
Writing
Neil Simon
Born 1927-07-04 · The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received three Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006. Simon grew up in New York City during the Great Depression. His parents' financial difficulties affected their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood. He often took refuge in movie theaters, where he enjoyed watching early comedians like Charlie Chaplin. After graduating from high school and serving a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve, he began writing comedy scripts for radio programs and popular early television shows. Among the latter were Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (where in 1950 he worked alongside other young writers including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart and Selma Diamond), and The Phil Silvers Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959. His first produced play was Come Blow Your Horn (1961). It took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two more successes, Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965). He won a Tony Award for the latter. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway". From the 1960s to the 1980s he wrote for stage and screen; some of his screenplays were based on his own works for the stage. His style ranged from farce to romantic comedy to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he garnered 17 Tony nominations and won three awards. In 1966, he had four successful productions running on Broadway at the same time, and in 1983 he became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor. Description above from the Wikipedia article Neil Simon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
7.7A look at one hundred years of romance in American cinema.
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions: America's Greatest Love Stories
2002
Bob's favorite memories and funniest moments on TV The biggest Stars! ... The biggest laughs! On DVD for the first time, this special 90 minute collection proves that laughter is the universal language with a sidesplitting salute to slapstick, satire, sketch comedy and zingers. Featuring Bob's funniest moments on television, this tribute includes a virtual who's who of legendary entertainers like Bing Crosby, Jackie Gleason, Roy Rogers, Ingrid Bergman, Bob Newhart, Lucille Ball, Ann-Margret, Jack Benny, Angie Dickinson, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Danny Thomas, Don Rickles, Milton Berle, Redd Foxx, Dorothy Lamour, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne, Dyan Cannon, Debbie Reynolds, Lassie and more.
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
1976
NRA documentary profile of director/choreographer Bob Fosse. Includes clips from his films and television specials as well as interviews with Fosse, remembrances from his friends, and commentary by Gwen Verdon. A Dance in America presentation, broadcast as part of Great Performances.
Bob Fosse: Steam Heat
1990
7.5Jack Lemmon made over 60 films and received numerous awards, including eight Academy Award Nominations and two Oscars. Later in life, his achievement was enriched by new challenges in which he exposed the vulnerability and emotion of the later years as few had dared. He reveled in his ongoing screen partnerships with directors like Billy Wilder and stars like Walter Matthau. Narrated on-camera by Jack Lemmon, this documentary includes interviews with Lemmon's son, the actor Chris Lemmon. Also appearing are such legends as Jack's life-long friend, the writer and director Billy Wilder, writer-director Garson Kanin, drama teacher Uta Hagen and actor Gregory Peck.
Jack Lemmon: America's Everyman
1996
6.5A Canadian documentary featuring two young filmmakers attending the Toronto Film Festival to pitch a film concept to various celebrities. Their film idea, titled "The Dawn", concerns a Mafia don who goes for a hernia operation but gets a sex change instead. During the 1996 Toronto Fest, they approach Roger Ebert, Norman Jewison (at a packed press conference), Eric Stoltz (leaving a limo), Al Pacino, and others without much success. On a roll, they leave Toronto for Hollywood, getting advice from Arthur Hiller and Neil Simon and finding an agent who expresses interest in their pitch.
Pitch
1997
The Big Daddy of televised comedy sketches, Sid Caesar had millions of Americans holding their sides and howling at his uproarious antics and those of his inspired sidekicks--Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. These are compilations of fan favorites--digitally remastered to be as crisp as they were in the 1950s. "The Fan Favorites" includes gems from the heyday of live TV, as well as interviews with writers and actors, including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Neil Simon. 3-3/4 hours on 3 cassettes or 3 DVDs. Set 1 features live gut-busters from "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour", including 18 of Caesar's own favorite sketches, plus revealing interviews with contemporaries, including Mel Brooks and Neil Simon. Three digitally remastered volumes: "The Magic of Live TV, Inside the Writer's Room," and "Creating the Comedy". Almost 4 hours on 3 cassettes or 3 DVDs.
The Sid Caesar Collection: Inside the Writer's Room
2000
The Big Daddy of televised comedy sketches, Sid Caesar had millions of Americans holding their sides and howling at his uproarious antics and those of his inspired sidekicks--Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. These are compilations of fan favorites--digitally remastered to be as crisp as they were in the 1950s. "The Fan Favorites" includes gems from the heyday of live TV, as well as interviews with writers and actors, including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Neil Simon. 3-3/4 hours on 3 cassettes or 3 DVDs. Set 1 features live gut-busters from "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour", including 18 of Caesar's own favorite sketches, plus revealing interviews with contemporaries, including Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
The Sid Caesar Collection: Creating the Comedy
2000
Robert Osborne hosts this TCM original featuring an exclusive interview with the original Odd Couple.
Private Screenings: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
1998
9.0On January 24, 1996, at the Writers Guild Theater in Los Angeles, CA, legendary comic Sid Caesar was reunited with nine of his writers from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. The event was taped for release on PBS and BBC in a 1-hour cut, and later on VHS and DVD in its full 2-hour length. Be prepared to laugh non-stop as the panel, made up of head writer Mel Tolkin, Caesar, Carl Reiner, Aaron Ruben, Larry Gelbart, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Danny Simon, Sheldon Keller, and Gary Belkin share stories about their time working on Caesar's shows and offer their insights about writing comedy.
Caesar's Writers
1996
7.0One of the greatest comedians of early television, Sid Caesar hasn't had his work shown in perennial reruns, so it's especially gratifying to see a collection of his classic sketches released on video, with Caesar himself introducing the material. Besides being a truly gifted comic, Caesar benefited from having some brilliant supporting players, including Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, and Nanette Fabray. Some of his illustrious writers, including Neil Simon, Woody Allen, and Mel Brooks, appear in interviews setting up the sketches. The sketches themselves include some all-time classics such as Caesar and company playing the figurines populating a medieval town clock (a brilliant bit partly written by Neil Simon and his brother, Danny, who reminisce after the sketch).
