Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Hot dog
alternate name	Frankfurters Franks Wieners Weenies
served	Hot
main ingredient	Pork, beef, chicken or combinations thereof and bread
variations	Multiple
other	Hot dogs are often pink but may be brown. }}

A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is commonly garnished with mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish or sauerkraut.

History

Claims about hot dog invention are difficult to assess, as stories assert the creation of the sausage, the placing of the sausage (or another kind of sausage) on bread or a bun as finger food, the popularization of the existing dish, or the application of the name "hot dog" to a sausage and bun combination most commonly used with ketchup or mustard and sometimes relish.

The word frankfurter comes from Frankfurt, Germany, where pork sausages served in a bun similar to hot dogs originated. These sausages, Frankfurter Würstchen, were known since the 13th century and given to the people on the event of imperial coronations, starting with the coronation of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor as King. Wiener refers to Vienna, Austria, whose German name is "Wien", home to a sausage made of a mixture of pork and beef (cf. Hamburger, whose name also derives from a German-speaking city). Johann Georg Lahner, a 18th/19th century butcher from the Bavarian city of Coburg, is said to have brought the Frankfurter Würstchen to Vienna, where he added beef to the mixture and simply called it Frankfurter. Nowadays, in German speaking countries, except Austria, hot dog sausages are called Wiener or Wiener Würstchen (Würstchen means "little sausage"), in differentiation to the original pork only mixture from Frankfurt. In Swiss German, it is called Wienerli, while in Austria the terms Frankfurter or Frankfurter Würstel are used.

Around 1870, on Coney Island, German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls.

Others have supposedly invented the hot dog. The idea of a hot dog on a bun is ascribed to the wife of a German named Antonoine Feuchtwanger, who sold hot dogs on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, in 1880, because his customers kept taking the white gloves handed to them for eating without burning their hands. Anton Ludwig Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian sausage seller, is said to have served sausages in rolls at the World's Fair–either the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago or the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis–again allegedly because the white gloves he gave to customers so that they could eat his hot sausages in comfort began to disappear as souvenirs.

The association between hot dogs and baseball began as early as 1893 with Chris von der Ahe, a German immigrant who owned not only the St. Louis Browns, but also an amusement park.

Harry M Stevens Inc., founded in 1889, serviced major sports venues with hot dogs and other refreshments, making Stevens known as the "King of Sports Concessions" in the US.

In 1916, a German American employee of Feltman's named Nathan Handwerker was encouraged by celebrity clients Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business in competition with his former employer. Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging ten.

At an earlier time in food regulation the hot dog suspect, Handwerker made sure that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at Nathan's Famous to reassure potential customers.

Etymology

The term "dog" has been used as a synonym for sausage since 1884 and accusations that sausage makers used dog meat date to at least 1845.

According to a myth, the use of the complete phrase "hot dog" in reference to sausage was coined by the newspaper cartoonist Thomas Aloysius "TAD" Dorgan around 1900 in a cartoon recording the sale of hot dogs during a New York Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds. However, TAD's earliest usage of "hot dog" was not in reference to a baseball game at the Polo Grounds, but to a bicycle race at Madison Square Garden, in The New York Evening Journal December 12, 1906, by which time the term "hot dog" in reference to sausage was already in use. In addition, no copy of the apocryphal cartoon has ever been found.

The earliest known usage of "hot dog" in clear reference to sausage, found by Fred R. Shapiro, appeared in the December 31, 1892 issue of the Paterson (NJ) Daily Press. The story concerned a local traveling vendor, Thomas Francis Xavier Morris, also known as "Hot Dog Morris".

Other early uses of "hot dog" in reference to sausage appeared in the New Brunswick (NJ) Daily Times (May 20, 1893), the New York World (May 26, 1893), and the Knoxville (TN) Journal (Sep. 28, 1893).

General description

Ingredients

Common hot dog ingredients include:

Meat trimmings and fat

Flavorings, such as salt, garlic, and paprika

Preservatives (cure) - typically sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite

Pork and beef are the traditional meats used in hot dogs. Less expensive hot dogs are often made from chicken or turkey, using low cost mechanically separated poultry. Hot dogs often have high sodium, fat and nitrite content, ingredients linked to health problems. Changes in meat technology and dietary preferences have led manufacturers to use turkey, chicken, vegetarian meat substitutes, and to lower the salt content.

If a manufacturer produces two types of hot dogs, "wieners" tend to contain pork and are blander, while "franks" tend to be all beef and more strongly seasoned.

Commercial preparation

Hot dogs are prepared commercially by mixing the ingredients (meats, spices, binders and fillers) in vats where rapidly moving blades grind and mix the ingredients in the same operation. This mixture is forced through tubes into casings for cooking. Most hot dogs sold in the US are "skinless" as opposed to more expensive "natural casing" hot dogs.

Natural casing hot dogs

As with most sausages, hot dogs must be in a casing to be cooked. Traditional casing is made from the small intestines of sheep. The products are known as "natural casing" hot dogs or frankfurters. These hot dogs have firmer texture and a "snap" that releases juices and flavor when the product is bitten.

Kosher casings are expensive in commercial quantities in the US, so kosher hot dogs are usually skinless or made with reconstituted collagen casings.

Skinless hot dogs

"Skinless" hot dogs must use a casing in the cooking process when the product is manufactured, but the casing is usually a long tube of thin cellulose that is removed between cooking and packaging. This process was invented in Chicago in 1925.

Skinless hot dogs vary in the texture of the product surface but have a softer "bite" than natural casing hot dogs. Skinless hot dogs are more uniform in shape and size than natural casing hot dogs and less expensive.

Home cooking hot dogs

Hot dogs are prepared and eaten in a variety of ways. The wieners may be boiled, grilled, fried, steamed, broiled, baked, or microwaved. The cooked wiener may be served on a bun (usually topped with condiments), or it may be used as an ingredient in another dish.

Health effects

Unlike other sausages which may be sold uncooked, hot dogs are precooked before packaging. Hot dogs can be eaten without additional cooking, although they are usually warmed before serving. Because an unopened, packaged hot dog can have listeriosis bacteria, it is safer to heat them, especially for pregnant women and those with suppressed immune systems.

An American Institute for Cancer Research report found that consuming one 50-gram serving of processed meat — about one hot dog — every day increases risk of colorectal cancer by 20 percent. The Cancer Project group filed a class-action lawsuit demanding warning labels on packages and at sporting events. Hot dogs are high in fat and salt and have preservatives sodium nitrate and nitrite, believed to cause cancer. According to the AICR, the average risk of colorectal cancer is 5.8 percent, but 7 percent when a hot dog is consumed daily over years.

