Allen, Woody, originally Allen Stewart Konigsberg 1935-
US screenwriter, actor, director, short-story writer and occasional jazz clarinettist

He was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and launched his career as a comedian in clubs and on television, developing the self-deprecating neurosis and 'genetic dissatisfaction with everything' that were to become his stock-in-trade. He made his film debut scripting and acting in What's New, Pussycat? (1965). Take the Money and Run (1969) was the first of his own films, which are mainly comedies centred on modern US city life. His first movie projects - often co-scripted with Marshall Brickman - were more obviously vehicles for his stand-up routines: Bananas (1971), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex ? But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975). After Annie Hall (1977, three Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Script and Best Picture) and Manhattan (1979), his films took on a more fictive and structured aspect (in the eyes of detractors, they were simply less funny), as in Stardust Memories (1980), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay), Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989), Alice (1990), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Mighty Aphrodite (1995) and Everyone Says I Love You (1996). A frequent magazine contributor, he has also written plays, notably Play it Again, Sam (1969) which was successfully filmed in 1972, and books of stories and sketches, including Getting Even (1971), Without Feathers (1975), Side Effects (1980) and The Floating Light Bulb (1982).

Bibliography: E Lax, Woody Allen (1991)