Lily Tomlin Celebrates Her 70th Birthday

Happy birthday wishes to beloved out entertainer Lily Tomlin, who celebrates her 70th birthday today.

The prolific actress-comedian rose to national prominence in the late 1960s for many characters she created, such as Ernestine, the snorting telephone operator, as a member of the ensemble on the NBC comedy sketch program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Tomlin was among the first female comedians to don male drag (and cross racial stereotypes) with her portrayal of black soul singer Pervis Hawkins.

As a dramatic actress, she won widespread acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 1975 film Nashville. Her other film credits include costarring with Bette Midler in Big Business, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton in Nine to Five, and Meryl Streep in A Prairie Home Companion. She also provided the narration for the documentary The Celluloid Closet.

Tomlin won a Tony Award for her one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by longtime partner Jane Wagner, and has had recurring roles in other television series, including Desperate Housewives, Murphy Brown, The West Wing, and Will & Grace.