As Marilu Henner celebrates her 70th birthday, find the cast of the television show “Taxi” | Gallery

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In just five seasons on the air, “Taxi” has won 13 Emmys, including three for Best Comedy Series, and has become a classic on American television. The pioneering sitcom, which premiered in 1978, focused on the daily lives of drivers at New York’s Sunshine Cab Company who all dream of bigger things. With its core ensemble – Danny DeVito, Jeff Conaway, Marilu Henner, Tony Danza, Randall Carver, Andy Kaufman and Judd Hirsch – “Taxi” redefined television comedy and still brings laughs in syndication. In honor of Marilu’s 70th birthday on April 6, 2022, join Wonderwall.com as we celebrate her and the rest of the talented cast with a look at what they’ve been up to since the show ended. . Let’s start with the birthday girl… Marilu Henner played single mother Elaine Nardo, who drives a cab to make ends meet but dreams of being an artist.

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Marilu Henner followed “Taxi” with starring roles in ’80s films including “The Man Who Loved Women,” “Johnny Dangerously” and “LA Story.” She returned to television to star opposite Burt Reynolds in the ’90s sitcom “Evening Shade” and appeared as herself in the 1999 film “Man on the Moon” about her co-star ” Taxi” Andy Kaufman. Marilu, who regularly appears on Hallmark’s mystery series Aurora Teagarden, has also become an author – she’s written nine books about healthy lifestyles, diet, and her incredible memory. (The actress suffers from hyperthymesia, or total recall memory, and can recall specific details from virtually every day of her life since she was a child.) The mother-of-two, who hosts her own TV show Daily syndicated radio station, “The Marilu Henner Show,” has two sons with second husband Robert Lieberman and is now married to third husband Michael Brown.

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Judd Hirsch portrayed Alex Rieger, the cynical but compassionate protagonist who all other drivers turn to for advice. He won two Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Emmys, in 1981 and 1983, for his performance.

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After the series ended, Judd Hirsch starred in hit TV shows such as “Dear John” and “Numb3rs.” In addition to a prolific stage career, he landed roles in films like “Running on Empty” (1988), “Independence Day” (1996), “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) and “Uncut Gems” ( 2019) — plus he briefly reprized his role as “Taxi” in “Man on the Moon,” the 1999 biopic that starred Jim Carrey as Judd’s late co-star Andy Kaufman. The two-time Emmy winner, two-time Tony winner and one-time Oscar nominee has three children: son Alex with first wife Elisa Sadaune and daughter and son with second wife Bonni Sue Chalkin, a designer of fashion from which he divorced in 2005.

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Danny DeVito played Louie De Palma, the spectacularly unscrupulous head dispatcher of the Sunshine Cab Company who spends his days in his office bullying and arguing with drivers. He earned four Emmy nominations (and one win in 1981) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy.

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Danny DeVito’s post-“Taxi” career included roles in some of the most defining films of the 80s, including “Terms of Endearment”, “Romancing the Stone”, “Throw Momma from the Train”, “Twins” and ” The War of the Roses.” Later he acted in “Get Shorty”, “Matilda”, “LA Confidential” and other films. On the small screen, he received a 2004 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on an episode of “Friends” and has played Frank Reynolds on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” since 2006. 2017, Danny earned a Tony Award nomination for his performance in “The Price” on Broadway. The actor and his “Taxi” co-star Rhea Perlman, who married in 1982, separated in 2012 after 30 years of marriage. The parents of three reconciled the following year but separated again in 2017 and remain close friends.

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Tony Danza played Tony Banta, the kind-hearted but not-so-sharp Vietnam veteran and aspiring boxer with a losing record.

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Tony Danza’s most famous role after “Taxi” was as single father Tony Micelli in “Who’s the Boss?” from 1984 to 1992. Later in the 90s, he starred in the short-lived sitcoms “Hudson Street” and “The Tony Danza Show”, the latter also being the name of his syndicated morning talk show which became ran from 2004 to 2006. The Brooklyn native was nominated for an Emmy in 1998 for his guest starring role in “The Practice,” and he won critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway play “The Iceman Cometh.” “. He also branched out into other creative pursuits, releasing the 2002 album “The House I Live In”, sung in the style of 1950s crooners, and co-writing “Don’t Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza’s Father-Son Cookbook” with his son Marc in 2008. The actor divorced Marc’s mother, Rhonda Yeoman, in 1974 after four years of marriage. He then had two daughters with his second wife, Tracy Robinson; the couple separated in 2006 after 20 years of marriage.

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Jeff Conaway played conceited and handsome actor Bobby Wheeler, a prime target of Danny DeVito’s villainous boss Louie De Palma.

