Neil Simon
From Free net encyclopedia
Neil Simon (born July_4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City), is a Jewish-American playwright and screenwriter. He began his career as a TV comedy writer, most notably for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. He is the author of over forty Broadway plays since 1961, ranging from humorous, lighthearted plays of the 1960s (Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple) to darker, more autobiographical works in 1970s and 1980s (Chapter Two, the Eugene trilogy featuring Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound). Simon also contributed librettos to such hit musical comedies as Sweet Charity, Promises, Promises, and They're Playing Our Song. His plays are known for their family-based New York settings, where world-weary characters use one-liners to hide often-fractured psyches. Simon's second wife (of four) was actress Marsha Mason, who starred in several of his plays and movies. His brother Danny Simon (at the Internet Movie Database) also was a TV comedy writer.
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Plays by Neil Simon
- Come Blow Your Horn
- Barefoot in the Park
- The Odd Couple
- Sweet Charity
- The Star-Spangled Girl
- Plaza Suite
- Promises, Promises
- Last of the Red Hot Lovers
- The Gingerbread Lady
- The Prisoner of Second Avenue
- The Sunshine Boys
- The Good Doctor
- God's Favorite
- California Suite
- Chapter Two
- They're Playing Our Song
- I Ought to Be in Pictures
- Fools
- Brighton Beach Memoirs
- Biloxi Blues
- Broadway Bound
- Jake's Women
- Rumors
- Lost in Yonkers
- Laughter on the 23rd Floor
- London Suite
- Proposals
- The Dinner Party
Films (screenplay by Neil Simon)
- 1963 - Come Blow Your Horn - Director: Bud Yorkin (with Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb)
- 1967 - Barefoot in the Park - Director: Gene Saks (with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda)
- 1968 - The Odd Couple - Director: Gene Saks (with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau)
- 1969 - Sweet Charity - Director: Bob Fosse (with Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera and Sammy Davis Jr.)
- 1970 - The Out-of-Towners - Director: Arthur Hiller (with Jack Lemmon)
- 1971 - Plaza Suite - Director: Arthur Hiller (with Walter Matthau)
- 1972 - Last of the Red Hot Lovers - Director: Gene Saks (with Alan Arkin)
- 1975 - The Prisoner of Second Avenue - Director: Melvin Frank (with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft)
- 1975 - The Sunshine Boys - Director: Herbert Ross (with Walter Matthau and George Burns)
- 1976 - Murder by Death - Director: Robert Moore (with Walter Matthau, Truman Capote, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, David Niven and Peter Sellers)
- 1977 - The Goodbye Girl - Director: Herbert Ross (with Richard Dreyfuss)
- 1978 - The Cheap Detective - Director: Robert Moore (with Peter Falk, Louise Fletcher, Stockard Channing, Madeline Kahn, John Houseman, Nicol Williamson and Eileen Brennan)
- 1978 - California Suite - Director: Herbert Ross (with Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby)
- 1980 - Seems Like Old Times - Director: Jay Sandrich (with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase)
- 1982 - I Ought To Be In Pictures - Director: Herbert Ross (with Walter Matthau)
- 1982 - Sonny Boys - Director: Rolf von Sydow (with Carl-Heinz Schroth and Johannes Heesters)
- 1983 - Max Dugan Returns - Director: Herbert Ross (with Matthew Broderick, Marsha Mason, Jason Robards, Kiefer Sutherland and Donald Sutherland)
- 1984 - The Lonely Guy - Director: Arthur Hiller (with Steve Martin)
- 1985 - The Slugger's Wife - Director: Hal Ashby (with Michael O'Keefe and Rebecca De Mornay)
- 1988 - Biloxi Blues - Director: Mike Nichols (with Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken)
- 1991 - The Marrying Man - Director: Jerry Rees (with Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin)
- 1993 - Lost in Yonkers - Director: Martha Coolidge (with Richard Dreyfuss)
- 1995 - The Sunshine Boys - Director: John Erman (with Woody Allen and Peter Falk)
- 1998 - The Odd Couple II - Director: Howard Deutch (with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau)
- 2001 - Sonny Boys - Director: Jörg Hube (with Werner Schneyder and Dieter Hildebrandt)
- 2003 - Laughter on the 23rd floor
- 2004 - The Goodbye Girl
- 2006 - The Heartbreak Kid
Awards
- Tony Award - for his plays:
- The Odd Couple (1965, Best Author, Play)
- Biloxi Blues (1985, Best Play)
- Lost in Yonkers (1991, Best Play)
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama — Lost in Yonkers (1991)
- Drama Desk Award — Lost in Yonkers (1991, Outstanding New Play)
- American Comedy Award– for his life work (1989, Creative Achievement Award)
- Golden Globe — The Goodbye Girl (1978, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy)
Media Interviews with Neil Simon
- Simon reflects on the importance of creating a memorable character in American Film Foundation's series Screenwriters: Word into Motion.