Happy 85th Birthday, Woody Allen! Born today in 1935 as Allen Stewart Konigsberg, this American author, musician, playwright, comedian, actor, writer and director's career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films.
Born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, Allen and his younger sister, Letty, were raised in Midwood, Brooklyn.
Allen's family was Jewish, and his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Austria and Panevėžys, Lithuania (then part of Russia) and spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German. Both of Allen's parents were born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Allen began his career as a comedy writer in the 1950s, writing jokes and scripts for television and publishing several books of short humor pieces. At the age of seventeen, he adopted his stage name.
In 1953, Allen enrolled in New York University's film program, but quickly failed the course "Motion Picture Production".
He soon dropped out of school to begin writing for American comedian David Alber for the sum of twenty dollars a week.
Two years later, Allen graduated to writing for television, working on the staff of the live ninety-minute American black and white variety show Your Show of Shows (1950–1954).
This was as well as penning material for American singer, composer, actor, writer, television personality, motivational speaker, and spokesman Pat Boone.
In the early 1960s, Allen performed as a stand-up comedian, emphasizing monologues rather than traditional jokes.
This was where he developed the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, neurotic. However, this is quite different from his real-life personality of which he maintains.
During Allen's five-year tenure in television, his efforts won him an Emmy nomination, but like Mel Brooks, Allen found his writing career stifling. Despite this, he eventually decided to try his hand as a standup performer.
After slowly gaining a reputation on the New York-club circuit, he became a frequent talk show guest and in 1964 issued his self-titled debut comedy LP. The following year, Allen made his film debut in 1965.
By the mid-1960s, Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing in slapstick comedies before moving into dramatic material influenced by European art cinema during the 1970s. He alternated between comedies and dramas to the present.
Allen is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to the late 1970s. He often stars in his films, typically in the persona he developed as a stand-up.
Also, in the late 1970s, Allen co-wrote, directed and starred in the 1977 American romance/comedy film 'Annie Hall'.
Originally titled 'Anhedonia', (the incapacity for pleasure), the name of the film was changed only three weeks before its first screening in 1977.
On a budget of $4 million, 'Annie Hall' grossed $38.3 million at the box office.
Co-starring Diane Keaton, her birth name is actually Diane Hall (and her nickname is Annie).
The following year, 'Annie Hall' received on nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Woody Allen).
Instead, the film won four Oscars for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Diane Keaton) and Best Writing (Original Screenplay). This occurred at the 50th Academy Awards in early April 1978.
One year later, Allen co-wrote, directed and starred in the 1979 American black and white romance/comedy film 'Manhattan'.
On a budget of $9 million, the film grossed $39.9 million at the box office. This made 'Manhattan' Allen's second biggest box-office hit (adjusted for inflation).
The following year, the film won two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Mariel Hemingway and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. However, the film didn't win. This occurred at the 52nd Academy Awards in mid-April 1980.
Often considered one of his best films, 'Manhattan' ranks 46th on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list and #63 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
Later in 1980, Allen and Mia Farrow started a relationship. However, both maintained separate apartments in Manhattan throughout the relationship—Farrow on Central Park West and Allen on Fifth Avenue—and did not marry.
However, both had both been married twice before. during which Farrow starred in thirteen of Allen's films.
For a long time, Allen's 'Hannah and Her Sisters' (1986) was his biggest box office success (forgoing adjustment for inflation), with a North American gross of $40.1 million against a budget of $6.4 million.
One year after its release, the film won two Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Dianne Wiest) and for Writing (Original Screenplay). This occurred at the 59th Academy Awards in late March 1987.
The film won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. It is often considered one of Allen's major works, with critics continuing to praise its writing and ensemble cast.
Three years later, 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' was nominated three Oscars for Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Martin Landau) and Best Original Screenplay. However, the film didn't win. This occurred at the 62nd Academy Awards in late March 1990.
According to his personal life, Allen has been married three times. His most notable wives are Loose Lasser (1966-1970) and Soon-Yi Previn (1997-present). The latter is the adapted daughter of Farrow.
Allen has described the result of making 'Annie Hall' had marked his first collaboration with American cinematographer and film director Gordon Willis as "a major turning point", in that unlike the farces and comedies that were his work to that point, it introduced a new level of seriousness.
Academics have noted the contrast in the settings of New York City and Los Angeles, the stereotype of gender differences in sexuality, the presentation of Jewish identity, and the elements of psychoanalysis and modernism.
Today, 'Annie Hall' is considered to be one of the best films ever made. It ranks 31st on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, 4th on their 100 Years... 100 Laughs list and 28th on the "100 Funniest Movies" list for Bravo.
The screenplay for 'Annie Hall' was also named the funniest ever written by the Writers Guild of America in its list of the "101 Funniest Screenplays".
In 1992, the United States Library of Congress selected 'Annie Hall' for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed 'Manhattan' "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Allen famously shuns award ceremonies, citing their subjectivity. His first and only appearance at the Oscars was at the 74th Academy Awards in late March 2002, where he received a standing ovation.
In May 2002, Roger Ebert wrote of Annie Hall: "This is a movie that establishes its tone by constantly switching between tones: The switches reflect the restless mind of the filmmaker, turning away from the apparent subject of a scene to find the angle that reveals the joke.
"Annie Hall" is a movie about a man who is always looking for the loopholes in perfection. Who can turn everything into a joke, and wishes he couldn't."
As a New York icon, Allen had been asked by the Academy to present a film montage of clips of New York City in the movies, which was put together by American journalist, writer and filmmaker Nora Ephron, to honor the city post 9/11.
In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Allen fourth on a list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians, while a United Kingdom survey ranked Allen the third-greatest comedian.
In 2005, on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Quotes, the line "La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah." ranked in at #55.
Allen has never attended the Academy Awards. In spite of his previous twenty-one nominations and three wins, he declines the invites. He's known for it, so notoriously so that urban myths are told as to why.
In 2007, Allen said that 'Stardust Memories' (1980), 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' (1985) and 'Match Point' (2005) were his best films. Roger Ebert has even described Allen as "a treasure of the cinema".
In 2012, PBS televised the three-hour plus 2011 American biography documentary film "Woody Allen: A Documentary". It aired on November 20 through its Emmy-winning documentary series American Masters (1986–present).
Allen is a passionate fan of jazz, which appears often in the soundtracks to his films. He began playing clarinet as a child and took his stage name from American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader Woody Herman.
Allen has also performed publicly at least since the late 1960s, including with the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Allen has said that he was enormously influenced by Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Ingmar Bergman, and American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic George S. Kaufman.
Allen has redefined film comedy during the 1970s, bringing a new measure of sophistication and personal complexity to the form. With this, he drew universal insight from the traditions of Yiddish humor.
He had established himself both as a comic Everyman and one of American filmmaking's true auteurs, writing and directing features which broke with established narrative conventions and infused the screen-comedy form with unprecedented substance and depth.
Allen has been active from 1950–present.
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