Heywood Allen was born on Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30,1935 and is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades.
118 Facts About Woody Allen
2.
Woody Allen has received many accolades, including the most nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, with 16.
3.
Woody Allen has won four Academy Awards, nine BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Emmy Award and a Tony Award.
4.
Woody Allen began his career writing material for television in the 1950s, mainly Your Show of Shows, alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, and Neil Simon.
5.
Woody Allen published several books of short stories and wrote humor pieces for The New Yorker.
6.
Woody Allen is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers, alongside Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Sidney Lumet.
7.
Woody Allen earned acclaim for his films in the 1990s including Husbands and Wives, Bullets Over Broadway, Everyone Says I Love You, Deconstructing Harry, and Sweet and Lowdown.
8.
In 1979, Woody Allen began a professional and personal relationship with actress Mia Farrow.
9.
The couple separated after Woody Allen began a relationship in 1991 with Mia's and Andre Previn's adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
10.
The allegation gained substantial media attention, but Woody Allen was never charged or prosecuted, and he vehemently denied the allegation.
11.
Woody Allen married Previn in 1997, and they adopted two children.
12.
Woody Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg in New York City on November 30,1935.
13.
Woody Allen's parents were Nettie, a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Konigsberg, a jewelry engraver and waiter.
14.
Woody Allen's grandparents were immigrants to the US from Austria and the Lithuanian city of Panevezys.
15.
Woody Allen's parents did not get along, and he had an estranged relationship with his authoritarian, ill-tempered mother.
16.
Woody Allen later joked that he was often sent to interfaith summer camps when he was young.
17.
Woody Allen impressed students with his talent for cards and magic tricks.
18.
Woody Allen wrote jokes for agent David O Alber to make money, and Alber sold them to newspaper columnists.
19.
Woody Allen studied film at City College of New York in 1954, but left during the first semester.
20.
Woody Allen taught himself rather than studying in the classroom.
21.
Woody Allen later taught at The New School and studied with writing teacher Lajos Egri.
22.
Woody Allen began writing short jokes when he was 15, and the following year began sending them to various Broadway writers to see if they'd be interested in buying any.
23.
Woody Allen was later hired as a full-time writer for humorist Herb Shriner, initially earning $25 a week.
24.
Woody Allen began writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, specials for Sid Caesar post-Caesar's Hour, and other television shows.
25.
Woody Allen worked alongside Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, and Neil Simon.
26.
Woody Allen worked with Danny Simon, whom Allen credits for helping form his writing style.
27.
Woody Allen wrote for the Candid Camera television show, and appeared in some episodes.
28.
Woody Allen wrote jokes for the Buddy Hackett sitcom Stanley and for The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, and in 1958 he co-wrote a few Sid Caesar specials with Larry Gelbart.
29.
Woody Allen's daily writing routine could last as long as 15 hours, and he could focus and write anywhere necessary.
30.
Woody Allen estimated that to prepare for a 30-minute show, he spent six months of intensive writing.
31.
Woody Allen was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album.
32.
From 1960 to 1969 Woody Allen performed as a comedian to supplement his comedy writing.
33.
Comedian Milton Berle claims to have suggested to Woody Allen to go into standup comedy and even introduced him at the Village Vanguard.
34.
Unlike other comedians, Woody Allen spoke to his audiences in a gentle and conversational style, often appearing to be searching for words, although he was well rehearsed.
35.
Woody Allen acted "normal", dressed casually, and made no attempt to project a stage "personality".
36.
Woody Allen developed an anxious, nervous, and intellectual persona for his stand-up act, a successful move that secured regular gigs for him in nightclubs and on television.
37.
Woody Allen brought innovation to the comedy monologue genre and his stand-up comedy is considered influential.
38.
Woody Allen first appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on November 1,1963, and over nine years his guest appearances included 17 in the host's chair.
39.
In 1965, Allen filmed a half-hour standup special in England for Granada Television, titled The Woody Allen Show in the UK and Woody Allen: Standup Comic in the US It is the only complete standup show of Allen's on film.
40.
In 1966, Woody Allen wrote an hourlong musical comedy television special for CBS, Gene Kelly in New York City.
41.
In 1967, Allen hosted a TV special for NBC, Woody Allen Looks at 1967.
42.
Woody Allen performed standup comedy on other series, including The Andy Williams Show and The Perry Como Show, where he interacted with other guests and occasionally sang.
43.
In 1979, Woody Allen paid tribute to one of his comedy idols, Bob Hope, at the Film Society at Lincoln Center, creating a special for the event titled "My Favorite Comedian" that included clips from Hope's films, selected and narrated by Woody Allen.
