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Woody Allen

Woody Allen (b. December 1, 1935), original name Allen Stewart Konigsberg, legal name Heywood Allen, is one of the major American film directors and comedians of the second half of the 20th century

Introduction

Following the example of Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and other auteurs he usually writes, directs, and acts in most of his films. Also like Chaplin, Allen's best movies combine humor with tenderness and pathos. But Allen's film persona is a modern and very verbal one, self-absorbed, full of neuroses, psychobabble, and insecurity. He is thus largely a character actor, who rarely plays roles outside of this persona. Almost all of his own films have been set in Manhattan, providing a sophisticated and somewhat romanticized image of the city as background to his story line.

Life and work

Allen and Helena Bonham Carter as a couple in Mighty Aphrodite

Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. His parents Martin and Nettie lived in Flatbush, where he attended a Hebrew school for eight years. After that, he went to Public School 99 and then to Midwood High, where "Red" (as he was called because of his hair) impressed students with his extraordinary talent at cards. To raise money, he began writing gags for the agency David O. Alber, who sold them to newspaper columnists. At sixteen, he started writing for show stars like Sid Caesar and began calling himself Woody Allen.

After high school, he went to New York University where he took a Communication Arts course, but soon dropped out. At nineteen he married Harlene Rosen and started writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and others. In 1957, he won his first Emmy Award; about the same time, he divorced Harlene.

He started writing prose and plays, and in 1960, started a new career as a stand-up comedian and also began writing for the popular Candid Camera television show, even appearing in some episodes. Together with his managers he turned his weaknesses into his strengths and developed the neurotic, nervous, and shy figure famous from his later movies.

His first movie production was What's New, Pussycat? in 1965. His first directorial effort was What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966), in which an existing Japanese movie was redubbed in English with completely new, comic dialogue. In 1967, he appeared in the offbeat James Bond film, Casino Royale. His first conventional directing effort was Take The Money and Run (1969); some of his early films include Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, Sleeper, and Love and Death. These films relied on slapstick, sight gags, and one-liners.

Allen's film persona was the subject of the comic strip Inside Woody Allen from 1976 to 1984.

In 1976, he starred in, but did not direct, The Front, a serious look at Hollywood blacklisting during the 1950s. He returned to directing in 1977's Annie Hall, a film that marked a major turn away to more sophisticated humor (the movie won four Academy Awards). He also directed the serious drama Interiors, in the manner of great Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman, one of Allen's major influences. His most successful movies were produced in a ten year period starting with Annie Hall; other critical and financial successes were Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters.

His 1980s films are frequently compared to Russian and Polish films; most of them have sad endings, like The Purple Rose of Cairo. His dramas, like September, are often said to imitate those of European directors, most of all Ingmar Bergman.

His 1992 film Shadows and Fog is a homage to Fritz Lang,Pabst andFW Murnau and the German expressionists.

In the 1990s he returned to lighter movies and to happy endings: Bullets Over Broadway, Everyone Says I Love You, and others.

In 1992, his personal life became very public, when he left his long-term partner Mia Farrow after she discovered his secret affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn. Farrow accused him of being a pedophile (Previn is 35 years his junior) and of abusing their seven-year-old daughter Dylan. These events eerily echoed the plotline of his film released at the time, Husbands and Wives. In that film, Woody and Mia play a couple whose decade-long relationship is falling apart, with Woody's character becoming attracted to one of his 20-year-old students. Mia discusses the events in What Falls Away: A Memoir, ISBN 0385471874.

Woody and Soon Yi married in 1997, and later adopted two daughters, naming both (Bechet Allen and Manzie Tio Allen) after jazz musicians (Sidney Bechet and Manzie Johnson).

Woody Allen continues to write and direct an average of one film a year, with US box office grosses over $10,000,000 considered a relative success. His only recent film to reach that milestone was Small Time Crooks (2000), his first film with DreamWorks SKG studio. However, his films are more popular in some non-US markets, especially in France. In spite of the lack of domestic box office success, his 21st century films continue to attract diverse and talented actors. Examples include Stockard Channing, Helen Hunt, Téa Leoni, Christina Ricci, Chloë Sevigny, Wallace Shawn, and David Ogden Stiers. He continues to write roles for the neurotic persona he created in the 1960s and 1970s, But as he gets older, the roles have been assumed by other actors such as Kenneth Branagh and more recently, Jason Biggs.