Hot dogs have relatively low heterocyclic amines (HCA) levels compared to other types of ready-to-eat meat products, because they are manufactured at low temperatures.

Choking risk

Hot dogs present a significant choking risk, especially for children. A study in the U.S. found that 17% of food-related asphyxiations among children younger than 10 years of age were caused by hot dogs. Their size, shape and texture make them difficult to expel from the windpipe. This risk can be reduced by cutting a hot dog into small pieces or lengthwise strips before serving to young children. It is suggested that redesign of size, shape and texture would reduce the risk. Pediatric emergency doctors note that a stuck hot dog is almost impossible to dislodge from a child's windpipe.

In the United States

In the U.S., "hot dog" may refer to just the sausage or to the combination of a sausage in a bun. There have been many nicknames for hot dogs that have popped up over the years. A hot dog can often be seen under the names of frankfurter, frank, red hot, wiener, weenie, durger, coney, or just "dog".

Hot dog restaurants

Hot dog stands and trucks sell hot dogs at street and highway locations. Wandering hot dog vendors sell their product in baseball parks. At convenience stores, hot dogs are kept heated on rotating grills. 7-Eleven sells the most grilled hot dogs in North America, 100 million yearly. Hot dogs are also common on restaurants' children's menus.

===Condiments=== Common hot dog condiments include ketchup, mustard, chile con carne, pickle relish, sauerkraut, onion, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, cheese and chili peppers.

The US-based National Sausage and Hot Dog Council in 2005 found mustard to be the most popular condiment, with 32 percent of respondents preferring it; 23 percent of Americans said they preferred ketchup, chili con carne came in third at 17 percent, followed by relish at 9 percent and onions at 7 percent. Southerners showed the strongest preference for chili, while Midwesterners showed the greatest affinity for ketchup." Condiments vary across the country. All-beef Chicago-style hot dogs are topped with mustard, fresh tomatoes, onions, sport peppers, bright green relish, dill pickles, and celery salt, but they exclude ketchup.

Many variations are named after regions other than the one in which they are popular. Italian hot dogs popular in New Jersey include peppers, onions, and potatoes. Meaty Michigan hot dogs are popular in upstate New York (as are white hots), while beefy Coney Island hot dogs are popular in Michigan. In New York City, conventional hot dogs are available on Coney Island, as are bagel dogs. Hot wieners, or weenies, are a staple in Rhode Island. Texas hot dogs are spicy variants found in upstate New York and Pennsylvania (and as "all the way dogs" in New Jersey), but not Texas.

Some baseball parks have signature hot dogs, such as Fenway Franks at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts and Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Fenway signature is that the hot dog is boiled and grilled Fenway-style, and then served on a New England-style bun, covered with mustard and relish. Often during Red Sox games, vendors traverse the stadium selling the hot dogs plain, giving customers the choice of adding the condiments.

Hot dogs outside the United States

In most of the world, "hot dog" is recognized as a sausage in a bun, but the type varies considerably. The name is applied to something that would not be described as a hot dog in the United States. For example, in New Zealand, it refers to a battered sausage, often on a stick, and the version in a bun is called an "American hot dog".

Records

The world's longest hot dog created was 60 m (196.85 ft), which rested within a 60.3 m bun. The hot dog was prepared by Shizuoka Meat Producers for the All-Japan Bread Association, which baked the bun and coordinated the event, including official measurement for the world record. The hot dog and bun were the center of a media event in celebration of the Association's 50th anniversary on August 4, 2006, at the Akasaka Prince Hotel, Tokyo, Japan.

The world's most expensive hot dog was prepared by Joe Calderone for Trudy Tant. Featuring truffle oil, duck foie gras, and truffle butter, the dog sold for $69.

See also

Advanced meat recovery

By-products

Mechanically separated meat

Sausage bun

Sausage sandwich

Vienna sausage

Notes

References

External links

National Hot Dog and Sausage Council

Home page for a PBS documentary about hot dogs

The Evolution of Hot Dogs

USDA Fact Sheet focusing on Hot Dogs

Know your wiener! (skinless vs. natural casing)

National Association of Hot Dog Vendors

Category:American sausages Category:German sausages Category:Street food Category:Fast food Category:World cuisine

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Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Olivia Munn
alt	Dark haired woman
birthname	Lisa Olivia Munn
birth date	July 03, 1980
birth place	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
occupation	Actress, model, presenter
yearsactive	2004–present
homepage	oliviamunn.com }}

Lisa Olivia Munn (born July 3, 1980) is an American comedic actress, model, television personality and author. She began her career being credited as Lisa Munn. Since 2006, she has been using the name Olivia Munn personally and professionally.

Early life

Lisa Olivia Munn was born in Oklahoma. She is of Chinese descent on her mother's side (though her mother was raised in Vietnam) and of German and Irish descent on her father's. When Munn was two, her mother re-married, this time to a man in the United States Air Force. Although the family relocated many times, Munn was predominantly raised in Tokyo, Japan, where the military stationed her stepfather. During this time, she had appeared in a number of local theater productions, and later became a model within the Japanese fashion industry. Her parents divorced and she moved back to Oklahoma, where she attended Putnam City North High School for her junior and senior years where she was a contemporary of future state senator David Holt and author Aaron Goldfarb. She also attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in journalism and minoring in Japanese and dramatic arts.

Munn moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. In 2004, she interned at Fox Sports Net and worked as a sideline reporter for college football and women's basketball. She has gone on to say that she disliked the experience, explaining "I was trying to be something I wasn't, and that made me really uncomfortable on live TV."

Career

Soon after her move to Los Angeles, Munn was cast in a small role in the straight to video horror film Scarecrow Gone Wild. She appeared in rock band Zebrahead's video for their song "Hello Tomorrow" as the love interest of the lead singer Justin Mauriello.

In late 2005, Munn began her portrayal of Mily Acuna, a teen surfer, over two seasons of the TV drama Beyond the Break on The N network. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport. She originally auditioned for the part of Kai, but the producers wanted a "local girl." She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.

In 2006, Munn moved on to the G4 network, where she began co-hosting Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on April 10. She replaced departing host Sarah Lane. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her "weak point," she was confident in her technical knowledge. On the show, Munn was featured with journalist Anna David in a segment called "In Your Pants," which deals with sex and relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, Munn hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net (formerly known as The Daily Nut), for G4. Munn left Attack of the Show! in December 2010 and was replaced by Candace Bailey.

