From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
Neil Simon (born Marvin Simon July 4, 1927 in The Bronx, New York City), is an American playwright and screenwriter.
Simon briefly attended New York University in 1946. 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 gay brother Danny. 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 his eponymous sitcom in 1959.
In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 677 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me (starring former boss Caesar), opened to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. He has won a total of three and has been nominated for an additional fourteen.
His prolific output includes light comedies (Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple), darker, more autobiographical works (Chapter Two, the Eugene trilogy comprised of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound), musical comedies (Sweet Charity, Promises, Promises), and original screenplays (The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death, The Goodbye Girl).
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 actress Elaine Joyce (1999-present). He is the father of Nancy and Ellen, from his first marriage, and Bryn, whom he adopted with Lander.
Simon has an honorary L.H.D. degree from Hofstra University and an honorary D.H.C. degree from Williams College. He is the owner of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre as well as the namesake of another Broadway house.
[edit] Plays
- Come Blow Your Horn (1961)
- Little Me (1962)
- Barefoot in the Park (1963)
- The Odd Couple (1965)
- Sweet Charity (1966)
- The Star-Spangled Girl (1966)
- There's a Girl in My Soup (1967)
- Plaza Suite (1968)
- Promises, Promises (1968)
- Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969)
- The Gingerbread Lady (1970)
- The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971)
- The Sunshine Boys (1972)
- The Good Doctor (1973)
- God's Favorite (1974)
- California Suite (1976)
- Chapter Two (1977)
- They're Playing Our Song (1979)
- I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980)
- Fools (1981)
- Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983)
- Biloxi Blues (1985)
- The Odd Couple (Female version, 1985)
- Broadway Bound (1986)
- Rumors (1988)
- Lost in Yonkers (1991)
- Jake's Women (1992)
- The Goodbye Girl (Musical adaptation, 1993)
- Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993)
- London Suite (1995)
- Proposals (1997)
- The Dinner Party (2000)
- 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001)
[edit] 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 - 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 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)
- 2004 - The Goodbye Girl (with Patricia Heaton and Jeff Daniels for Turner Network Television)
[edit] Awards
- Tony Award for
- The Wierd Couple (1965, Best Author, Play)
- Biloxi Blues (1985, Best Play)
- Lost in Yonkers (1991, Best Play)
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Lost in Yonkers (1991)
- Drama Desk Award for Lost in Yonkers (1991, Outstanding New Play)
- American Comedy Award for lifetime achievement (1989)
- Golden Globe for The Goodbye Girl (1978, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy)
- Kennedy Center Honor (1995)
- Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (2006)
- Evening Standard Award for Barefoot in the Park (1967)
[edit] External links
