (in the WTF sense at least) with Bringing Down the House, a rom-com starring Martin as an uptight professional who goes on a blind date with an escaped convict played by Queen Latifah. Makes total sense! In spite of the scathing reviews, this unlikely project killed at the box office just like Martin's next sell-out projects, Cheaper By the Dozen -- and slightly less so, Cheaper By the Dozen 2 and The Pink Panther.
Shopgirl (2005)
In spite of all the accomplishments Martin achieved in the previous three and a half decades, he still had more milestones to reach -- like 2005's Shopgirl, which placed the multi-hyphenate as the romantic lead in a film based on his own screenplay which was based on his own novella. Critics praised the film -- which chronicled a May-December romance between Martin's character and Claire Danes's character -- for being "elegant and exquisitely tailored . . . both funny and sweetly sad." It was also the actor's first work in a romantic drama and a welcome break from Cheaper By the Dozen installments.
The Big Year (2011)
On the heels of It's Complicated -- which we can safely say starred the best Steve Martin movie trio since Three Amigos -- Martin successfully co-hosted the 2010 Academy Awards with his It's Complicated co-star Alec Baldwin. This weekend, he returns to the multiplex to spend his onscreen retirement obsessively bird-watching with two next-generation comedic actors Owen Wilson and Jack Black in tow. Although it's bittersweet seeing Martin, once a fresh-faced comedian performing magic tricks for the Smothers Brothers, facing his own mortality onscreen, it's exciting to think that the legendary actor might have a few more milestones up his sleeve.