Rick Moranis Net Worth

Rick Moranis's Quotes

• Until 1982, Canada Day was known as Dominion Day. I always thought that had more of a ring to it. Beyond the zippy alliteration, it reminded us citizens that our domain of orderly domesticity was graced by the dominant power of our "Dominus." And the rights granted therein to us by the glorious English crown through her colonial appointee, the right honorable governor general.There was another problem with Dominion Day. Dominion was the name of a national grocery store chain. It would be like calling the Fourth of July D'Agostino's Day.Independence (now there's a great name for a day!) came slowly to our country. In 1965, we dumped the old, staid British ensign for our own new flag. It's the one with the big red maple leaf in the middle. A simple, sweet leaf! We also have moose and beavers on our coins. And we call our dollars loonies because the coin has an image of a loon. Another old bird, the Queen of England, is on the other side of the coin.'I remember singing "God Save the Queen" every morning in school. "Long live our noble Queen!" we belted, thousands of us tubby little obedient Canadians. I guess it worked. She's still alive. Now they sing "O Canada" in schools and at most sporting events; usually in French and English. Around the time we were changing anthems, dumping ensigns and renaming holidays, the official use of both languages became mandatory, except in Quebec where the required use of English is a bit fuzzy.Canada Day comes and goes modestly every year. Sure, there are retail sales promotions and a long weekend. But there isn't bluster or commodity in Canadian celebration. Canada isn't big on bunting. Or jet flyovers, fireworks, marching bands or military pomp.Canadians defer. We save our loonies and we don't jaywalk. It's illegal, eh. We drive safe. We stand on guard at red lights, even when there is no traffic. We wait for clear, green governing lights to signal our turn and lead us on. Then we tuck our heads down, under woolly toques and worn-out scarves, one eye barely open, squinting headlong into the harsh prairie wind, cautiously, quietly, demurely Canadian.
• I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it.
• On the last couple of movies I made - big-budget Hollywood movies - I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters (1984) or Spaceballs (1987). By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn't for me. I'm really not an actor. I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody's precious words work.
• [on refusing a cameo in Ghostbusters (2016)]: I wish them well, I hope it's terrific. But it just makes no sense to me. Why would I do just one day of shooting on something I did 30 years ago?

Interesting Facts about Rick Moranis

1. Was widowed in 1991 when his wife died of breast cancer. Has two children from that marriage.
2. Moranis and Dave Thomas originally created the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie in protest against government requirements for "identifiable Canadian content" in domestically produced television programming. The skits, as an "SCTV" (198) program "The Great White North" featured two dimwitted brothers who combined as many negative Canadian stereotypes as possible. Despite this, they became so popular that the skits were included in the American version of the program, and Moranis and Thomas were made members of the Order of Canada for their contribution to Canadian culture.
3. Was the afternoon deejay on Toronto radio station CHUM-FM in the 1970s.
4. Using the on-air name of "Rick Allen" he was the overnight deejay on Toronto radio station CFTR-AM in the early 1970s after that station switched formats from Beautiful Music to Top 40.
5. Along with Dave Thomas, scored a Billboard Top 40 hit in 1982, called "Take Off", as Bob and Doug MacKenzie, in a duet with Rush lead singer Geddy Lee.
6. Attended Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School in Toronto, Canada with Geddy Lee, from the rock band Rush.
7. Made the cover of the first issue of "Disney Adventures" magazine in 1990.
8. Had a letter published (as Ricky Moranis) in "Mad" magazine, issue #120 (July 1968). The subject was "Don Martin Looks at Frogs".
9. Was invited to the party Steve Martin was throwing that turned out to be his wedding.
10. Attended the funeral of his good friend John Candy.
11. Was the only Second City TV (1976) cast member who did not come from the Second City theatre.
12. Was considered for the role of Gov. Lewis in Evolution (2001), which went to Dan Aykroyd.
13. Following the death of his wife in 1991, the difficulty of raising their two children on his own, and his increasing disenchantment with Hollywood, Moranis retired from acting in 1997. He had intended the retirement to be a sabbatical of a couple of years, but later realized that he did not miss the pressure. He still does occasional voice work, e.g. Brother Bear (2003).
14. His character in Ghostbusters (1984), Louis Tully, was originally written for John Candy. Moranis was brought in as a last-minute replacement when Candy dropped out. Moranis, Candy and Ghostbusters co-star Harold Ramis are all alumni of Second City TV (1976).
15. Is the only actor to appear in all three "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" films: Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992) and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves! (1997).
16. Has appeared with Steve Martin in four films: The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Parenthood (1989), My Blue Heaven (1990), L.A. Story (1991).
17. Has appeared with Bill Murray in three films: Ghostbusters (1984), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and Ghostbusters II (1989).
18. Has appeared with John Candy in four films: Brewster's Millions (1985), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Spaceballs (1987) and The Rocket Boy (1989).
19. His paternal grandparents, Jacob and Lena Moranis, were Russian Jewish immigrants who moved to Philadelphia, PS, and later to Canada. His mother is of Polish Jewish ancestry.
20. His impersonation of George Carlin on Second City TV (1976) was not done with the intention of mocking the comedy legend, but rather as an affectionate tribute. However, due partially to his being in a difficult period at the time, both personally and professionally, Carlin was hurt by the imitation. Moranis had no idea that Carlin had taken issue with the impersonation until his daughter, Kelly Carlin-McCall, contacted him while researching her 2015 memoir and spent nearly an hour on the phone apologizing, which she greatly appreciated.