Munn made her film debut in the Rob Schneider movie Big Stan. She played Schneider's character's receptionist Maria. Munn also had a significant role in the 2008 horror film Insanitarium, in which she played a nurse at an insane asylum. She had roles in the 2010 movies Date Night and Iron Man 2. Robert Downey, Jr. praised Munn for her improvisation skills and led the crew in a round of applause.

Munn hosted Microsoft's Bing-a-thon, an advertisement on Hulu for the Microsoft search-engine Bing on June 8, 2009, alongside Jason Sudeikis.

Munn appeared in ABC Family's Greek, portraying Cappie's love interest, Lana.

In May 2010, NBC announced that Munn would star in the upcoming television series Perfect Couples. The half-hour romantic comedy premiered at on January 20, 2011. The show was cancelled before it completed its first season run.

On June 3, 2010, Munn premiered in her new role as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Her hiring prompted criticism from Irin Carmon of Jezebel, who questioned Munn's credentials and accused the show's production of sexism in hiring Munn, whom Carmon characterized as a sex symbol. Carmon saw Munn's hiring as a perpetuation of the show production office's history as a male-dominated atmosphere marginalizing and alienating to women. A group of 32 female Daily Show production staff members condemned Carmon's piece as inaccurate and misinformed, as did Munn herself in an interview, in which she stated that Carmon's assertion was an insult both to her and to the rest of the Daily Show staff.

In July 2010 it was announced that Munn would guest-star in NBC's Chuck as a CIA agent.

In print

Munn has booked modeling campaigns for Nike, Pepsi and Neutrogena. She appeared on the Fall 2006 cover of Foam magazine in September, in Men's Edge magazine in August, and was featured in a pictorial in Complex in November 2006, where she later became a columnist. In February 2007, she appeared as "Babe of the Month" in a non-nude pictorial in Playboy magazine. Munn also appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Men's Health. In September 2007, she was featured in the Italian Vanity Fair for their "Hot Young Hollywood" Issue. Munn appeared in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Men's Health Living. She was featured as the cover girl for the July/August 2009 issue of Playboy, and later on the cover of the January 2010 and February 2011 U.S.Maxim magazine.

Munn's book, Suck It, Wonder Woman: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek (ISBN 0-312-59105-5), was released on July 6, 2010. She is working on her own magazine, Hey Olivia, scheduled to be published by MYMAG. It will include a 20-page spread of Munn and a fan-picked poster.

Activism

In 2011, Munn teamed up with Dosomething.org's Green Your School Challenge. She was a spokesperson for the campaign by filming a PSA regarding the challenge, and sat on the panel of judges that evaluated the entries.

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
2004	Scarecrow Gone Wild	Girl No.1
2005	The Road to Canyon Lake	Asian Mob Girl
2007	Big Stan	Maria
2008	Insanitarium	Nancy
	The Slammin' Salmon	Samara Dubois
	Amy	Post-production
	Date Night	Claw Hostess
Iron Man 2	Chess Roberts
2011	I Don't Know How She Does It	Momo
Television
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
		Mily Acuna
Attack of the Show	Herself	Co-host (2006–2010)
		Herself	Competitor – episode #21.1
		Herself	Competitor – episode #22.1
	Lana	4 episodes
		Nicole	1 episode
	Greta	1 episode
The Daily Show	Herself	Correspondent (2010–present)
Perfect Couples	Leigh	Canceled during its first season
Guest appearances
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
	Talkshow with Spike Feresten	Herself	"Olivia Munn and Hanson"
	Talkshow with Spike Feresten	Herself	2 episodes
The Jace Hall Show	Herself	"Olivia Munn & Batman: Arkham Asylum"
Loveline	Herself	May 25–28
Entertainment Tonight	Herself	June 18
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	Herself	October 28
Lopez Tonight	Herself	December 3
	Late Night with Jimmy Fallon	Herself	April 9
Last Call with Carson Daly	Herself	April 13
Adam Carolla Podcast	Herself	April 22
	Late Show with David Letterman	Herself	January 12
Live with Regis and Kelly	Herself	January 20
The Today Show	Herself	January 20
The Today Show	Herself	March 17 (Co-Host)
	Herself	March 29

Magazine appearances

Maxim Hot 100 Women, 2008 (#99) Maxim Hot 100 Women, 2009 (#96) Maxim Hot 100 Women, 2010 (#8) Maxim Hot 100 Women, 2011 (#2) FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2008 (#85) FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2009 (#85) FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2010 (#52)

References

External links

Official Website

Olivia Munn at Complex Magazine

Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:Actors from Tokyo Category:American actors of Chinese descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American film actors Category:American female models Category:American models of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:Military brats Category:University of Oklahoma alumni

de:Olivia Munn et:Olivia Munn it:Olivia Munn pl:Olivia Munn pt:Olivia Munn

Coordinates	12°58′0″N77°34′0″N
name	Woody Allen
birth name	Allen Stewart Konigsberg
birth date	December 01, 1935
birth place	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
influences	Charlie Chaplin
occupation	ActorDirectorScreenwriterComedianMusicianPlaywright
years active	1950–present
spouse
relatives	Letty Aronson (sister)
website	http://www.woodyallen.com/

Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright.

Allen's films, ranging from tragedies to screwball comedies, have made him a notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of work. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest.

Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper, and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man Blues.

Early life

Allen was born and raised in New York City to an ethnic and observant Jewish family, the son of Nettie (née Cherrie; November 8, 1906 – January 27, 2002), a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Konigsberg (December 25, 1900 – January 13, 2001), a jewelry engraver and waiter. His family was Jewish and his grandparents were immigrants who spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German; both of his parents were born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Allen has a sister, Letty, who was born in 1943 and raised in Midwood, Brooklyn. His childhood was not particularly happy: his parents did not get along, and he had a rocky relationship with his stern, temperamental mother. Allen spoke Yiddish during his early years. After attending Hebrew school for eight years, he went to Public School 99 (now The Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature) and to Midwood High School. During that time, he lived in an apartment at 1402 Avenue K, between East 14th and 15th Streets. Unlike his comic persona, he was more interested in baseball than school and his strong arms ensured he was the first to be picked for a team. He impressed students with his extraordinary talent at card and magic tricks. To raise money he began writing jokes (or "gags") for the agent David O. Alber, who sold them to newspaper columnists. According to Allen, his first published joke read: "Woody Allen says he ate at a restaurant that had O.P.S. prices – over people's salaries."

He began to call himself Woody Allen. He would later joke that when he was young he was often sent to inter-faith summer camps, where he "was savagely beaten by children of all races and creeds." At the age of 17, he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen. He was already earning more than both of his parents combined.

After high school, he attended New York University (NYU), where he studied communication and film. He later briefly attended City College of New York and soon flunked out. Later, he learned via self-study rather than the classroom. He eventually taught at The New School. He also studied with writing teacher Lajos Egri.

