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Jack Paar
Birth name	Jack Harold Paar[1]
Born	(1918-05-01)May 1, 1918[1] Canton, Ohio, U.S.[1]
Died	January 27, 2004(2004-01-27) (aged 85)[1] Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Medium	Television
Nationality	American
Years active	1948–1998
Genres	Observational comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday life, American culture
Influences	Will Rogers, Jack Benny
Influenced	Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Robert Klein, Alan King, George Carlin, Don Rickles, Tom Snyder, David Letterman, Bob Costas, Jay Leno, Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Spouse	Irene Paar (twice divorced) Miriam Wagner[1] (1943–2004, his death)
Notable works and roles	Host of The Tonight Show (NBC)

Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962. Time magazine's obituary noted that: "His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar."^[2]

Early life and education[link]

Paar was born in Canton, Ohio, the son of Howard and Lillian M. Paar.^[1] He moved with his family to Jackson, Michigan, 30 miles south of Lansing, as a child. As a child he had a stuttering problem which he conquered.^[1] He contracted tuberculosis when he was 14, and left school at 16.^[1][3]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

He first worked near home as a radio announcer at WIBM in Jackson and later as a humorous disc jockey at Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland and WBEN in Buffalo. In his book P.S. Jack Paar, he recalled doing utility duty at WGAR in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast his famous simulated alien invasion, The War of the Worlds over the CBS network (and affiliate WGAR). Attempting to calm possible panicked listeners, Paar announced, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?"

Paar was drafted into the military during World War II and assigned to the U.S.O in the South Pacific to entertain the troops.^[1][3][4] He was a clever, wise cracking master of ceremonies whose impersonations of officers^[3] nearly got him into trouble.

Radio and films[link]

After WWII, Paar worked in radio as a fill-in on The Breakfast Club show and appeared as a panelist on the $64 Question.^[3] He got his big break when Jack Benny, who had been impressed by Paar's U.S.O. performances, suggested that Paar serve as his 1947 summer replacement.^[3] Paar was enough of a hit on Benny's show that Benny's sponsor, American Tobacco Company decided to keep him on the air, moving him to ABC for the fall season. Paar later refused American Tobacco's suggestion that he come up with a weekly running gag or gimmick, saying he "wanted to get away from that kind of old-hat comedy, the kind being practiced by Jack Benny and Fred Allen."^[5] The show was then terminated, earning Paar an enduring image as a spoiled kid (as Dunning phrased it). A profile of Paar by the Museum of Broadcast Communications suggests that Paar later emulated Benny's mannerisms.^[3]

Paar also signed as a contract player for Howard Hughes' RKO Pictures in the immediate post war period,^[3] appearing as the emcee in the movie Variety Time (1948), a compilation of vaudeville sketches.^[6] He later recalled that RKO producers had trouble figuring out what kind of screen characters he could play, until one of the executives dubbed him, "Kay Kyser, with warmth." Paar projected a pleasant personality on film, and RKO called him back to emcee another filmed vaudeville show, Footlight Varieties (1951). Paar also appeared in the 1950 film, Walk Softly, Stranger, with Joseph Cotten.^[3] In 1951, he played Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend in the 20th Century Fox film, Love Nest.^[3]

Paar returned to radio in 1950, hosting the $64 Question for one season, then quitting in a wage dispute in the spring of 1951 after the show's sponsor pulled out and NBC insisted everyone involved take a pay cut. In 1956, he gave radio one more try, hosting a disc jockey effort, The Jack Paar Show, on ABC. Paar once described this show as "so modest we did it from the basement rumpus room of our house in Bronxville."

Television[link]

He got his first tastes of television in the early 1950s, appearing as a comic on The Ed Sullivan Show and hosting two game shows, Up To Paar (1952)^[4] and Bank on the Stars (1953), before hosting The Morning Show (1954) on CBS. He guest starred twice in 1958 on Polly Bergen's short-lived NBC comedy/variety show, The Polly Bergen Show.

