Trivia

(December 31, 2013) Married her girlfriend of 42 years Jane Wagner. They met in March 1971.

During her one-woman show in Las Vegas, Nevada, she appeared as her own opening act: a smarmy male lounge singer billed as Tommy Velour.

Best friends with Jane Fonda.

A recipient of the 2014 Kennedy Center Honors. Other recipients this year were Al Green, Tom Hanks, Patricia McBride, and Sting.

In 2002, Lily Tomlin was The Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards Lifetime Achievement Honoree which Director David O. Russell presented onstage as an opera singer serenading Lily on his one bended knee.

Before a performance of one of her one-woman shows in New York City, she appeared on the sidewalk dressed in a Red Cross nurse's uniform, handing out cups of coffee to those waiting in line to enter the theatre.

Studied acting under Charles Nelson Reilly, who introduced her to the works of monologist Ruth Draper, a major inspiration for Tomlin's work.

Was a pre-med student at Wayne State University before choosing acting as a career.

Won the Kennedy Center's prestigious Mark Twain Prize for Humor in 2003.

Won a Grammy Award for the comedy album "This is a Recording" in 1971 and won Tony Awards in 1977 and 1986.

She studied drama at HB Studio in Greenwich Village in New York City.

One of her first "professional" gigs was as a waitress in Howard Johnson's on Broadway near Times Square. Her comments to customers and staff heard over the eatery's microphone attracted her first big-city audience.

She gave away genuine locks of her hair as a bonus for buyers of her home video library in 1993.

Acknowledged that she has been in a romantic relationship with Jane Wagner since 1971.

Has won two Tony Awards: in 1977, a special Award, and in 1986, the Best Actress (Play) Award for her one-woman show, "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe," a performance recreated in the film version of the same title, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1991).

She was originally set to play Olive Oyl in Popeye (1980), opposite Dustin Hoffman in the title role. Shelley Duvall eventually played the role opposite Robin Williams.

Was born the same day World War II started.

Studied mime with Paul Curtis.

Nominated in the Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, "Eastbound & Down", at The Women's Image Network (WIN) Awards 2012.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1977" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 29.

She and Dustin Hoffman were originally picked to play Popeye and Olive Oyle in the film Popeye.

With Meryl Streep presented Robert Altman with his honorary Oscar on March 5th, 2006 at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony.

Nominated for the 2018 Emmy Award in the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category for her role as Frankie Bergstein in Grace and Frankie (2015), but lost to Rachel Brosnahan from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017).

"The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California was awarded the 2003 Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Touring Production.

(25 May 1999) Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada - guest speaker for Exceptional Experiences lecture series. (May 1999)

Was to star in a film called Illegitimate around 1980 but the film was never made. [Originally reported in "Playboy" magazine].

She has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Nashville (1975).