Career

Comedy writer

He became a full-time writer for Herb Shriner, earning $75 a week at first. At the age of 19, he started writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, specials for Sid Caesar post-Caesar's Hour (1954–1957), and other television shows. By the time he was working for Caesar, he was making $1500 a week; with Caesar he worked alongside Danny Simon, whom Allen credits for helping him to form his writing style.

In 1961, he started a new career as a stand-up comedian, debuting in a Greenwich Village club called the Duplex. Examples of Allen's standup act can be heard on the albums Standup Comic and Nightclub Years 1964–1968 (including his classic routine entitled "The Moose"). Together with his managers, Allen developed a neurotic, nervous, and intellectual persona for his stand-up routine, a successful move which secured regular gigs for him in nightclubs and on television. Allen brought innovation to the comedy monologue genre and his stand-up comedy is considered influential.

Allen wrote for the popular Candid Camera television show, and appeared in some episodes.

Allen started writing short stories and cartoon captions for magazines such as The New Yorker; he was inspired by the tradition of four prominent New Yorker humorists, S. J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley and Max Shulman, whose material he modernized. Allen is also an accomplished author having published four collections of his short pieces and plays. These are Getting Even, Without Feathers, Side Effects and Mere Anarchy. His early comic fiction was heavily influenced by the zany, pun-ridden humour of S.J. Perelman.

Playwright

He also became a successful Broadway playwright and wrote Don't Drink the Water in 1966. It starred Lou Jacobi, Kay Medford, Anita Gillette and Allen's future movie co-star Anthony Roberts. A film adaptation of the play, directed by Howard Morris, was released in 1969 starring Jackie Gleason. Because he was not particularly happy with the 1969 film version of his play, in 1994 Allen directed and starred in a third version for television, with Michael J. Fox and Mayim Bialik.

The next play Allen wrote that was produced on Broadway was Play It Again, Sam, which he also starred in. The play opened on February 12, 1969, and ran for 453 performances. It also featured Diane Keaton and Anthony Roberts. Allen, Keaton and Roberts would reprise their roles in the film version of the play, directed by Herbert Ross. For its March 21 issue, Life featured Allen on its cover. He has written several one-act plays, including 'Riverside Drive' and 'Old Saybrook' which both explore well-known Allen themes.

Early films: formless comedy

All of Allen's early films were formless comedies like those of the Marx Brothers. As all pure comedies, they needed only a thin plot, and were constituted entirely of comic inventions, a non-stop sequence of sight gags, one-liners and slapstick.

His first movie was the Charles K. Feldman production What's New Pussycat? in 1965, for which he wrote the initial screenplay. Warren Beatty hired him to re-write a script and to appear in a small part in the movie. Over the course of the re-write, Beatty's role was lessened and Allen's increased. Beatty was upset and quit the production. Peter O'Toole was hired for the Beatty role, and Peter Sellers was brought in as well; Sellers was a big enough star to demand many of Woody Allen's best lines/scenes, prompting hasty re-writes. Because of this experience, Allen realized the importance of having control of his own writing. Despite the fact that most of his movies do not gross well and the fact that due to the small amounts of money his producers are able to raise he asks his actors to work for far less than what they would normally be paid, Allen remains one of a handful of writers and directors who has been able to maintain complete control over his own work.

Allen's first directorial effort was What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966, co-written with Mickey Rose), in which an existing Japanese spy movie – Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (1965), "International Secret Police: Key of Keys" – was redubbed in English by Allen and his friends with entirely new, comic dialogue.

Allen also appeared in Feldman's follow-up to What's New Pussycat?, the James Bond spoof Casino Royale. A number of writers contributed to the film, but once again Allen scripted his own sequences, although in this case uncredited.

Allen directed, starred in, and wrote Take the Money and Run in 1969. That same year he starred in his own TV special, The Woody Allen Special. On the show he performed standup comedy routines before a live audience and acted in a sketch with Candice Bergen in which they appeared nude but their bodies were kept hidden from view by the camera. The special also had guest appearances by the pop vocal group The 5th Dimension singing their hit singles "Workin' On A Groovy Thing" and "Wedding Bell Blues". The show's sponsor, Libby's, broadcast comical commercials starring Tony Randall as a detective.

From 1971 to 1975 Allen co-wrote, directed, and starred in Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Sleeper, and Love and Death. Take the Money and Run and Bananas were co-written by his childhood friend, Mickey Rose.

Lubitsch-like comedies

After his initial pure comedies in the tradition of the Marx Brothers, Allen switched to Lubitsch-like comedies, adding a plot and reducing the comic inventions. Allen settled on this genre for his subsequent career. In 1972, he wrote and starred in the film version of Play It Again, Sam, which was directed by Herbert Ross. In 1976, he starred in The Front (directed by Martin Ritt) a humorous and poignant account of Hollywood blacklisting during the 1950s.

Annie Hall won four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Diane Keaton. Annie Hall set the standard for modern romantic comedy and also started a minor fashion trend with the clothes worn by Diane Keaton in the film (the masculine clothing, such as ties with cardigans, was actually Keaton's own). While in production, its working title was "Anhedonia", a term that means the inability to feel pleasure and its plot revolved around a murder mystery. Allen re-cut the movie after production ended to focus on the romantic comedy between Allen's character, Alvy Singer, and Keaton's character, Annie Hall. The new version, retitled Annie Hall (named after Keaton, Hall being her original last name and Annie a nickname), still deals with the theme of the inability to feel pleasure. The film is ranked at No. 35 on the American Film Institute "100 Best Movies" and at No. 4 on the AFI list of "100 Best Comedies".

Manhattan, released in 1979, is a black-and-white film that can be viewed as an homage to New York City. As in many other Allen films, the protagonists are upper-middle class academics. Even though it makes fun of pretentious intellectuals, the story is packed with obscure references which makes it less accessible to a general audience. The love-hate opinion of cerebral persons found in Manhattan is characteristic of many of Allen's movies including Crimes and Misdemeanors and Annie Hall. Manhattan focuses on the complicated relationship between a middle-aged Isaac Davis (Allen) and a 17-year-old Tracy (Mariel Hemingway).

Between Annie Hall and Manhattan, Allen wrote and directed the dark drama Interiors (1978), in the style of the late Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, one of Allen's chief influences. Interiors represented a departure from Allen's "early, funny" comedies (a line from 1980's Stardust Memories).