[edit] The Tonight Show

Paar and John F. Kennedy in 1959

NBC asked Paar to succeed Steve Allen as host of The Tonight Show. He hosted the program from 1957 to 1962. At first, the show was called Tonight starring Jack Paar; after 1959 it was officially known as The Jack Paar Show. Paar was often unpredictable and emotional. When network censors cut a joke about a "water closet" (the British term for a toilet), on February 11, 1960, he received national attention by leaving the show and did not return until three weeks later.^[1] Paar's emotional nature made the everyday routine of putting together a 105-minute program difficult to continue for long. As a TV Guide item put it, he was "bone tired" of the grind. He signed off the show for the last time on March 29, 1962.

Prime time[link]

Because NBC did not want to lose Paar to another network, it offered him a Friday prime-time hour, giving him carte blanche on content and format. Paar agreed, deciding on a variation of his late-night format and titling his show, which first aired in the fall of 1962, The Jack Paar Program. The show had a world view, debuting acts from around the globe and showing films from exotic locations; most of the films were made on travels made by guests such as Arthur Godfrey or Paar himself (e.g., several visits with Albert Schweitzer at his compound in Gabon in Central Africa, and Mary Martin at her home in the jungles of Brazil).

Paar showed film clips of the Beatles performing, one month before their famous live appearance on the The Ed Sullivan Show.^[1][4][7]

During the first half of 1964, a mock feud pitted Paar against the show immediately preceding his program, David Frost's satire series That Was The Week That Was. A typical exchange would have That Was the Week That Was "signing off" the NBC Television Network just before the Paar program, with Paar responding that the show immediately preceding his was Henry Morgan's Amateur Hour (Morgan was a frequent guest on TW3). The feud suddenly evaporated when NBC moved That Was the Week That Was to a different time slot.

Paar's prime time show aired for three years, including guests such as Brother Dave Gardner, Peter Ustinov, Lawrence of Arabia's brother, Richard Burton, Oscar Levant, Lowell Thomas, Muhammad Ali reciting his poetry to piano accompaniment by Liberace, an occasionally funny Judy Garland, Jonathan Winters, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby (whose nickname for Paar was "The Boss"), Bette Davis, Robert Morley, Cliff Arquette (as Charlie Weaver), Dick Gregory and many others. The final closing segment of the series, broadcast on June 25, 1965, featured Paar sitting alone on a stool, sharing a discussion that he had with his daughter Randy, who called Paar's departure a sabbatical. He said that his own field was, though not completely used up, "a little dry recently." Then he called to his German shepherd, who came to him from the seats of what was, for once, an empty studio, and walked out. (Johnny Carson precisely copied this format for his own farewell episode of The Tonight Show in 1992.)

Paar continued to appear in occasional specials for the network until 1970.

Later career[link]

Paar appears on Dick Cavett's show to announce his return to television in January, 1973.

Paar came back to television on a regular basis beginning in January 1973, appearing one week a month as one of several rotating hosts on ABC's Wide World of Entertainment. Paar claimed it was the most he was willing to appear, and that he would not have appeared at all unless ABC had committed to keeping Dick Cavett, a former writer for Paar, on the air. Paar's announcer for this series was Peggy Cass, and perhaps its most notable aspect was the national television debut of comic Freddie Prinze. Paar stayed on the show, which was in direct competition with Tonight, for one year before he quit. Dissatisfied with the one-week-per-month formula, he complained that even his own mother did not know when he was on. Paar later expressed discomfort with developments in the television media and once said he had trouble interviewing people dressed in "overalls", a reference to young rock acts.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Paar made rare guest appearances on Donahue, The Tonight Show (hosted by Johnny Carson and Jay Leno) and Late Night with David Letterman, as well as Charles Grodin's CNBC talk show.

