ACTOR
Michael McKean
43 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (43)
- #001
Dan Aykroyd and Michael McKean are the only people to have appeared on Saturday Night Live (1975) as musical guests, hosts and regular cast members.
- #002
Michael McKean is a relative of Thomas McKean, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
- #003
Michael McKean began playing guitar at 14. He also plays piano and harmonica.
- #004
Olympia Dukakis was Michael McKean's acting teacher at New York University. He learned improvisation from Omar Shapli. At times, the improvisation class performed as a comedy group called Chapter 10.
- #005
Michael McKean began his career in Pittsburgh while a student at Carnegie Mellon University. David L. Lander was his fellow student at CMU, and after graduation their partnership grew in Los Angeles as part of the comedy group The Credibility Gap alongside comedian Harry Shearer. McKean and Lander's breakthrough came in 1976 when they were cast as Lenny and Squiggy on Laverne & Shirley (1976). The pair were hired as apprentice writers and day players.
- #006
On 22 May 2012, Michael McKean was struck by a car while walking in New York, breaking his leg and being taken to hospital. After recovering, he continued his stage career, appearing in an Off-Broadway play directed by Bob Balaban.
- #007
Michael McKean appeared as a married couple with his wife Annette O'Toole in at least two TV shows: Boy Meets World (1993) and Law & Order (1990).
- #008
At 46, Michael McKean was the oldest man to join the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975).
- #009
On 18 March 1995, Michael McKean played "Perry White" in a Saturday Night Live (1975) sketch titled "Where's Superman" hosted by Paul Reiser. More than eight years later, McKean would play the same character, "Perry White", on Smallville (2001). In both portrayals of "Perry White", McKean shouts the phrase "Great Caesar's ghost!"
- #010
On Saturday Night Live (1975), Michael McKean impersonated celebrities such as Robert Evans, Gary Busey, Howard Stern and Bill Clinton.
- #011
Michael McKean guest-starred in three different series in which Clark Kent (Superman) appeared as a regular character: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993), Smallville (2001) and Justice League (2001).
- #012
With the death of Cindy Williams (Shirley) on 30 January 2023, Michael McKean is now the only surviving cast member of Laverne & Shirley (1973).
- #013
Michael McKean's parents, Gilbert and Ruth McKean, came from Louisiana. Gilbert was a record executive for RCA and Columbia. He also helped found Decca Records. Ruth was a typist who worked at a school library. The couple attended Louisiana Tech University along with Michael's grandmother. He has an older sister. He also had a younger brother.
- #014
Annette O'Toole and Michael McKean were one of three married couples nominated for an Oscar for the 2003-2004 season. The others were Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh, and Shari Springer Berman and her husband Robert Pulcini.
- #015
In 2000, Michael McKean became an honorary member of the Friars Club. He took part in events attended by Rob Reiner, Jerry Lewis, Pat Cooper and Jerry Stiller.
- #016
Michael McKean is a member of the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On 9 June 2002, he hosted the 29th Student Academy Awards.
- #017
Michael McKean turned down the regular role on Married… with Children (1987) because he thought the series, himself included, would not succeed. He was transferred to the recurring role of "Dean Cyrus O'Dell" at Hearst College on Veronica Mars (2004). Instead, he chose to do the West End production of John Kolvenbach's "Love Song".
- #018
On 28 December 2009, Michael McKean rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange along with his "Superior Donuts" castmates.
- #019
Along with Dean Cain, Teri Hatcher, Patrick Cassidy, George Murdock, Rob LaBelle and Richard Gant, Michael McKean is one of seven actors to have appeared in both Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993) and Smallville (2001).
- #020
The final concert of the "Unwigged & Unplugged" tour was recorded on video on May 31 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- #021
Following this spring's "Unwigged & Unplugged" acoustic tour, Michael McKean will perform at several music festivals this summer as part of Spinal Tap. In August he is going to New York to work on a new project. He is one of 75 comedians featured in the new book "Satiristas," to be published in October. Paul Provenza assembled the book.
- #022
He was interviewed as David St. Hubbins for a BBC Radio 2 documentary about Spinal Tap to be broadcast on June 20.
- #023
He and his fellow cast members of the Broadway revival of "The Homecoming" were honored with the Outstanding Ensemble Award at the Drama Desk Awards held in New York on May 18, 2008.
- #024
He is preparing to go to New York to play the role of Sam in the upcoming Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming" at the Cort Theatre. Rehearsals begin in October. The production begins preview performances on November 23. The play opens on December 13. It closes on April 13, 2008.
- #025
He plays the role of "Harry" in the European premiere of John Kolvenbach's play "Love Song" at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End. The romantic comedy closes on March 3.
- #026
He appeared on Broadway in "Hairspray" until October 2004.
- #027
He is preparing to play Arthur, the owner of a run-down donut shop in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, in "Superior Donuts," a new play by Tracy Letts of "August: Osage County" fame. The production runs from June 19 to August 17 at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago.
- #028
Recently, because of the stagehands' strike on Broadway, he took on the role of Sam at the first preview performance of the Broadway revival of Harold Pinter's "The Homecoming" on December 4. The play's new opening night is December 16. It will close on April 13, 2008.
- #029
He attended North Shore High School in Glen Head, New York.
- #030
After doing a workshop of the play in Chicago, he will reprise the role of Arthur in "Superior Donuts" on Broadway this fall.
- #031
He became engaged to Annette O'Toole in 1998.
- #032
"Superior Donuts" will run for one more week at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. The run will now close on August 24.
- #033
He is currently appearing in the role of the "Stage Manager" in the Barrow Street Theatre's revival of "Our Town" in New York City.
- #034
Children: Fletcher McKean and Colin McKean (born to Susan Russell).
- #035
He appeared in a TV role in the series Off the Map (2011) in Hawaii. He is about to begin rehearsals for a new Randy Newman musical.
- #036
He is writing a new musical for the screen with his wife, Annette O'Toole.
- #037
He recently shot a comedy pilot for CBS starring Laura Benanti.
- #038
He is the stepfather of Nell Geisslinger and Anna Geisslinger.
- #039
On April 14, 2008, he is preparing to host the annual National Corporate Theatre Fund Chairman's Awards Gala in New York. This year's award recipients are Angela Lansbury, Bank of America and the Humana Festival at The Actors Theatre of Louisville. The gala raises money for nonprofit theatres. McKean is no stranger to hosting theatre events. In April 2006 he took part in the 20th Annual Easter Bonnet Competition at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre.
- #040
Michael McKean has English, Scottish and Irish ancestry, along with some German and Dutch roots.
- #041
Michael McKean finished his role as Harry in "Love Song"; the play will close on 17 February because the theatre has taken another booking.
- #042
Michael McKean was seen alone, bronzed and fit, enjoying Hood River, Oregon, with his laptop and phone fully occupied.
- #043
Michael McKean resembles the actor Leon Rippy.
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