1980s

Allen's 1980s films, even the comedies, have somber and philosophical undertones. Some are influenced by the works of European directors, notably Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. September resembles Bergman's Autumn Sonata, and Allen uses many elements from Bergman's Wild Strawberries in Another Woman. Similarly, the Federico Fellini classic Amarcord strongly inspired Radio Days.

Stardust Memories features Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker played by Allen, who expresses resentment and scorn for his fans. Overcome by the recent death of a friend from illness, the character states, "I don't want to make funny movies any more" and a running gag has various people (including a group of visiting space aliens) telling Bates that they appreciate his films, "especially the early, funny ones." Allen believes this to be one of his best films.

Allen combined tragic and comic elements in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he tells two stories that connect at the end. He also produced a vividly idiosyncratic tragi-comical parody of documentary, Zelig.

He made three films about show business: Broadway Danny Rose, in which he plays a New York show business agent, The Purple Rose of Cairo, a movie that shows the importance of the cinema during the Depression through the character of the naive Cecilia, and Radio Days, which is a film about his childhood in Brooklyn and the importance of the radio. Purple Rose was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best films of all time and Allen has described it as one of his three best films, along with Stardust Memories and Match Point. (Allen defines them as "best" not in terms of quality but because they came out the closest to his original vision.)

In 1989, Allen teamed up with directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese to make New York Stories, an anthology film about New Yorkers. Allen's short, Oedipus Wrecks, is about a neurotic lawyer and his critical mother. His short pleased critics, but New York Stories bombed at the box office.

1990s

His 1992 film Shadows and Fog is a black-and-white homage to the German expressionists and features the music of Kurt Weill. Allen then made his critically acclaimed drama Husbands and Wives (1992), which received two Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Judy Davis and Best Original Screenplay for Allen. His film Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) combined suspense with dark comedy and marked the return of Diane Keaton, Alan Alda and Anjelica Huston.

He returned to lighter movies like Bullets Over Broadway (1994), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, followed by a musical, Everyone Says I Love You (1996). The singing and dancing scenes in Everyone Says I Love You are similar to many musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The comedy Mighty Aphrodite (1995), in which Greek drama plays a large role, won an Academy Award for Mira Sorvino. Allen's 1999 jazz-based comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown was also nominated for two Academy Awards for Sean Penn (Best Actor) and Samantha Morton (Best Supporting Actress). In contrast to these lighter movies, Allen veered into darker satire towards the end of the decade with Deconstructing Harry (1997) and Celebrity (1998). Allen made his only sitcom "appearance" to date (2009) via telephone on the show Just Shoot Me! in a 1997 episode, "My Dinner with Woody" which paid tribute to several of his films. Allen also provided the lead voice in the 1998 animated film Antz, which featured many actors he had worked with and had Allen play a character that was similar to his earlier neurotic roles.

2000s

Small Time Crooks (2000) (a remake of the 1942 film comedy Larceny, Inc., written by S. J. Perelman and starring Edward G. Robinson) was his first film with the DreamWorks studio and represented a change in direction: Allen began giving more interviews and made an attempt to return to his slapstick roots. Small Time Crooks was a relative financial success, grossing over $17 million domestically but Allen's next four films floundered at the box office, including Allen's most expensive film, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (with a budget of $33 million). Hollywood Ending, Anything Else, and Melinda and Melinda were given "rotten" ratings from film-review website Rotten Tomatoes and each earned less than $4 million domestically. Some critics claimed that Allen's films since 1999's Sweet and Lowdown were subpar and expressed concern that Allen's best years were now behind him. Others have been less harsh; reviewing the little-liked Melinda and Melinda, Roger Ebert wrote, "I cannot escape the suspicion that if Woody had never made a previous film, if each new one was Woody's Sundance debut, it would get a better reception. His reputation is not a dead shark but an albatross, which with admirable economy Allen has arranged for the critics to carry around their own necks." Woody gave his godson Quincy Rose a small part in Melinda and Melinda. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. Match Point (2005) was one of Allen's most successful films of the decade and generally received very positive reviews. Set in London, it starred Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Scarlett Johansson. It is also markedly darker than Allen's first four films with DreamWorks SKG. In Match Point, Allen shifts his focus from the intellectual upper class of New York to the moneyed upper class of London. It earned more than $23 million domestically (more than any of his films in nearly 20 years) and over $62 million in international box office sales. Match Point earned Allen his first Academy Award nomination since 1998 for Best Writing – Original Screenplay and also earned directing and writing nominations at the Golden Globes, his first Globe nominations since 1987. In an interview with Premiere Magazine, Allen stated this was the best film he has ever made.

Allen returned to London to film Scoop, which also starred Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally and Allen himself. The film was released on July 28, 2006, and received mixed reviews. He has also filmed Cassandra's Dream in London. Cassandra's Dream was released in November 2007 and stars Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor and Tom Wilkinson.

After finishing his third London film, Allen headed to Spain. He reached an agreement to film Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Avilés, Barcelona and Oviedo, where shooting started on July 9, 2007. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz. Speaking of his experience there, Allen said: "I'm delighted at being able to work with Mediapro and make a film in Spain, a country which has become so special to me." Vicky Cristina Barcelona was well received, winning "Best Musical or Comedy" at the Golden Globe awards. Penélope Cruz received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film.

Allen has said that he "survives" on the European market. Audiences there have tended to be more receptive to Allen's films, particularly in Spain, France and Italy; countries where he has a large audience (something joked about in Hollywood Ending). "In the United States things have changed a lot, and it's hard to make good small films now", Allen said in a 2004 interview. "The avaricious studios couldn't care less about good films – if they get a good film they're twice as happy but money-making films are their goal. They only want these $100 million pictures that make $500 million."

In April 2008, he began filming for a movie focused more towards older audiences starring Larry David, Patricia Clarkson and Evan Rachel Wood. Released in 2009, Whatever Works, described as a dark comedy, follows the story of a botched suicide attempt turned messy love triangle. Whatever Works was written by Allen in the 1970s and the character now played by Larry David was originally written for Zero Mostel, who died the year Annie Hall came out.

2010s

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, filmed in London, stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Anupam Kher, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts. Filming started in July 2009. It was released theatrically in the US on September 23, 2010, following a Cannes debut in May 2010 and a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2010. Allen announced that his next film would be titled Midnight in Paris, starring Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen, Gad Elmaleh and French First Lady Carla Bruni. The film followed a young engaged couple in Paris who see their lives transformed. It debuted at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 2011. Allen said he wanted to "show the city emotionally", during the press conference."I just wanted it to be the way I saw Paris – Paris through my eyes," he added. Midnight in Paris was critically acclaimed and is now Allen's most successful film at the Box Office in the United States since Hannah and Her Sisters. His next film, The Bop Decameron, is a Rome set comedy slated for a 2012 release. Loosely inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron the film will be structured in four different vignettes featuring dialogue in both Italian and English. The film will mark Allen's return to acting since his last role in Scoop.