Retrospectives[link]

In 1984, Paar came out of retirement once again for the Museum of Broadcasting's "Tribute to Jack Paar", produced by Kevin Doherty, making two live appearances in New York. This led to a 1986 NBC special featuring Paar, titled Jack Paar Comes Home. The following year, a second special, Jack Paar Is Alive and Well, was broadcast by the network. Both of these specials were largely made up of kinescoped clips used at the tribute from "Tonight" and from Paar's prime time program, to which he maintained the copyright.

PBS television devoted an edition of the American Masters series to Paar's career in 1997, and in 2003 revisited the topic with another hour-long examination of the Paar phenomenon, entitled Smart Television. The program featured clips of Paar with guests including Jonathan Winters, Woody Allen, Judy Garland, Bill Cosby (in his first network appearance), Peter Ustinov, Richard Burton, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy (in his first interview after his brother's assassination), Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, and many others compiled from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as more recent interviews with people who worked with Paar.

In the spring of 2004, a memorial for Jack Paar was held at The Museum of Television & Radio in New York City. Ron Simon, one of the television and radio curators at the Museum, was host and moderator with appearances and speeches by television talk show host Dick Cavett, TCM host Robert Osborne, and Paar's daughter, Randy.

Awards[link]

Paar was nominated for an Emmy for Best Performance by a Continuing Character in a Musical or Variety Series in 1951, and again nominated in 1958 for an Emmy for Best Continuing Performance in a Series by a Comedian, Singer, Host, Dancer, M.C., Announcer, Narrator, or Panelist.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Paar was twice married to his first wife Irene Paar. After divorcing, the couple remarried, only to divorce again. Paar was married to his second wife, Miriam Wagner, for nearly 61 years - from 1943 until his death in 2004. Miriam appeared on Paar's 1956–1957 ABC radio show, with their daughter.

Death[link]

Paar's health declined in the late 1990s. He died at his Greenwich, Connecticut home on January 27, 2004, with his wife and daughter Randy by his side. He had long been in ill health, having undergone triple-bypass heart surgery in 1998. He also suffered a stroke a year before he died.^[8]

Bibliography[link]

• Jack Paar (1959). My Brother was an Only Child. Dutton. pp. 96. , ASIN: B0006AVWCE
• Jack Paar (May 1, 1961). I Kid You Not. Cardinal. , ASIN: B00005W4PA
• Jack Paar (January 1, 1965). 3 On A Toothbrush: Adventures And Encounters Around The Globe. Doubleday & Company. pp. 276. , ASIN: B0012ACN9S
• Jack Paar (1983). P.S. Jack Paar: An Entertainment. Doubleday. , ASIN: B000O6439O

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jack Paar

• Jack Paar Show Podcast 1947-06-01 Disagreement in the Shade, (Jack's inaugural show)]
• Jack Paar and Jack Haskell sing the Tonight theme, "I-M-4-U" by Jose Melis
• Jack Paar at the Internet Movie Database
• Tonight Starring Jack Paar
• Richard Corliss (February 9, 2004). "Milestones: Jack Paar". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993310,00.html. Retrieved January 2, 2011. 

Jonathan Winters
Winters performing at a USO show in the Pensacola Civic Center on May 1, 1986.
Birth name	Jonathan Harshman Winters III
Born	(1925-11-11) November 11, 1925 (age 86) Bellbrook, Ohio, US
Medium	Comedian, actor
Nationality	American
Years active	1953–present
Influenced	George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, Richard Lewis, Conan O'Brien, Patton Oswalt, Frank Caliendo
Spouse	Eileen Schauder (1948–2009; her death; 2 children)
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Supporting Actor – Comedy Series 1991 Davis Rules

Jonathan Harshman Winters III (born November 11, 1925) is an American comedian, actor, and artist.

Early life[link]

Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore (née Rodgers), a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker.^[1] He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio (now part of JPMorgan Chase). Of English and Scotch-Irish^[2] ancestry, Winters has described his father as an alcoholic who had trouble holding a job.^{[citation needed]} When he was seven, his parents separated, and Winters' mother took him to Springfield, Ohio to live with his maternal grandmother.^{[citation needed]}

At age 17, Winters quit high school and joined the United States Marine Corps and served two and a half years in the Pacific Theater during World War II.^[3] Upon his return he attended Kenyon College. He later studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute, where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married in 1948.

