(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Fri 6 February 2026 17:45, UK
It’s been 60 years since Steve Martin made his screen bow in an episode of the kids’ TV series, Dusty’s Attic, and it’s borderline remarkable that he’s as popular now as he’s ever been.
Admittedly, a lot of that is down to the popularity of Only Murders in the Building, which introduced the actor and his effortless chemistry alongside his friend and frequent co-star Martin Short to a new generation, but he was already a legend of Hollywood comedy long before the show premiered.
Movies like The Jerk, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Three Amigos, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles made him one of the genre’s foremost figures well before the 1980s had concluded, and while he arguably didn’t recapture those heights, his legacy was secured nonetheless.
The fact that his first and most recent nominations at the Primetime Emmys are separated by 56 years tells you everything you need to know about Martin’s longevity, and having played so many memorable characters in so many different kinds of comedy flicks, it’s not unreasonable to assume that trying to pick a favourite would be similar to deciding which one of his children he loves the most.
However, that’s not the case, because one role stands alone as Martin’s definitive performance, according to the man himself. In a 1993 interview with Playboy, the actor and banjo player extraordinaire first outlined why Roxanne‘s CD Bales had been edging his way closest to the veteran’s heart.
“It was my first solo screenplay, and, in addition, I was taking on a classic,” he explained of his Cyrano de Bergerac reinterpretation. “It took me a while to write it; four or five years. There was a great deal of self-doubt. I didn’t know if I was capable of doing it. At the worst, though, I knew it was a place for some good one-liners.”
As it turned out, he was capable of doing it. In addition to netting a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor – Musical or Comedy’, Roxanne recouped its budget almost three and a half times over at the box office, won strong reviews from critics, and endures four decades later as one of Martin’s very best outings in front of the camera.
While that makes it patently clear that he’s got a soft spot for the character, it may not sound truly definitive. With that in mind, when Martin was quite literally asked by his Only Murders in the Building colleague, Gomez, to name his favourite role that he’d ever played, he didn’t need to think twice.
“CD Bales!” he immediately responded. “It was a fun character to play. It was alive and kicking, a lot of energy.” Charles-Haden Savage, Freddy Benson, Dr Michael Hfuhruhurr, Neal Page, Inspector Clouseau, Lucky Day, and all the rest can take a back seat, because none of them can hold a candle to Roxanne’s protagonist.
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