Future projects

For many years, Allen has wanted to make a film about the origins of jazz in New Orleans. The film, tentatively titled American Blues, would follow the vastly different careers of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. Allen has stated that the film would cost between $80 and $100 million and is therefore unlikely to be made.

On May 18, 2011, it was announced that Woody Allen had written a one act play called Honeymoon Motel, one in a series of one act plays on Broadway called Relatively Speaking. Also contributing to the effort are Elaine May and Ethan Coen. John Turturro has signed on to direct the three miniplays. Relatively Speaking will debut in previews in September and open on Broadway in October 2011.

Distinction in the film world

Over the course of his career, Allen has received a considerable number of awards and distinctions in film festivals and yearly national film awards ceremonies, saluting his work as a director, screenwriter, and actor. When premiering his films at festivals, Allen does not screen his motion pictures in competition, thus deliberately taking them out of consideration for potential awards.

Allen's film Annie Hall won four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture.

Allen won the 1978 O. Henry Award for his short story The Kugelmass Episode, published in The New Yorker on May 2, 1977.

Allen twice won the César Award for Best Foreign Film, the first in 1980 for Manhattan and the second in 1986 for The Purple Rose of Cairo. Seven other of his movies were nominated for the prize.

In 1986, Allen won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay for The Purple Rose of Cairo, and in 2009 he won the same award for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. He was also nominated four times as Best Director, four times for Best Screenplay and twice for Best Actor (Comedy/musical).

At the 1995 Venice Film Festival, Allen received a Career Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

In 1996, Allen received a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of America.

In 2002, Allen won the Prince of Asturias Award. Subsequently, the city of Oviedo, Spain, erected a life-size statue of Allen. In 2002, Allen received the Palme des Palmes, a special lifetime achievement award granted by the Cannes Festival and whose sole other recipient is Ingmar Bergman.

In a 2005 UK poll The Comedian's Comedian, Allen was voted the third greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.

In June 2007, Allen received a PhD degree Honoris Causa from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain.

Academy Awards

Woody Allen has won three Academy Awards and been nominated a total of 21 times: 14 as a screenwriter, six as a director, and one as an actor. He has more screenwriting Academy Award nominations than any other writer; all are in the "Best Original Screenplay" category. He is tied for fifth all-time with six Best Director nominations. His actors have regularly received both nominations and Academy Awards for their work in Allen films, particularly in the Best Supporting categories.

Annie Hall won four Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actress). The film received a fifth nomination, for Allen as Best Actor. Hannah and Her Sisters won three, for Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories; it was nominated in four other categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Despite friendly recognition from the Academy, Allen has consistently refused to attend the ceremony or acknowledge his Oscar wins. He broke this pattern only once. At the Academy Awards ceremony in 2002, Allen made an unannounced appearance, making a plea for producers to continue filming their movies in New York City after the 9–11 attacks, where he stated, "I didn't have to present anything. I didn't have to accept anything. I just had to talk about New York City." He was given a standing ovation before introducing a montage of movie clips featuring New York.

Five actors have won six Academy Awards for their work in Allen films: Diane Keaton (Best Actress, Annie Hall), Michael Caine (Best Supporting Actor, Hannah and Her Sisters), Dianne Wiest (Best Supporting Actress, Hannah and Her Sisters and Bullets Over Broadway), Mira Sorvino (Best Supporting Actress, Mighty Aphrodite), and Penélope Cruz (Best Supporting Actress, Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

Ten actors have received Academy Award nominations for their work in Allen films: Allen himself (Best Actor, Annie Hall), Geraldine Page (Best Actress, Interiors), Martin Landau (Best Supporting Actor, Crimes and Misdemeanors), Chazz Palminteri (Best Supporting Actor, Bullets Over Broadway), Maureen Stapleton (Best Supporting Actress, Interiors), Mariel Hemingway (Best Supporting Actress, Manhattan), Judy Davis (Best Supporting Actress, Husbands and Wives), Jennifer Tilly (Best Supporting Actress, Bullets Over Broadway), Sean Penn (Best Actor, Sweet and Lowdown), and Samantha Morton (Best Supporting Actress, Sweet and Lowdown).

BAFTA

Allen has won a number of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards and nominations for best picture, best director, best actor, and best screenplay. In 1997, he received the honorary BAFTA Fellowship for his work.

1978 – Won – Best Film – Annie Hall

1978 – Won – Best Screenplay – Annie Hall (with Marshall Brickman)

1978 – Won – Best Direction – Annie Hall

1980 – Won – Best Film – Manhattan

1980 – Won – Best Screenplay – Manhattan (with Marshall Brickman)

1985 – Won – Best Screenplay – Broadway Danny Rose

1986 – Won – Best Film – The Purple Rose of Cairo

1986 – Won – Best Screenplay – The Purple Rose of Cairo

1987 – Won – Best Screenplay – Hannah and Her Sisters

1987 – Won – Best Direction – Hannah and Her Sisters

1993 – Won – Best Screenplay – Husbands and Wives

Nominated for best film for Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Nominated for best actor for Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters.

Nominated for best director for Manhattan, Crimes and Misdemeanors.

Nominated for best screenplay for Zelig, Radio Days, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Bullets Over Broadway (with Douglas McGrath).

Theater

Although best known for his films, Allen has also enjoyed a very successful career in theater, starting as early as 1960 when Allen wrote sketches for the revue From A to Z. His first great success was Don't Drink the Water, which opened in 1968 and ran for 598 performances for almost two years on Broadway. His success continued with Play it Again, Sam, which opened in 1969, starring Allen and Diane Keaton. The show played for 453 performances and was nominated for three Tony Awards, although none of the nominations were for Allen's writing or acting.

In the 1970s, Allen wrote a number of one-act plays, most notably God and Death, which were published in his 1975 collection Without Feathers.

In 1981, Allen's play The Floating Light Bulb opened on Broadway. The play was a critical success but a commercial flop. Despite two Tony Award nominations, a Tony win for the acting of Brian Backer (who also won the 1981 Theater World Award and a Drama Desk Award for his work), the play only ran for 62 performances. As of January 2008, it is the last Allen work that ran on Broadway.

After a long hiatus from the stage, Allen returned to the theater in 1995 with the one-act Central Park West, an installment in an evening of theater known as Death Defying Acts that was also made up of new work by David Mamet and Elaine May.