Winters is a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Lambda chapter).

Career[link]

His career began as a result of a lost wristwatch, about six or seven months after his marriage to Eileen. The newlyweds couldn’t afford to buy another one. Then Eileen read about a talent contest in which the first prize was a wristwatch, and encouraged Jonathan to “go down and win it.” She was certain he could…and he did.^[4] His performance led to a disc jockey job, where he was supposed to introduce songs and announce the temperature. Gradually his ad libs, personas and antics took over the show.^[5]

He began comedy routines and acting while studying at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He was also a local radio personality on WING (mornings, 6 to 8) in Dayton, Ohio and at WIZE in Springfield, Ohio. He performed as Johnny Winters on WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio for two and a half years, quitting the station in 1953 when they refused him a $5.00 raise. After promising his wife that he would return to Dayton if he did not make it in a year, and with $56.46 in his pocket, he moved to New York City, staying with friends in Greenwich Village. After obtaining Martin Goodman as his agent, he began stand-up routines in various New York nightclubs. His big break occurred (with the revised name of Jonathan) when he worked for Alistair Cooke on the CBS Sunday morning show Omnibus.^[6] In 1957, he performed in the first color television show, a 15-minute routine sponsored by Tums.^[7]

Winters performing a routine on The NBC Comedy Hour in 1956.

Winters recorded many classic comedy albums for the Verve Records label, starting in 1960. Probably the best-known of his characters from this period is Maude Frickert, the seemingly sweet old lady with the barbed tongue. He was a favorite of Jack Paar and appeared frequently on his television programs, even going so far as to impersonate then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy over the phone as a prank on Paar. In addition, he would often appear on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, usually in the guise of some character. Carson often did not know what Winters had planned and usually had to tease out the character's back story during a pretend interview. Carson invented a character called "Aunt Blabby" that was an impression of Maude Frickert.

Winters has appeared in nearly 50 movies and several television shows, including particularly notable roles in the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and in the dual roles of Henry Glenworthy and his dark, scheming brother, the Rev. Wilbur Glenworthy, in the film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One. Fellow comedians who starred with him in Mad World, such as Arnold Stang, claimed that in the long periods while they waited between scenes, Winters would entertain them for hours in their trailer by becoming any character that they would suggest to him. He also appeared in Viva Max! (1970) and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966).

He appeared as a regular (along with Woody Allen and Jo Anne Worley) on the Saturday morning children's television program Hot Dog in the early seventies. He also had a CBS nighttime show from 1967 to 1969, and had his own show, The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters during 1972–74. Winters did dramatic work in the The Twilight Zone episode "A Game of Pool" (episode #3.5, October 13, 1961). He recorded Ogden Nash's The Carnival of the Animals poems to Camille Saint-Saëns' classical opus. He appeared on ABC's The American Sportsman, hosted by Grits Gresham, who took celebrities on hunting, fishing, and shooting trips to exotic places around the world. He appeared regularly as a panelist on The Hollywood Squares and made many very memorable appearances on both The Dean Martin Show and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast.

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

In the fourth and last season of the sci-fi-based TV comedy Mork & Mindy, Jonathan Winters (one of Robin Williams' idols) was brought in as Mork & Mindy's child, Mearth. Due to the different Orkan physiology, Mork laid an egg, which grew and hatched into the much older Winters. It had been previously explained that Orkans aged "backwards," thus explaining Mearth's appearance and that of his teacher, Miss Geezba (portrayed by then-11-year-old actress Louanne Sirota). Mork's infant son Mearth in Mork & Mindy was created in hopes of improving ratings and as an attempt to capitalize on Williams' comedic talents. Winters had previously guest-starred in Season 3, Episode 18 as Dave McConnell, Mindy's uncle. However, after multiple scheduling and cast changes, Mork & Mindy's 4th season was already pretty low in the ratings and ended up being the show's last season.

