Biography
Aykroyd grew up in Ottawa, Ontario. His father, Samuel Cuthbert Peter Hugh Aykroyd, was a policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. His mother, Lorraine Gougeon, is French-Canadian.
Aykroyd was born with syndactyly (webbed toes) and heterochromia (the condition of having two differently-colored eyes). In an 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.)
Dan Aykroyd attended Roman Catholic high schools at Ottawa, St Pius X and St. Patrick's, where he was briefly expelled from the latter. Aykroyd went on to study criminology 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.
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, 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 acid trip 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; a beleaguered male prostitute named Fred Garvin; 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 popular 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 exhiliratingly 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's variant was more reserved and less self-destructive. By the time each show reached its end, Aykroyd was changed into street clothes and quickly got onto his Harley Davidson, riding all night to parts unknown in Canada.
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 humourous 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 speak easy 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 despite being a Chicago native. Dan 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.
Belushi and Aykroyd 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, Dan 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 comedically-oriented films, with uneven results both commercially and artistically. 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).
Dan 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. Dan used to joke that the green ghoul Slimer was "the ghost of John Belushi", based on the similar party animal personality. Ghostbusters became a huge success for Aykroyd as a creator, 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 career 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 children.
Is Canadian of French and English extraction and can trace his family name back to the Norman Conquest.
Filmography
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)
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)
References
Hill, Doug, and Weingrad, Jeff, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. Vintage Books, 1986. ISBN 0394750535.
