On the elusive quest for smart, funny musings across the universe, actress-comedian Lily Tomlin was thankfully committed to making some of her own on planet Earth. With an illustrious career that spanned decades on stages and screens of varying sizes and recordings, beginning in the 1960s, the academic-minded, smile-prone brunette found a penchant for mimicry and social commentary that wove its way into the fabric of American culture.

Mary Jean Tomlin was born on Sept. 1, 1939. Tomlin’s mother was a Tupperware-loving housewife, her father an auto factory employee who had immigrated the family