He was a regular on Hee Haw during the 1983–84 season. Shortly after this, in 1987, Winters was featured in NFL Films' The NFL TV Follies. He was the voice of Grandpa Smurf from 1986–1990 on the television series The Smurfs.

In 1991 and 1992, he was on Davis Rules, a sitcom that lasted two seasons (25 episodes). He played Gunny Davis, an eccentric grandfather who was helping raise his grandchildren after his son lost his wife. In addition to his live action roles, he was also a guest star on The New Scooby-Doo Movies (in an episode in which the Scooby Gang was looking forward to his promised performance as Maude Frickert) and the narrator in Frosty Returns. Winters also provided the voice for the thief in Arabian Knight.

In 1994, he appeared in a cameo as a fired factory worker in The Flintstones, and as the police chief uncle of Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin) in The Shadow.

From 1959 to 1964, Winters' voice could be heard in a series of popular television commercials for Utica Club beer. In the ads, he provided the voices of talking beer steins, named "Shultz and Dooley." Later, he became a spokesman for Hefty brand trash bags, for whom he appeared as a dapper garbageman known for collecting "gahr-bahj," as well as Maude Frickert and other characters.^[8]

Later years[link]

In 1999, Winters was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He now lives near Santa Barbara, California, and is often seen browsing and hamming for the crowd at the antique show on the Ventura County fairgrounds. He often entertains the tellers and other workers whenever he visits his local bank to make a deposit or withdrawal. He spends time painting, and has had many gallery showings and been presented in one-man shows of his art. In 1987, he published Winters' Tales: Stories and Observations for the Unusual.

In 2008, Winters was presented with a TV Land Award by Robin Williams. Winters provided the voice of Papa Smurf in the live-action Smurfs movie, released in 2011.^[9]

Personal life[link]

In his interview with the Archive of American Television Winters reported that he suffered a nervous breakdown and spent eight months in a private mental hospital in the late 1950s. Although he was not given a diagnosis while in the hospital, he was later diagnosed with manic depression (known today as bipolar disorder). The comedian referred to this incident obliquely in his stand-up act, most famously on his 1960 comedy album The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters. During his classic "flying saucer" routine, Winters casually mentions that if he wasn't careful, the authorities might put him back in the "rubber room," referring to the institution.

On January 11, 2009, Eileen, Jonathan's wife of 60 years, died at the age of 84 after a 20-year battle with breast cancer.^[10]

Discography[link]

• Down to Earth (1960)
• The Wonderful World of Jonathan Winters (1960; reissued in 2003)
• Here's Jonathan (1961)
• Another Day, Another World (1962)
• Humor Seen through the Eyes of Jonathan Winters (1962)
• Jonathan Winters' Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, compilation album in conjunction with the film (1963)
• Whistle Stopping with Jonathan Winters (1964)
• Movies Are Better Than Ever (1966)
• Jonathan Winters… Wings it! (1969)
• Stuff 'n Nonsense (1969)
• Answers Your Telephone (1988)
• Finally Captured (1988)
• Into the '90s (1990)
• Jonathan Winters is Terminator 3 (1992)
• Crank(y) Calls (1995)
• Outpatients (2000)
• Paul Bunyan (2001)
• Old Folks (2006)
• The Underground Tapes (2007)
• Final Approach (2011)
• The Smurfs (voice) (2011)

Filmography[link]

Features:

