DAN AYKROYD

By Nate Lee  

THE REAL DAN:

Ghostbusters...

A nice guy surrounded by know-it-alls and fools. Sounds like the story of a Canadian comic writer in Hollywood, eh?

GREAT PERFORMANCES YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN:

Driving Miss Daisy (Boolie)

50 First Dates (the doctor)

Grosse Point Blank (an assassin)

Chaplin (Mack Sennett)

Dragnet (Joe Friday)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Sneakers

My Girl

Christmas with the Kranks

War, Inc.

Neighbors

Coneheads

BEST FILM:

The Blues Brothers...

No argument that a flip of the coin could put “Trading Places” on top. But the character of Elwood Blues is so brilliant that writer Aykroyd gave all the best lines to Belushi and still plays one of the most memorable comedic characters ever.

BLOCKBUSTERS:

The Blues Brothers

Trading Places

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters II

Spies Like Us

Pearl Harbor 

ACTING STYLE:

The pal. When he’s not dutifully disappearing into the nice-guy character roles, he’s the buddy. The fact that he chooses to be the straight man to the best -- Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Eddie Murphy and John Belushi (and even somewhat to Adam Sandler) – shouldn’t diminish our view of his own comedic prowess.

BITS AND QUIRKS:

As many and varied as his parts. Almost always, there’s the gigantic smile, usually accompanied by raised eyebrows, often open-mouthed smile. The lip pursing is a big one. Little-boy pout. A monotone delivery, often overly fast. A repertoire of “golly gee” phrases.

GREAT SCENES:

BLUES BROTHERS > Every single scene, of course, but some nice bits are >> Bringing the Cheez Whiz for the guy in the SRO building > The elevator music in the State Office Building > Dancing in the diner with Aretha > Popping up out of the rubble of the SRO

TRADING PLACES > The whole trading scene at the end > The one-dollar bet > The Santa with a nervous breakdown

GHOSTBUSTERS > Chasing down the ghosts in the hotel

SPIES LIKE US > The supposed Armageddon pairing-off

GROSSE POINT BLANK > Talking to John Cusack about making an assassins union

50 FIRST DATES > The “memory” scene with the whole cast

IF YOU LIKE HIM, YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T LIKE:

Too many to name—way too many, but you can start with “1941”

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