The Sid Caesar Collection: The Magic of Live TV
2000
7.0A collection of Ceasar's finest comedy moments.
Sid Caesar Collection: Buried Treasures - The Legend of Sid Caesar
2003
A promotional short for The Goodbye Girl. It takes a behind the scenes look at the production, with a focus on actress Quinn Cummings.
The Amazing Miss Cummings: An Actress at Work and Play
1977
6.5A profile of the life of actor Walter Matthau.
Walter Matthau: Diamond in the Rough
1997
NRNew interviews with Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, footage from the reunion of Caesar's Writers (1996), and sketches from Your Show of Shows (1950) and Caesar's Hour (1954).
In the Beginning: The Caesar Years
2012
Neil Simon discusses the writing and making of his film "Murder by Death".
Murder By Death - A Conversation with Neil Simon
1999
Behind the camera
6.6Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He lives with his parents, his aunt, two cousins, and his brother, Stanley, whom he looks up to and admires. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
Brighton Beach Memoirs
1986
6.3A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife.
The Cheap Detective
1978
6.3Brucey, the son of Oscar, calls his father to invite him to his wedding to Felix's daughter next Sunday in California. Oscar and Felix meet again at Los Angeles International Airport and rent a car in order to go to San Malina for the wedding.
The Odd Couple II
1998
6.3Brucey, the son of Oscar, calls his father to invite him to his wedding to Felix's daughter next Sunday in California. Oscar and Felix meet again at Los Angeles International Airport and rent a car in order to go to San Malina for the wedding.
The Odd Couple II
1998
7.1Lionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.
Murder by Death
1976
5.1On one day at an English hotel, four different stories are shown. Diana is in London to promote her television series and her ex-husband Sydney shows up to ask her for money for his gay lover. Mark and Annie come to London for the Wimbledon tennis matches, but they lose their tickets and Mark's back goes out. Debra is on her honeymoon with Paul, but Paul is missing and Debra lies to everyone she meets as to where Paul is. Sharon and Lauren are on a shop-till-you-drop trip and Sharon meets Dennis, an older man who seems to be interested in her.
London Suite
1996
5.5Charley Pearl, wealthy heir and gadabout, is slated to marry Adele, the daughter of a Hollywood tycoon. But, during a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas, Charley strikes up a flirtation with nightclub crooner Vicki Anderson that soon leads to her bedroom. When the couple are discovered by Vicki's beau, infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel, he makes a surprising pronouncement -- they'd better marry, or Charley is a dead man.
The Marrying Man
1991
6.6An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life.
Max Dugan Returns
1983
6.6An English teacher and struggling single mother has her life disrupted when the father who abandoned her as a child comes back into her life.
Max Dugan Returns
1983
5.9The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
California Suite
1978
7.0After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.
The Goodbye Girl
1977
6.3A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.
Biloxi Blues
1988
7.4In New York, Felix, a neurotic news writer who just broke up with his wife, is urged by his chaotic friend Oscar, a sports journalist, to move in with him, but their lifestyles are as different as night and day are, so Felix's ideas about housekeeping soon begin to irritate Oscar.
The Odd Couple
1968
7.1In this film based on a Neil Simon play, newlyweds Corie, a free spirit, and Paul Bratter, an uptight lawyer, share a sixth-floor apartment in Greenwich Village. Soon after their marriage, Corie tries to find a companion for mother, Ethel, who is now alone, and sets up Ethel with neighbor Victor. Inappropriate behavior on a double date causes conflict, and the young couple considers divorce.
Barefoot in the Park
1967
9.0No synopsis available yet.
Drôle de couple
1987
No synopsis available yet.
Οι ηλίθιοι
2001
6.3After being falsely accused of robbing a bank, a writer seeks the help of his lawyer ex-wife to clear his name. However, hilarity ensues when he must hide from her husband, who’s throwing a party for law enforcement officials.
Seems Like Old Times
1980
6.7Three days into his Miami honeymoon with needy and unsophisticated Lila, Lenny meets tall, blonde Kelly. This confirms his fear that he has made a serious mistake and he decides he wants to be with Kelly instead.
The Heartbreak Kid
1972
6.9Lewis and Clark, aka The Sunshine Boys, were famous comedians during the vaudeville era, but off-stage they couldn't stand each other and haven't spoken in over 20 years of retirement. Willy Clark's nephew is the producer of a TV variety show that wants to feature a reunion of this classic duo. It is up to him to try to get the Sunshine Boys back together again.
The Sunshine Boys
1975
6.8A trip to New York for a job interview turns into a trip to hell for a small town couple.
The Out-of-Towners
1970
8.0Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza.
Plaza Suite
1987
6.7Mel Edison has just lost his job after many years and now has to cope with being unemployed at middle age during an intense NYC heat wave.
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1975
NRBrazilian adaptation of the Broadway classic starring Claudia Raia and filmed live in São Paulo
Sweet Charity
2006
6.0Musical dancer on the way out (at 36) Paula McFadden had it swell with actor Tony DeSanti, but instead of taking her to Hollywood he gets a European movie part. He even sublets their (his) New York apartment to Elliot Garfield, who generously lets her stay, even keeping the master bedroom. Pragmatic pre-teen daughter Lucy soon takes to his charm, but Paula remains determined to hate all actors. Despite the stress of a Broadway Shakespeare lead he must play too queer for Frisco, he's determined to snatch romance from ingratitude.
The Goodbye Girl
2004