Woody Allen

Birth Name: Allan Stewart Konigsberg

Nickname/Stage Name: Woody Allen

Birth Date: December 1, 1935

Genres: Comedy, Drama

Occupation(s): Actor, Comedian, Director, Writer

Years Active: 1956 till Present

Net Worth: $140 million

 

Personal Life

Woody Allen was born in the Bronx, New York City, and was raised with his sister in Brooklyn's neighbourhood of Midwood. He married Harlene Rosen in 1956 when he was 20 and she was 17. The union ended in 1959.

In 1966, he and Louise Lasser got married. They divorced in 1970. In December 2018, Babi Christina Engelhardt told The Hollywood Reporter that she had an eight-year affair with Allen. She said it began in 1976 (she was 17 at the time).

The filmmaker and Diane Keaton became linked romantically in 1969. They broke up after a year, with Allen and Mia Farrow meeting in 1979. They started a relationship in 1980.

Farrow had seven kids at the time of their meeting; three sons from her previous marriage and three adopted daughters, and an adopted son.

She gave birth to their son Satchel Farrow in December 1987, and Allen says that was when their relationship came to an end. On August 17, 1992, Allen released a statement saying he was in love with Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

Allen and Previn's relationship became public and they got married on December 23, 1997. They adopted two children; Bechet and Manzie. They reside in Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Education

Allen is Jewish and attended Hebrew schools for eight years before going to Public School 99 (now the Isaac Asimov School for Science and Literature) and Midwood High School, graduating in 1953.

After his high school education, he studied Communication and Film at the New York University in 1953 before dropping out after failing a course.

Thereafter, he studied film at City College of New York in 1954 and left before completing his first semester. He resorted to teaching himself rather than learning in the classroom.

Career

Allen started writing short jokes at the age of 15 and after a while began sending them to Broadway writers to see if they would want to buy them.

His jokes got him an invitation to join the NBC's Writer's Development Program in 1955, followed by a job on The NBC Comedy Hour in Los Angeles. He was eventually hired as a full-time writer by humorist Herb Shriner.

From 1960 to 1969, he performed as a comedian to support his comedy writing and his first film was What's New, Pussycat? (1965). He also wrote the movie's screenplay.

In 1969, he co-wrote, directed, and starred in Take the Money and Run, marking what he calls his true film directorial debut. It got positive reviews.

During the 1970s, Allen directed films that were later considered his early "funny work". They include Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), Sleeper, and Love and Death.

He made A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy in 1982. It was the first film he made which starred Mia Farrow. His other films Hannah and her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors had elements of comedy and tragedy.

Allen returned to lighter films with Bullets over Broadway (1994) and made the musical Everyone Says I Love You (1996). He also had a starring role in the TV film The Sunshine Boys (1995). He voiced the character of Z in DreamWorks'first animated film Antz (1998).

His first film with DreamWorks was the 2000 movie Small Time Crooks and Match Point (2005) was one of his most successful films of that decade.

In 2010, the director released You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. It has an ensemble cast and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2010.

He started filming Wonder Wheel in September 2016, starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake. In May 2019, his next film was announced to be titled Rifkin's Festival. It premiered at the San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 18, 2020, garnering positive reviews.

Awards

Berlin International Film Festival Award (1975)

Academy Award (1978)

BAFTA Award (1977, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1992)

Directors Guild of America Award (1977)

Writers Guild of America Award (1977, 1984, 1986, 1989, 2011)

Venice International Film Festival Award (1983, 1995)

Golden Globe Award (1985, 2011)

Cannes Film Festival Award (1985, 2002)

American Comedy Award (1986)

Saturn Award (1986)

BAFTA Fellowship Award (1997)

Grammy Award (2012)

Cecil B. DeMille Award (2014)

Quotes

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it by not dying."

"I'm not afraid of dying... I just don't want to be there when it happens."

"There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"

"Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all."

Trivia

A lot of his movies feature at least one character who is a writer (often Woody Allen himself).

Almost all of his films start and end with white-on-black credits.

His thick black glasses are the same type since the 1960s.

Refuses to watch any of his movies once they have been released.

Was voted the 19th greatest director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Movies (Directed Works)

What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

Bananas (1971)

Love and Death (1975)

Manhattan (1979)

Zelig (1983)

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Another Woman (1988)

Alice (1990)

Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

Celebrity (1998)

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

Melinda and Melinda (2004)

Cassandra's Dream (2007)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Magic in the Moonlight (2014)

Wonder Wheel (2017)

Rifkin's Festival (2020)