Lily Tomlin once poked fun at big business as hyper-nasal telephone operator Ernestine. She is singing a different tune these days. She's downright bullish on the stock market.

Her unlikely new role is in a Fidelity Investments advertising campaign opposite Peter Lynch, the investment superstar who helped make Fidelity a very big business.In ads to begin running Sept. 11, Tomlin will play three characters alongside Lynch's straight man: homemaker Judith Beasley, Suzie the Valley Girl and Pauline, a cranky motor vehicle department clerk.

Tomlin refused AT&T's $500,000 offer years ago to play Ernestine in a TV ad. She shunned investments then, too, but saw the error of her ways after business managers dribbled away her money.

"I would like people to be empowered by having a share in this country and some security for the future," she said.

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