For the next couple of years, Allen had no direct involvement with the stage, yet notable productions of his work were being staged. A production of God was staged at The Bank of Brazil Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro, and theatrical adaptations of Allen's films Bullets Over Broadway and September were produced in Italy and France, respectively, without Allen's involvement. In 1997, rumors of Allen returning to the theater to write a starring role for his wife Soon-Yi Previn turned out to be false.

In 2003, Allen finally returned to the stage with Writer's Block, an evening of two one-acts – Old Saybrook and Riverside Drive – that played Off-Broadway. The production marked the stage-directing debut for Allen. The production sold out its entire run.

Also that year, reports of Allen writing the book for a musical based on Bullets Over Broadway surfaced, but no show ever formulated. In 2004, Allen's first full-length play since 1981, A Second Hand Memory, was directed by Allen and enjoyed an extended run Off Broadway.

In June 2007, it was announced that Allen would make two more creative debuts in the theater, directing a work that he did not write and directing an opera – a re-interpretation of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for the Los Angeles Opera – which debuted at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on September 6, 2008. Commenting on his direction of the opera, Allen said, "I have no idea what I'm doing." His production of the opera opened the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, in June 2009.

Marriages and relationships

Harlene Rosen

At age 19, Allen married 16-year-old Harlene Rosen. The marriage lasted from 1954 to 1959. TIME stated that the years were "nettling" and "unsettling."

Rosen, whom Allen referred to in his standup act as "the Dread Mrs. Allen," later sued Allen for defamation due to comments at a TV appearance shortly after their divorce. Allen tells a different story on his mid-1960s standup album Standup Comic. In his act, Allen said that Rosen sued him because of a joke he made in an interview. Rosen had been sexually assaulted outside her apartment and according to Allen, the newspapers reported that she "had been violated". In the interview, Allen said, "Knowing my ex-wife, it probably wasn't a moving violation". In a later interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Allen brought the incident up again where he repeated his comments and stated that the amount that he was being sued for was "$1 million".

Louise Lasser

Allen married Louise Lasser in 1966. They divorced in 1969 and Allen did not marry again until 1997. Lasser starred in three Allen films after the divorce – Take the Money and Run, Bananas, and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) – and made a brief appearance in Stardust Memories.

Diane Keaton

In 1970, Allen cast Diane Keaton in his Broadway show, Play It Again, Sam. During the run she and Allen became romantically involved and although they broke up after a year, she continued to star in a number of his films, including Sleeper as a futuristic poet and Love and Death as a composite character based on the novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Annie Hall was very important in Allen and Keaton's careers. It is said that the role was written specifically for her as Diane Keaton's given name is Diane Hall. She then starred in Interiors as a poet, followed by Manhattan. In 1987, she had a cameo as a night-club singer in Radio Days and was chosen to replace Mia Farrow in the co-starring role for Manhattan Murder Mystery after Allen and Farrow began having troubles with their personal and working relationship while making this film. Keaton has not worked with Allen since Manhattan Murder Mystery. Since the end of their romantic relationship, Keaton and Allen have remained close friends.

Stacey Nelkin

The film Manhattan is said by the Los Angeles Times to be widely known to have been based on his romantic relationship with the actress Stacey Nelkin. Her bit part in Annie Hall ended up on the cutting room floor, and their relationship, though never publicly acknowledged by Allen, reportedly began when she was 17 years old and a student at New York's Stuyvesant High School.

Mia Farrow

Around 1980, Allen began a 12-year relationship with actress Mia Farrow, who had leading roles in several of his movies from 1982 to 1992. Farrow and Allen never married and kept separate homes but they adopted two children, Dylan Farrow (who changed her name to Eliza and is now known as Malone) and Moshe Farrow (now known as Moses); they also had one biological child, Satchel Farrow (now known as Ronan Seamus Farrow). Allen did not adopt any of Farrow's other family, including Soon-Yi Farrow Previn (the adopted daughter of Farrow and André Previn, now known as Soon-Yi Previn). Allen and Farrow separated in 1992 after Farrow discovered nude photographs that Allen had taken of 21-year-old Soon-Yi. In her autobiography, What Falls Away (New York: Doubleday, 1997), Farrow says that Allen admitted to a relationship with Soon-Yi.

After Allen and Farrow separated, a long public legal battle for the custody of their three children began. During the proceedings, Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually molested their adopted daughter Dylan, who was then seven years old. The judge eventually concluded that the sex abuse charges were inconclusive but called Allen's conduct with Soon-Yi "grossly inappropriate". She called the report of the team that investigated the issue "sanitized and therefore, less credible" and added that she had "reservations about the reliability of the report". Farrow won custody of their children. Allen was denied visitation rights with Malone and could see Ronan only under supervision. Moses, who was then 14, chose not to see Allen.

In a 2005 Vanity Fair interview, Allen estimated that, despite the scandal's damage to his reputation, Farrow's discovery of Allen's attraction to Soon-Yi Previn by finding nude photographs of her was "just one of the fortuitous events, one of the great pieces of luck in my life. [...] It was a turning point for the better." Of his relationship with Farrow, he said, "I'm sure there are things that I might have done differently. [...] Probably in retrospect I should have bowed out of that relationship much earlier than I did." In a report June 22, 2011, Reuters quoted Allen as saying, "What was the scandal? I fell in love with this girl, married her. We have been married for almost 15 years now. There was no scandal, but people refer to it all the time as a scandal and I kind of like that in a way because when I go I would like to say I had one real juicy scandal in my life."

Soon-Yi Previn

After ending his relationship with Mia Farrow in 1992, Allen continued his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. Even though Allen never married Mia Farrow and was never Previn's legal stepfather, the relationship between Allen and Previn has often been referred to as a father involved romantically with his stepdaughter since he had been perceived as being in Previn's life in a father-like capacity. For example, in 1991, The New York Times described Allen's family life by reporting, "Few married couples seem more married. They are constantly in touch with each other, and not many fathers spend as much time with their children as Allen does." Despite assertions from Previn that Allen was never a father figure to her, the relationship became a scandal. At the time, Allen was 56 and Previn was 22. Asked whether their age difference was conducive to "a healthy, equal relationship," Allen said equality is not necessarily a requirement in a relationship and said, "The heart wants what it wants. There's no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that's that."

Allen and Previn married on December 24, 1997, in the Palazzo Cavalli in Venice. The couple has adopted two daughters, naming them Bechet and Manzie Tio after jazz musicians Sidney Bechet, Manzie Johnson and Lorenzo Tio, Jr.

Allen and Farrow's biological son, Ronan Seamus Farrow, said of Allen: "He's my father married to my sister. That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression. I cannot see him. I cannot have a relationship with my father and be morally consistent... I lived with all these adopted children, so they are my family. To say Soon-Yi was not my sister is an insult to all adopted children."