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Jeff Conaway played Kenickie in the movie “Grease” alongside his friend John Travolta in 1978, the same year “Taxi” premiered. He left the show after the third season and returned during the fourth season only for guest appearances, in part due to his escalating drug problem. (“Taxi” writer Sam Simon recalled in 2008 that while on set, the actor disappeared and was found in his dressing room, too drugged to perform.) Jeff then played security guard Zack Allan on “Babylon 5” and was featured on the first two seasons of “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.” He was open about his addiction battles with multiple substances over the years. The actor – pictured here with then-girlfriend, singer Vikki Lizzi, in Los Angeles in December 2010, five months before his death – was married three times, including Rona Newton-John, the elder sister of his co-star Olivia Newton-John. The troubled star died of pneumonia and sepsis, which were exacerbated by a drug overdose, on May 26, 2011, aged 60.

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Christopher Lloyd played Reverend Jim Ignatowski, a gentle soul whose penchant for drugs transformed him from a promising Harvard student into a former super-spaced hippie. The actor won two Emmys for his portrayal of the unforgettable character.

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Christopher Lloyd’s best-known role after “Taxi” was as eccentric inventor Emmett “Doc” Brown in the “Back to the Future” film trilogy. His eclectic career will take him to many projects aimed at young viewers, from “Clue” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” to “The Addams Family” and “Dennis the Menace”. The Connecticut native, who joins Disney+ hit ‘The Mandalorian’ for its third season, is married to fifth wife Lisa Loiacono – who was his real estate agent for the 2012 sale of his Montecito, Calif. home since 2016.

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Randall Carver played John Burns, the naive small-town lumber student who takes a job as a taxi driver to pay for his education. The character was written out after the first season – the actor later said it was because the storylines of John Burns and Tony Banta were too similar.

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After his lone season on “Taxi,” Randall Carver appeared on numerous television shows, including “The Love Boat,” “Six O’Clock Follies,” and “Malcolm in the Middle,” and dozens of TV movies. (His favorite was “Detour to Terror,” in which he “played his first villainous role terrorizing OJ Simpson,” he notes on his website.) Randall also landed roles in movies like “Murphy’s Law.” and “There Will”. Be blood.” The Fort Worth, Texas native, who is married to Emmy-nominated writer Shelley Herman, was adopted and raised as an only child. Later in life, he was reunited and happily reunited with nine brothers and biological sisters.

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Rhea Perlman played Zena Sherman. She is romantically involved with Louie (played by future husband Danny DeVito, pictured with her in a 1979 episode) but marries someone else after they break up.

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Rhea Perlman followed “Taxi” with the role of a lifetime – ultra grumpy waitress Carla Tortelli on the sitcom “Cheers.” During the run from 1982 to 1993, Rhea was nominated for 10 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress and won four times. Big-screen projects included 1996’s “Matilda,” which starred her husband and former “Taxi” co-star Danny DeVito, and 2019’s “Poms” film Rhea, who had a recurring role in “The Mindy Project” from 2014 to 2017, also wrote the series of children’s books “Otto Undercover” about a boy who experiences many adventures while trying to find his undercover agent parents. The New York native, who split from her famous husband for the second and final time in 2017 (35 years after they were married), told Bravo host Andy Cohen in 2019 that she and Danny have become closer friends since their split than they were in their final years as a couple.

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Andy Kaufman was Latka Gravas, an immigrant from a strange foreign land who often speaks in his strange foreign language and works as a mechanic fixing cabs at the Sunshine Cab Company.

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Andy Kaufman – actor, singer, professional wrestler and performance artist – had audiences roaring with laughter, but was called “anti-comedian” because he didn’t tell jokes or engage in comedy. other conventions of traditional comedy. “The comedian’s promise is that he’ll go out there and make you laugh with him,” he once said. “My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can.” Entertaining he did – both as Latka on “Taxi” and in unique live performance art shows in which he sometimes appeared as himself and sometimes as his alter ego, the singer of obnoxiously rude parlor Tony Clifton. The eccentric entertainer, who was immortalized by Jim Carrey in the 1999 biopic “Man on the Moon,” died of lung cancer on May 16, 1984, aged 35. Because pranks and elaborate stunts were big parts of his career, persistent rumors swirled around. that his death was a big hoax.

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Carol Kane won two Emmys for her performance as Simka Dahblitz-Gravas, from the same country as Andy Kaufman’s Latka. Although they belong to traditionally hostile ethnic groups, they fall in love and marry.

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Carol Kane went on to guest star on classic TV shows like ‘Cheers’, ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Ellen’ and later appeared on ‘Two and a Half Men’, ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’. Her film career included memorable turns in “The Princess Bride” and “Scrooged” and she had a guest appearance as the “Taxi” character in Andy Kaufman’s biopic “Man on the Moon.” The actress is also known for her portrayal of the evil director Madame Morrible in the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ and played the role in various productions from 2005 to 2014. Carol (pictured with her former ‘Taxi’ co-star Christopher Lloyd at an event in New York in December 2021) dated Woody Harrelson for two years in the ’80s, but the never-married star otherwise maintained a very low public profile.