In 2002 Woody made a surprise appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony. It was part of a tribute to New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Allen is also a talented clarinettist who has been performing publicly at least since the late 1960s. He makes regular New York appearances with a band specializing in early twentieth century and New Orleans jazz. The documentary film Wild Man Blues (directed by Barbara Kopple) documents a European tour by Allen and band, as well as his relationship with Soon Yi.

Filmography

Selected filmography as a director:

  • Melinda and Melinda (2004)
  • Anything Else (2003)
  • Hollywood Ending (2002)
  • The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
  • Small Time Crooks (2000)
  • Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
  • Celebrity (1998)
  • Deconstructing Harry (1997)
  • Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
  • Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
  • Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
  • Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
  • Husbands and Wives (1992)
  • Shadows and Fog (1992)
  • Alice (1990)
  • Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
  • New York Stories (1989) (segment "Oedipus Wrecks")
  • Another Woman (1988)
  • September (film) (1987)
  • Radio Days (1987)
  • Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
  • The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
  • Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
  • Zelig (1983)
  • A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
  • Stardust Memories (1980)
  • Manhattan (1979)
  • Interiors (1978)
  • Annie Hall (1977)
  • Love and Death (1975)
  • Sleeper (1973)
  • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972)
  • Bananas (1971)
  • Take the Money and Run (1969)
  • What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

Bibliography

  • Short Stories
    • Getting Even (1971), ISBN 0394473485
    • Without Feathers (1975), ISBN 0394497430
    • Side Effects (1980), ISBN 0394511042
  • Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman (1995), ISBN 080211556X

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Selected filmography as a director:. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street. The documentary film Wild Man Blues (directed by Barbara Kopple) documents a European tour by Allen and band, as well as his relationship with Soon Yi. Lionel Barrymore is entombed in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. He makes regular New York appearances with a band specializing in early twentieth century and New Orleans jazz. Potter, the miserly banker, in It's a Wonderful Life, 1946. Allen is also a talented clarinettist who has been performing publicly at least since the late 1960s. He is perhaps currently best known as Mr.

It was part of a tribute to New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Years later, after breaking his hip twice, he was confined to a wheelchair, but still acted. In 2002 Woody made a surprise appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony. He played the irascible Doctor Gillespie in a series of Doctor Kildare and Doctor Gillespie movies in the 1930s and 1940s. He continues to write roles for the neurotic persona he created in the 1960s and 1970s, But as he gets older, the roles have been assumed by other actors such as Kenneth Branagh and more recently, Jason Biggs. He won an Oscar in 1931 for best actor in Free Soul, after having been nominated in 1930 for best director for Madame X. Examples include Stockard Channing, Helen Hunt, Téa Leoni, Christina Ricci, Chloë Sevigny, Wallace Shawn, and David Ogden Stiers. Barrymore made a name for himself on stage before going to Hollywood in 1924.

In spite of the lack of domestic box office success, his 21st century films continue to attract diverse and talented actors. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and died in Van Nuys, California. However, his films are more popular in some non-US markets, especially in France. Lionel Barrymore (April 28, 1878 - November 15, 1954), original name: Lionel Blythe, was an American actor of stage, radio and film, elder brother of Ethel and John Barrymore. His only recent film to reach that milestone was Small Time Crooks (2000), his first film with DreamWorks SKG studio. Barrymore family. Woody Allen continues to write and direct an average of one film a year, with US box office grosses over $10,000,000 considered a relative success.

Woody and Soon Yi married in 1997, and later adopted two daughters, naming both (Bechet Allen and Manzie Tio Allen) after jazz musicians (Sidney Bechet and Manzie Johnson). Mia discusses the events in What Falls Away: A Memoir, ISBN 0385471874. In that film, Woody and Mia play a couple whose decade-long relationship is falling apart, with Woody's character becoming attracted to one of his 20-year-old students. These events eerily echoed the plotline of his film released at the time, Husbands and Wives.

