Jennifer Tilly is so frickin' lucky it isn't even fair. Not lucky in cards, lucky in marriage.
Don't know how many of you know this story, but Ms. Tilly is really quite wealthy and has a steady, heavy stream of cash that comes in every single year, no matter if she works or loses at poker or what have you. Her first and so far only marriage was to Sam Simon. If you don't know Sam's name, you probably know his work. He was a writer for television, show runner and producer starting on the sitcom
"Taxi", followed by
"Cheers",
"It's Gary Shandling's Show" and
"The Tracy Ullman Show". Because of his relationship with James L. Brooks and Matt Groening doing the now famous animated shorts on
"Ullman", Sam Simon was in on the ground floor of
"The Simpsons". Those three men are the first executive producers and creators of
"The Simpsons", now in its twentieth season. Tilly and Sam were married in 1984 and divorced in 1991. Even though their divorce came just a handful of episodes into the run of
"The Simpsons", because of California's community property laws Jennifer was awarded a big slice of Sam Simon's already very sizable slice of the
"Simpsons" pie. Those
"Simpson" checks keep going to her every year, well...forever. Sam conservatively estimates that if Jennifer Tilly lives into her eighties she will have received over a hundred million dollars when all is said and done from
"The Simpsons" alone.
Which makes you realize how ridiculously rich Groening and Brooks are. Sam actually left the show in an official capacity in 1993, and he
still gets over ten million a year from his initial creative and producing responsibilities.
So...yeah.
As for what I think of her as an actress, obviously she doesn't have a heck of a lot of range, but when the material is good I usually enjoy her very much. I think her Oscar nomination for Woody Allen's
Bullets Over Broadway was well-earned, but my favorite role of hers will always be as Vicki in the underrated comedy
Let it Ride (1989) starring Richard Dreyfuss.
But it just ain't fair she gets all that
"Simpsons" loot.