Biography
After several abortive tries at college, the Kansas-born Close took to the road in the 1950s, working as a carnival barker and fire-eater ("Azrad the Incombustible"). He toured the country with various theatrical companies in the 1950s, including working alongside Nichols and May at the Compass Players in St. Louis in 1957. Later, Close co-founded Chicago's comedy group Second City (1960) and San Francisco's improvisational group The Committee …
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Career Milestones
| Acted in TV sitcoms like "Get Smart" | ||
| Arrested for possession of marijuana | ||
| Directed Second City revues, nuturing talent like John Belushi, Harold Ramis and others | ||
| Hired by producer Jean Doumanian to run improv sessions at "Saturday Night Live" | ||
| Played Polonius to Aidan Quinn's "Hamlet", directed by Robert Falls | ||
| Played The Ghost of Christmas Past in annual "Christmas Carol" production at the Goodman Theater, Chicago | ||
| Raised in Manhattan, Kansas | ||
| Toured the US with various theatrical companies in the 1950s | ||
1949 | Published science fiction magazine (CATACLYSM) with friend | |
1950 | First show business job, throwing spaghetti "worms" at moviegoers during late-night horror shows | |
1957 | Appeared with the Compass Players, alongside Mike Nichols and Elaine May, among others | |
1958 | Arrived in New York to do stand-up comedy; began using heroin | |
1959 | Acted in the Off-Broadway musical "The Nervous Set" | |
1960 | Co-founded Second City in Chicago; fired in 1965 over his substance abuse and emotional problems | |
1963 | Co-founded The Committee in San Francisco | |
1971 | Founded theater company in Austin, Texas | |
1972 | Returned to Chicago | |
1973 | Appeared in small role in "American Graffiti" | |
1982 | Kicked own substance abuse problems after drug-related death of friend and protege Belushi | |
1983 | Again fired from Second City; developed comedy workshops at CrossCurrents and later ImprovOlympic | |
1985 | TV-movie debut, "First Step" | |
1988 | Once again returned to Second City to stage "The Gods Must Be Lazy" | |