Neil Simon

Neil Simon
Photograph from 1966
Born	Marvin Neil Simon July 4, 1927 (1927-07-04) (age 83) The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright, writer, academic
Nationality	American
Alma mater	New York University University of Denver
Spouse	Elaine Joyce (1999-present) Diane Lander (1990-1998) Marsha Mason (1973-1981) Joan Baim (1953-1973)
Child(ren)	Ellen, Nancy, Bryn (adopted)
Information
Period	1961 – present
Genre	Comedy
Notable work(s)	Brighton Beach Memoirs Biloxi Blues
Magnum opus	Lost in Yonkers The Odd Couple
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1991)

Neil Simon (born July 4, 1927) is an American playwright and screenwriter. His numerous Broadway successes have led to his work being among the most regularly performed in the world. Though primarily a comic writer, some of his plays, particularly the Eugene trilogy and The Sunshine Boys, reflect on the twentieth century Jewish-American experience.

Biography

Early years

Born Marvin Neil Simon on July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City to Mamie and Irving Simon, a garment salesman. He was their second son and he grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan in the Great Depression. His father would frequently leave the family, casting financial and emotional woes on the family. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and graduated at the age of sixteen.^[1]

Early career

He briefly attended New York University from 1944 to 1945, where he was enlisted in the Army Air Force Reserve training program. He was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base in 1945 and attended the University of Denver from 1945 to 1946. He was a sports editor for the military magazine Rev-Meter.

In 1946, he was discharged as a corporal. Two years later, he quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the Warner Brothers offices in Manhattan to write radio and television scripts with his brother Danny Simon, including a tutelage under radio humourist Goodman Ace when Ace ran a short-lived writing workshop for CBS. They wrote for the radio show The Robert Q. Lewis Show and for the television show The Phil Silvers Show.

Their revues for Camp Tamiment in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s caught the attention of Sid Caesar, who hired the duo for his popular TV comedy series Your Show of Shows. Simon later incorporated their experiences into his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor. His work won him two Emmy Award nominations and the appreciation of Phil Silvers, who hired him to write for Sergeant Bilko in 1959.^[2]

Writing career

In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 678 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me opened to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. He also won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Lost In Yonkers.

In 1966 Simon had four shows running on Broadway at the same time: Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. His professional association with producer Emanuel Azenberg began with The Sunshine Boys in 1972 and continued with The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Broadway Bound, Jake's Women, The Goodbye Girl, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, among others.

Simon also has written screenplays for more than twenty films. These include adaptations of his own plays and original work too, including The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death and The Goodbye Girl. He has received four Best Screenplay Academy Award nominations.

Simon has been conferred with two honoris causa degrees; a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University and a Doctor of Laws from Williams College.^[3] He is the namesake of the legitimate Broadway theater the Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, and an honorary member of the Walnut Street Theatre's board of trustees.

Personal life

Simon has been married five times, to dancer Joan Baim (1953–1973), actress Marsha Mason (1973–1981), twice to Diane Lander (1987–1988 and 1990–1998), and currently actress Elaine Joyce. He is the father of Nancy and Ellen, from his first marriage, and Bryn, Lander's daughter from a previous relationship whom he adopted.

Awards

Work

Plays

Screenplays

• 1963: Come Blow Your Horn - Director: Bud Yorkin, screenplay by Norman Lear with Frank Sinatra and Lee J. Cobb
• 1966: After the Fox - Director: Vittorio DeSica with Peter Sellers and Victor Mature
• 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: The Last of the Red Hot Lovers - Director: Gene Saks with Alan Arkin
• 1972: The Heartbreak Kid - Director: Elaine May with Cybill Shepard and Charles Grodin
• 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 Truman Capote, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, David Niven and Peter Sellers
• 1977: The Goodbye Girl - Director: Herbert Ross with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason
• 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
• 1978: The Good Doctor - PBS - Director: Jack O'Brien with Edward Asner, Richard Chamberlain, Bob Dishy, Gary Dontzig, Lee Grant, and Marsha Mason
• 1979: Chapter Two - Director: Robert Moore with James Caan and Marsha Mason
• 1980: Seems Like Old Times - Director: Jay Sandrich with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase
• 1981: Only When I Laugh - Director: Glenn Jordan with Marsha Mason, Joan Hackett, James Coco and Kristy McNichol
• 1982: I Ought to Be in Pictures - Director: Herbert Ross with Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff
• 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
• 1986: Brighton Beach Memoirs - Director: Gene Saks with Jonathan Silverman and David Margulies
• 1987: Plaza Suite - Director: Robert Beatty and Kenny Solms with Carol Burnett, Richard Crenna, Dabney Coleman, and Hal Holbrook for ABC
• 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
• 1996: Jake's Women - Director: Glenn Jordan with Alan Alda, Anne Archer, Lolita Davidovich, Julie Kavner, Mira Sorvino, Joyce Van Patten, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley for CBS
• 1996: London Suite - Director: Jay Sandrich with Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Clarkson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonathan Silverman, Madeline Kahn, Michael Richards, Julie Hagerty, Richard Mulligan, Kristen Johnston, Jane Carr, Paxton Whitehead, and William Franklyn for NBC
• 1998: The Odd Couple II - Director: Howard Deutch with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
• 2001: Laughter on the 23rd Floor - Director: Richard Benjamin with Nathan Lane, Mark Linn-Baker, Saul Rubinek, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Portnow, Kristi Angus, Ardon Bess, Victor Garber, Philip Craig, among many others for Showtime
• 2004: The Goodbye Girl with Patricia Heaton and Jeff Daniels for Turner Network Television

Further reading

• Simon, Neil (1996). Neil Simon Rewrites: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-82672-0. 
• Simon, Neil (1999). Neil Simon The Play Goes On: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84691-8. 

References

External links

• Neil Simon at the Internet Movie Database
• Neil Simon at the Internet Broadway Database
• Neil Simon at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Neil Simon at the Open Directory Project
• Neil Simon Theatre Festival
• PBS article, American Masters