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Quick Facts
- NAME: Woody Allen
- OCCUPATION: Actor, Director, Screenwriter
- BIRTH DATE: December 01, 1935 (Age: 77)
- EDUCATION: Midwood High School, New York University, City College of New York
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York
- Originally: Allen Stewart Konigsberg
- Full Name: Heywood Allen
- AKA: Allen Konigsberg
- AKA: Woody Allen
- ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius
Best Known For
Woody Allen is an American comedian, filmmaker and writer who directed and starred in two of his most famous films, Annie Hall and Manhattan.
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Play NowWoody Allen. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:42, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734.
Woody Allen. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Woody Allen." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 02:42 http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734.
"Woody Allen," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Woody Allen," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Woody Allen [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734.
Woody Allen, http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Woody Allen. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/woody-allen-9181734. Accessed May 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 1, 1935, Woody Allen is an American film director, screenwriter, actor and author who is best known for his romantic comedy films containing elements of parody and slapstick. He is also known for writing strong and well-defined characters for his female stars. Allen directed and starred in two of his most famous films,
Quotes
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work ... I want to achieve it through not dying."
"Eighty percent of success is showing up."
"What was the scandal? I fell in love with this girl, married her ... 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."
[On dating in 1992 and eventually marrying then-girlfriend Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.]
Annie Hall and Manhattan. Among his featured performers were Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow, both of whom he was romantically involved with.
Younger Years
Born Allen Stewart Konigsberg on December 1, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, actor, director and screenwriter Woody Allen legally changed his name to Heywood Allen when he was 17 years old. Coming from an often volatile and loud Jewish middle-class family in the Midwood section of Brooklyn gave Allen all the material he needed to start writing monologues and performing stand-up comedy while still in high school. His early life of turmoil in an overcrowded apartment would ultimately give him years of fodder for what would become a prolific and award-winning career in motion pictures and screenwriting. It would also give him an intense need for solitude later in life.
Allen's parents were second-generation Jewish immigrants. His father, Martin, worked as a salesman, jewelry engraver, taxi driver and bartender, and even found work as a pool hustler and bookmaker. Martin's need to bounce from one job to another was to some degree passed down to his son, who, though making a much better living than his father, would inherit the same wanderlust by jumping from one project to the next when he got bored. His mother, Nettie, had very little patience with her red-headed son, and, thusly, would frequently shout at and spank him. His sister, Letty, was born in 1943.
Early Career
Allen attended New York University in 1953, promptly failing a course in motion picture production. Discouraged, he dropped out of school and soon began writing for television, including Sid Caesar's popular Your Show of Shows. His work won him an Emmy Award nomination, but Allen grew bored and soon tried his hand at stand-up comedy, becoming popular in the New York City comedy club circuit. His comic persona was that of a long-suffering "nebbish"—a personality he held onto throughout the years.
A prolific writer and director, Allen often appeared in his own plays and films, including What's New, Pussycat? in 1965 and his first play, Don't Drink the Water, on Broadway the following year. He made his directorial debut in 1966 with What's Up, Tiger Lily?. His career really began to soar with Take the Money and Run in 1969, followed by Bananas, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), Play It Again, Sam and Sleeper. Throughout his career, Allen wrote humorous short prose pieces, many of which were originally published in The New Yorker magazine.
Career Highlights
Allen's career breakthrough came in 1977 with Annie Hall, starring Diane Keaton, with whom Allen became romantically involved.
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