• Alakazam the Great (1960) (voice in English dubbed version)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• The Loved One (1965)
• The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)
• Penelope (1966)
• Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1967)
• Eight on the Lam (1967)
• Viva Max! (1969)
• The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972)
• The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh (1979)
• Pogo for President: I Go Pogo (1980) (voice)
• Mork & Mindy (1981)
• E. Nick: A Legend in His Own Mind (1984)
• The Little Troll Prince (1985)
• The Longshot (1986)
• Say Yes (1986)
• On The Ledge (1987)
• Moon over Parador (1988)
• Frosty Returns [Narrator] (1992)
• Davis Rules (1992)
• The Flintstones (1994)
• The Shadow (1994)
• Arabian Knight (Miramax 1995)
• The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)
• Swing (2003)
• Comic Book: The Movie (2004)
• Tell Them Who You Are (2004) (documentary)
• National Lampoon's Cattle Call (2006)
• Certifiably Jonathan (2011)^[11]
• The Smurfs (2011)^[12]
• Big Finish (2012)

Short Subjects:

• Sonic Boom (1974)
• Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big (2000) (voice)
• Santa vs. the Snowman 3D (2002) (voice)

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jonathan Winters

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Jonathan Winters at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Winters' Official Homepage
• Interview with the Archive of American Television
• Official Website of the Jonathan Winters film, Certifiably Jonathan
• video: "Jonathan Winters roasts Ronald Reagan", on Dean Martin Roasts TV show, 3 minutes
• Marc Maron interviews Jonathan Winters - WTF Podcast Episode 173 - May 2011

Woody Allen
Allen at the 2009 premiere of Whatever Works
Born	Allan Stewart Konigsberg (1935-12-01) December 1, 1935 (age 76) The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor Director Screenwriter Comedian Musician Playwright
Years active	1950–present
Influenced by	Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick
Home town	New York City, New York
Spouse	Harlene Rosen (m. 1954–1959) «start: (1954)–end+1: (1960)»"Marriage: Harlene Rosen to Woody Allen" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Woody_Allen) Louise Lasser (m. 1966–1969) «start: (1966)–end+1: (1970)»"Marriage: Louise Lasser to Woody Allen" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Woody_Allen) Soon-Yi Previn (m. 1997) «start: (1997)»"Marriage: Soon-Yi Previn to Woody Allen" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Woody_Allen)
Partner	Mia Farrow (1980–92)
Children	Ronan Farrow (son) Bechet Dumaine Allen (daughter) Manzie Tio Allen (daughter)[1]
Relatives	Letty Aronson (sister)
Website
www.woodyallen.com

Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg, December 1, 1935) is an award-winning American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, and playwright, whose career spans over half a century.

He began as a comedy writer in the 1950s, penning jokes and scripts for television and also publishing several books of short humor pieces. In the early 1960s, Allen started performing as a stand-up comic, emphasizing monologues rather than traditional jokes. As a comic, he developed the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he insists is quite different from his real-life personality.^[2] In 2004, Comedy Central^[3] ranked Allen in fourth place on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics, while a UK survey ranked Allen as the third greatest comedian.^[4]

By the mid-1960s Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing in slapstick comedies before moving into more dramatic material influenced by European art films during the 1970s. He is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late '70s.^[5] Allen often stars in his own films, typically in the persona he developed as a standup. The best-known of his over 40 films include the Academy Award-winners Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Midnight in Paris (2011); and the Golden Globe-winning The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Critic Roger Ebert has described Allen as "a treasure of the cinema."^[6]

He is also a jazz clarinetist who performs regularly at small venues in Manhattan.

Early life[link]

Allen was born Allan Stewart Königsberg in The Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, NY, the son of Nettie (born Cherrie; November 8, 1906 – January 27, 2002), a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Königsberg (December 25, 1900 – January 13, 2001), a jewelry engraver and waiter.^[7] His family was Jewish and his grandparents were German immigrants who spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German;^[8] both of his parents were born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.^[8] Allen has a sister, Letty, who was born in 1943, and was raised in Midwood, Brooklyn.^[9] His childhood was not particularly happy: his parents did not get along, and he had a rocky relationship with his stern, temperamental mother.^[10] Allen spoke German quite a bit during his early years.^[11] While attending Hebrew school for eight years, he went to Public School 99 (now The Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature)^[12] and to Midwood High School.^[13] During that time, he lived in an apartment at 1402 Avenue K, between East 14th and 15th Streets.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[14][15] He impressed students with his extraordinary talent at card and magic tricks.^[16] 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."^[17]