Clarinetist

thumb|250px|Woody Allen with Jerry Zigmont and Simon Wettenhall performing at Vienne Jazz Festival, [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne, France, September 20, 2003]]Allen is a passionate fan of jazz, which is often featured prominently in the soundtracks to his films. He began playing as a child and took his stage name from clarinetist Woody Herman. He has performed publicly at least since the late 1960s, notably with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on the soundtrack of Sleeper. One of his earliest televised performances was on The Dick Cavett Show on October 20, 1971.

Woody Allen and his New Orleans Jazz Band play every Monday evening at Manhattan's Carlyle Hotel, specializing in classic New Orleans jazz from the early twentieth century. The documentary film Wild Man Blues (directed by Barbara Kopple) documents a 1996 European tour by Allen and his band, as well as his relationship with Previn. The band has released two CDs: The Bunk Project (1993) and the soundtrack of Wild Man Blues (1997).

Allen and his band played the Montreal Jazz Festival on two consecutive nights in June 2008.

Significant works about Woody Allen

Apart from Wild Man Blues directed by Barbara Kopple, there are a number of other documentaries featuring Woody Allen, including the 2002 cable-television documentary Woody Allen: a Life in Film, directed by Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickel, which interlaces interviews of Allen with clips of his films, and Meetin' WA, a short interview of Allen by French director Jean-Luc Godard.

From 1976 to 1984, Stuart Hample wrote and drew Inside Woody Allen, a comic strip based on Allen's film persona.

Psychoanalysis

Allen spent at least 30 years undergoing psychoanalysis. Many of his films contain references to psychoanalysis. Even the film Antz, an animated feature in which Allen contributes the voice of lead character Z, opens with a classic piece of Allen analysis shtick.

Moment Magazine says, "It drove his self-absorbed work." John Baxter, author of Woody Allen – A Biography, wrote, "Allen obviously found analysis stimulating, even exciting."

Allen says he ended his psychoanalysis visits around the time he began his relationship with Previn. He says he still is claustrophobic and agoraphobic.

Filmography

Theater works

In addition to directing, writing, and acting in films, Allen has written and performed in a number of Broadway theater productions.

{|class="wikitable" |- ! style="width:33px;"| Year ! Title ! Credit ! Venue |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1960 | From A to Z | Writer (book) | style="text-align:center;"|Plymouth Theatre |- | style="text-align:center;"|1966 | Don't Drink the Water | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|Coconut Grove Theatre, Florida |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1969 | Play It Again, Sam | Writer, Performer (Allan Felix) | style="text-align:center;"|Broadhurst Theatre |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1975 | God | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1975 | Death | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|— |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1981 | The Floating Light Bulb | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|Vivian Beaumont Theatre |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1995 | Central Park West | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|Variety Arts Theatre |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2003 | Old Saybrook | Writer, Director | style="text-align:center;"|Atlantic Theatre Company |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2003 | Riverside Drive | Writer, Director | style="text-align:center;"|Atlantic Theatre Company |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2004 | A Second Hand Memory | Writer, Director | style="text-align:center;"|Atlantic Theater Company |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2011 | Honeymoon Motel | Writer | style="text-align:center;"|Brooks Atkinson Theatre |}

Bibliography

Published plays

Don't Drink the Water: A comedy in two acts (1967), ASIN B0006BSWBW

Play It Again, Sam (1969), ISBN 0-394-40663-X

God: A comedy in one act (1975), ISBN 0-573-62201-9

The Floating Light Bulb (1981)

Three One-Act Plays: Riverside Drive / Old Saybrook / Central Park West (2003), ISBN 0-8129-7244-9

Writer's Block: Two One-Act Plays (2005), ISBN 0-573-62630-8 (includes Riverside Drive and Old Saybrook)

A Second Hand Memory: A drama in two acts (2005)

The one-act plays God and Death are both included in Allen's 1975 collection Without Feathers (see below).

Short stories

Getting Even (1971), ISBN 0-394-47348-5

Without Feathers (1975), ISBN 0-394-49743-0

"The Whore of Mensa" (1974)

Side Effects (1980), ISBN 0-394-51104-2

Mere Anarchy (2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-6641-4

Anthologies

Complete Prose of Woody Allen (1992), ISBN 0-517-07229-7. (Collection of Allen's short stories first published in Getting Even, Without Feathers and Side Effects.)

The Insanity Defense: The Complete Prose. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007, ISBN 978-0812978117.

Chapbook

Lunatic's Tale (1986), ISBN 1-55628-001-7 (Short story previously included in Side Effects.)

See also

Woody Allen filmography

List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen

Cinema of the United States

References

Further reading

Stardust Memories: Visiting Woody Michael Žantovský recalls a memorable meeting between two giants, Woody Allen and Václav Havel

Essay by Victoria Loy on Woody Allen's career

The Essential Woody Allen; Lauren Hill

Fun With Woody, The Complete Woody Allen Quiz Book (Henry Holt), Graham Flashner

The Importance of Being Famous: Behind the Scenes of the Celebrity Industrial Complex by Maureen Orth p233 ISBN 0-8050-7545-3

Woody Allen – A Biography; John Baxter (1999) ISBN 0-7867-0666-X

Woody Allen: Conversations with Filmmakers Series, ed. R. E. Kapsis and K. Coblentz, (2006) ISBN 1-57806-793-6

Woody Allen; Stephan Reimertz, (rororo-Monographie), Reinbek (2005) ISBN 3-499-50410-3 (in German)

Woody Allen: Eine Biographie; Stephan Reimertz, Reinbek (2000) ISBN 3-499-61145-7 (in German)

Woody Allen On Location, by Thierry de Navacelle (Morrow, 1987); a day-to-day account of the making of Radio Days (1987)

Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation With Stig Bjorkman (1995), ISBN 0-8021-1556-X

Woody Allen: Profane and Sacred; Richard A. Blake (1995) ISBN 978-0-810-82993-0

External links

The Official Site of Woody Allen

in 2009

Category:1935 births Category:20th-century actors Category:Actors from New York City Category:American atheists Category:American Dixieland revivalists Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American jazz clarinetists Category:American screenwriters Category:American short story writers Category:American stand-up comedians Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:César Award winners Category:Dixieland revivalist clarinetists Category:English-language film directors Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Film theorists Category:Independent Spirit Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Jewish American writers Category:Jewish atheists Category:Jewish comedians Category:Jewish comedy and humor Category:Jewish dramatists and playwrights Category:Living people Category:O. Henry Award winners Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:Film directors from New York City

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