Farrow accused him of being a pedophile (Previn is 35 years his junior) and of abusing their seven-year-old daughter Dylan. In 1992, his personal life became very public, when he left his long-term partner Mia Farrow after she discovered his secret affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn. In the 1990s he returned to lighter movies and to happy endings: Bullets Over Broadway, Everyone Says I Love You, and others. His 1992 film Shadows and Fog is a homage to Fritz Lang,Pabst andFW Murnau and the German expressionists.

His dramas, like September, are often said to imitate those of European directors, most of all Ingmar Bergman. His 1980s films are frequently compared to Russian and Polish films; most of them have sad endings, like The Purple Rose of Cairo. His most successful movies were produced in a ten year period starting with Annie Hall; other critical and financial successes were Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters. He also directed the serious drama Interiors, in the manner of great Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman, one of Allen's major influences.

He returned to directing in 1977's Annie Hall, a film that marked a major turn away to more sophisticated humor (the movie won four Academy Awards). In 1976, he starred in, but did not direct, The Front, a serious look at Hollywood blacklisting during the 1950s. These films relied on slapstick, sight gags, and one-liners. His first conventional directing effort was Take The Money and Run (1969); some of his early films include Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex, Sleeper, and Love and Death.

In 1967, he appeared in the offbeat James Bond film, Casino Royale. His first directorial effort was What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966), in which an existing Japanese movie was redubbed in English with completely new, comic dialogue. His first movie production was What's New, Pussycat? in 1965. Together with his managers he turned his weaknesses into his strengths and developed the neurotic, nervous, and shy figure famous from his later movies.

He started writing prose and plays, and in 1960, started a new career as a stand-up comedian and also began writing for the popular Candid Camera television show, even appearing in some episodes. In 1957, he won his first Emmy Award; about the same time, he divorced Harlene. At nineteen he married Harlene Rosen and started writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and others. After high school, he went to New York University where he took a Communication Arts course, but soon dropped out.

At sixteen, he started writing for show stars like Sid Caesar and began calling himself Woody Allen. Alber, who sold them to newspaper columnists. To raise money, he began writing gags for the agency David O. After that, he went to Public School 99 and then to Midwood High, where "Red" (as he was called because of his hair) impressed students with his extraordinary talent at cards.

His parents Martin and Nettie lived in Flatbush, where he attended a Hebrew school for eight years. Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family. Almost all of his own films have been set in Manhattan, providing a sophisticated and somewhat romanticized image of the city as background to his story line. He is thus largely a character actor, who rarely plays roles outside of this persona.

But Allen's film persona is a modern and very verbal one, self-absorbed, full of neuroses, psychobabble, and insecurity. Also like Chaplin, Allen's best movies combine humor with tenderness and pathos. Following the example of Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and other auteurs he usually writes, directs, and acts in most of his films. December 1, 1935), original name Allen Stewart Konigsberg, legal name Heywood Allen, is one of the major American film directors and comedians of the second half of the 20th century.

Woody Allen (b. Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman (1995), ISBN 080211556X. Side Effects (1980), ISBN 0394511042. Without Feathers (1975), ISBN 0394497430.

Getting Even (1971), ISBN 0394473485. Short Stories

    . What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966). Take the Money and Run (1969).

    Bananas (1971). Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972). Sleeper (1973). Love and Death (1975).

    Annie Hall (1977). Interiors (1978). Manhattan (1979). Stardust Memories (1980).

    A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982). Zelig (1983). Broadway Danny Rose (1984). The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985).

    Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Radio Days (1987). September (film) (1987). Another Woman (1988).

    New York Stories (1989) (segment "Oedipus Wrecks"). Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Alice (1990). Shadows and Fog (1992).

    Husbands and Wives (1992). Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993). Bullets Over Broadway (1994). Mighty Aphrodite (1995).

    Everyone Says I Love You (1996). Deconstructing Harry (1997). Celebrity (1998). Sweet and Lowdown (1999).

    Small Time Crooks (2000). The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001). Hollywood Ending (2002). Anything Else (2003).

    Melinda and Melinda (2004).