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."^[16] At the age of 17, he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen.^[18] He was already earning more than both of his parents combined.^[14]

After high school, he attended New York University, 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.^[15] He eventually taught at The New School. He also studied with writing teacher Lajos Egri.^[15]p.74

Career[link]

Comedy writer[link]

He became a full-time writer for Herb Shriner, earning $75 a week at first.^[17] 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.^{[15][19]p.111} 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.^[17][20]

In 1961, he started a new career as a stand-up comedian, debuting in a Greenwich Village club called the Duplex.^[17] 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").^[21] 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.^[22]

Allen wrote for the popular Candid Camera television show, and appeared in some episodes.^[23][24][25]

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's humorists, S. J. Perelman, George S. Kaufman, Robert Benchley and Max Shulman, whose material he modernized.^{[26][27][28][29][30]} Allen is also an accomplished author having published four collections of his short pieces and plays.^[31][32] 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[link]

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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 Tony 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 Tony 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.^[33] In 1981, his play The Floating Light Bulb premiered on Broadway and ran for 65 performances. While receiving mixed reviews, it was noted for giving an autobiographical insight into Allen's childhood, specifically his fascination with magic tricks. He has written several one-act plays, including 'Riverside Drive' and 'Old Saybrook' which both explore well-known Allen themes.

On October 20, 2011, Allen's one-act play Honeymoon Motel opened as part of a larger piece entitled Relatively Speaking on Broadway, along with two other one-acts by Ethan Coen and Elaine May.^[34]

Early films[link]

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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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Allen interviewing evangelist Billy Graham and performances 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1972, he wrote and starred in the film version of Play It Again, Sam, which was directed by Herbert Ross and co-starred Diane Keaton. In 1976, he starred in The Front (directed by Martin Ritt) a humorous and poignant account of Hollywood blacklisting during the 1950s.

Then came two of Allen's finest films. Annie Hall won four Academy Awards in 1977, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Diane Keaton, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Woody Allen. 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's "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. 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 1980s Stardust Memories).

1980s[link]

Woody Allen at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

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.^[35][36] September resembles Bergman's Autumn Sonata, and Allen uses many elements from Bergman's Wild Strawberries^[37] in Another Woman. Similarly, the Federico Fellini classic Amarcord strongly inspired Radio Days.^[38] A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy in 1982 was adapted from Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. It was the first of 13 movies Allen made starring Mia Farrow, who stepped in to Diane Keaton's role when Keaton was busy shooting Reds.

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."^[39] Allen believes this to be one of his best films.^[40]

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 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.^[41] (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[link]

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[link]

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 $26 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.^[42] 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.^[43] 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."^[44] Woody gave his godson Quincy Rose a small part in Melinda and Melinda. Allen was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.^[45]

Woody Allen in concert in New York City, 2006

Match Point (2005) was one of Allen's most successful films of the decade, garnering very positive reviews.^[46] 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.^[47] 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.^[48]

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.^[49][50] 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."^[51]

In April 2008, he began filming for a movie focused more towards older audiences starring Larry David, Patricia Clarkson^[52] and Evan Rachel Wood.^[53] Released in 2009, Whatever Works,^[54][55] 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[link]

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,^[56] 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.^[57] Midnight in Paris has overthrown Hannah and Her Sisters as Allen's most successful film at the box office in the United States.^[58] It has also opened to much critical acclaim, and has been considered by many critics to mark his return to form.^[59] His next film, To Rome with Love, is a Rome-set comedy slated for a 2012 release. 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.^[60]

Future projects[link]

For many years, Allen 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.^[61]

It was announced in February 2012 that Allen would adapt Bullets Over Broadway into a Broadway musical scheduled to open in 2013.^[62]