44.
Dick Cavett served as the host, but Woody Allen was absent, editing Manhattan.
45.
In 1966, Woody Allen wrote the play Don't Drink the Water.
46.
The next play Woody Allen wrote for Broadway was Play It Again, Sam, in which he starred.
47.
Woody Allen has written several off-Broadway one-act plays, including Riverside Drive, Old Saybrook and A Second Hand Memory, at the Variety Arts Theatre.
48.
Woody Allen was disappointed with the final product, which inspired him to direct every film he wrote thereafter except Play It Again, Sam.
49.
In 1967, Woody Allen played Jimmy Bond in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale.
50.
In 1969, Woody Allen directed, starred in, and co-wrote Take the Money and Run, which he considers his true film directorial debut.
51.
In 1972, Woody Allen wrote and starred in the film version of Play It Again, Sam, directed by Herbert Ross and co-starring Diane Keaton.
52.
In 1979, Woody Allen directed Manhattan, a black-and-white romantic comedy often viewed as an homage to New York City.
53.
Stardust Memories features Sandy Bates, a successful filmmaker played by Woody Allen, who expresses resentment and scorn for his fans.
54.
Woody Allen has a very good range, and can play serious to comic roles.
55.
Woody Allen next directed Zelig, in which he starred as a man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people surrounding him.
56.
Woody Allen has combined tragic and comic elements in such films as Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors, in which he tells two stories that connect at the end.
57.
Woody Allen made three films about show business: Broadway Danny Rose, in which he plays a down-on-his-luck New York show business agent, The Purple Rose of Cairo, set during the Great Depression, in which a movie character comes to life to romance an unhappy housewife, and Radio Days, a film about his childhood in Brooklyn and the importance of the radio.
58.
The film co-starred Farrow in a part Woody Allen wrote specifically for her.
59.
Woody Allen called it one of his three best films with Stardust Memories and Match Point.
60.
Woody Allen's 1991 film Shadows and Fog is a black-and-white homage to the German expressionists and features the music of Kurt Weill.
61.
Woody Allen then made his critically acclaimed comedy-drama Husbands and Wives, which received two Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Judy Davis and Best Original Screenplay for Woody Allen.
62.
Woody Allen returned to lighter fare such as the showbiz comedy involving mobsters Bullets Over Broadway, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director, followed by a musical, Everyone Says I Love You.
63.
Woody Allen's 1999 jazz-based comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Sean Penn and Samantha Morton.
64.
In contrast to these lighter movies, Woody Allen veered into darker satire toward the end of the decade with Deconstructing Harry and Celebrity.
65.
Woody Allen provided the voice of Z in DreamWorks' first animated film, Antz, which featured many actors he had worked with; Allen's character was similar to his earlier roles.
66.
Woody Allen never commented on whether this was deliberate or if his film was in any way inspired by it.
67.
Woody Allen's reputation is not a dead shark but an albatross, which with admirable economy Allen has arranged for the critics to carry around their own necks.
68.
In Match Point Woody Allen shifts focus from the intellectual upper class of New York to the moneyed upper class of London.
69.
Woody Allen reached an agreement to film Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Aviles, Barcelona, and Oviedo, Spain, where shooting started on July 9,2007.
70.
Woody Allen was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.
71.
Woody Allen announced that his next film would be titled Midnight in Paris starring Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Corey Stoll, Allison Pill, Tom Hiddleston, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, and Carla Bruni, the First Lady of France at the time of production.
72.
Woody Allen said he wanted to "show the city emotionally" during the press conference.
73.
Woody Allen's next film, To Rome with Love, was a Rome-set comedy released in 2012.
74.
Woody Allen co-starred with John Turturro in Fading Gigolo, written and directed by Turturro, which premiered in September 2013.
75.
In 2013 Woody Allen shot the romantic comedy Magic in the Moonlight with Emma Stone, and Colin Firth in Nice, France.
76.
From July to August 2014 Woody Allen filmed the mystery drama Irrational Man in Newport, Rhode Island, with Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey and Jamie Blackley.
77.
Woody Allen said that this film, as well as the next three he had planned, had the financing and full support of Sony Pictures Classics.
78.
The film is distributed by Amazon Studios, and opened the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on May 11,2016, the third time Woody Allen has opened the festival.
79.
On January 14,2015, Amazon Studios announced a full-season order for a half-hour Amazon Prime Instant Video series that Woody Allen would write and direct, marking the first time he has developed a television show.
80.
In September 2016 Woody Allen started filming Wonder Wheel, set in the 1950s in Coney Island, and starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake.
