Billy Crystal is doing it again.
The 63-year-old comedian and veteran Oscar host said Thursday on Twitter that he is hosting this season’s Academy Awards “so the young woman in the pharmacy will stop asking my name when I pick up my prescriptions.”
“Some of the best moments of my career have happened on the Oscar stage,” said Crystal in a later statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “I am thrilled to be back there.”
This will be the ninth Oscar stint for Crystal, one of the most popular Oscar hosts of recent years. His last time was in 2004. Only Bob Hope hosted more Oscar shows, with 19 ceremonies between 1940 and 1978.
Academy president Tom Sherak called Crystal “a comic legend and Oscar icon, and it feels good to have him back where he belongs.”
The naming of Crystal follows a groundswell of sentiment for his return after he led a tribute to Bob Hope on the 2011 Oscar show for which he received a standing ovation. Crystal said later he was moved by the warm reception and that “it might be fun” to host the show again.
“I think the show needs to change,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press in March. “There’s too many awards and it has to sort of freshen itself up, and if I can be a part of that, that would be great.”
Crystal previously hosted in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2004 — some of the most successful shows in Oscar history. The 1998 show was the highest-rated Oscar telecast ever, when “Titanic” sailed away with multiple trophies.
The 2011 ceremony featured the duo of Anne Hathaway and James Franco in an effort to attract younger viewers, but with disappointing results. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted the year before.
Comedian Eddie Murphy had been chosen to host the Feb. 26, 2012, show, but pulled out Wednesday following the departure on Tuesday of producer and friend Brett Ratner, who left amid criticism of his use of a pejorative term for gay men at a screening of the director’s action comedy “Tower Heist,” which stars Murphy.
Ratner was replaced this week by veteran producer Brian Grazer, joining co-producer Don Mischer, who was named producer alongside Ratner in August.
“Like so many others, I’ve been eager to see Billy host again,” said Grazer. “It’s very gratifying that he agreed to do it with Don and me at the helm.”
“With Billy, we’re moving forward with one of the greatest hosts in Oscar history,” said Mischer. “His return to the Oscars is, in a sense, a celebration.”
In an interview prior to the Crystal announcement, Tom O’Neil, editor of the awards website GoldDerby.com, had noted “there would be cheers across Hollywood for Billy’s return. That could be the happy ending for this story.”
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AP Movie Writer David Germain and AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report.
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More