81.
In 2017, Woody Allen received a standing ovation when he made a rare public appearance at the 45th Annual Life Achievement Tribute award ceremony for Diane Keaton.
82.
Woody Allen writes of his relationships with family, friends, and the loves of his life.
83.
In June 2020, Woody Allen appeared on Alec Baldwin's podcast Here's the Thing and talked about his career as a standup comedian, comedy writer, and filmmaker, and his life during the COVID-19 pandemic.
84.
In September 2022, Allen suggested that he might retire from filmmaking after the release of his next film, previously carrying the working title Wasp 22 and now known to be titled Coup de Chance.
85.
Woody Allen said he was thinking about not making films, as making films that go straight or very quickly to streaming platforms is not so enjoyable for him, as he is a great lover of the cinema experience.
86.
Woody Allen's success continued with Play It Again, Sam, which opened in 1969, starring Allen and Diane Keaton.
87.
Woody Allen is a passionate fan of jazz, which appears often in the soundtracks to his films.
88.
Woody Allen began playing clarinet as a child and took his stage name from clarinetist Woody Herman.
89.
Woody Allen has performed publicly at least since the late 1960s, including with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on the soundtrack of Sleeper.
90.
Woody Allen plays songs by Sidney Bechet, George Lewis, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, and Louis Armstrong.
91.
Woody Allen was an actor who came on the scene and changed the history of acting.
92.
In 1987, Woody Allen joined Ginger Rogers, Sydney Pollack, and Milos Forman at a Senate Judiciary committee hearing in Washington, DC, where they each gave testimony against Ted Turner's and other companies' colorizing films without the artists' consent.
93.
Woody Allen spoke about his decisions to make films in black and white, such as Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Broadway Danny Rose, and Zelig.
94.
Woody Allen sat on the foundation's original board of directors alongside Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Clint Eastwood, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, and Steven Spielberg.
95.
Over his more than 50-year film career, Woody Allen has received many award nominations.
96.
Woody Allen holds the record for most Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, with 16 nominations and three wins.
97.
Woody Allen has been nominated for Best Director seven times and won for Annie Hall.
98.
Three of Woody Allen's films have been nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Midnight in Paris.
99.
Woody Allen has received numerous honors, including an Honorary Golden Palm from the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 and a Career Golden Lion from the Venice International Film Festival in 1995.
100.
Woody Allen received a BAFTA Fellowship in 1997, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America and a Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award in 2014.
101.
Woody Allen was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2010.
102.
Woody Allen has been married three times: to Harlene Rosen from 1956 to 1959, Louise Lasser from 1966 to 1970, and Soon-Yi Previn since 1997.
103.
Woody Allen had a 12-year relationship with actress Mia Farrow and relationships with Stacey Nelkin and Diane Keaton.
104.
Rosen, whom Woody Allen called "the Dread Mrs Woody Allen" in his standup act, sued him for defamation as a result of comments he made during a television appearance shortly after their divorce.
105.
In December 2018 The Hollywood Reporter interviewed Babi Christina Engelhardt, who said she had an eight-year affair with Woody Allen that began in 1976 when she was 17 years old, and that she believes the character of Tracy in Manhattan is a composite of any number of Woody Allen's presumed other real-life young paramours from that period, not necessarily Nelkin or Engelhardt.
106.
In 1968, Woody Allen cast Diane Keaton in his Broadway show Play It Again, Sam.
107.
Woody Allen then starred in Interiors as a poet, followed by Manhattan.
108.
In 1984, she and Woody Allen tried to conceive a child together; Woody Allen agreed to this on the understanding that he need not be involved in the child's care.
109.
Woody Allen was not involved in the adoption, but when Dylan arrived he assumed a parental role toward her and began spending more time in Farrow's home.
110.
Eric Lax, Woody Allen's biographer, wrote in The New York Times that Woody Allen was "there before they [the children] wake up in the morning, he sees them during the day and he helps put them to bed at night".
111.
The next day, that friend's babysitter told her employer that she had seen that "Dylan was sitting on the sofa, and Woody Allen was kneeling on the floor, facing her, with his head in her lap".
112.
When Farrow asked Dylan about it, Dylan allegedly said that Woody Allen had touched Dylan's "private part" while they were alone together in the attic.
113.
Woody Allen then began proceedings in New York Supreme Court for sole custody of his and Farrow's son Satchel, as well as Dylan and Moses, their two adopted children.
114.
In 2014, when Allen received a Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement, the issue returned to the forefront of media attention, with Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow making disparaging remarks about Allen on Twitter.
115.
On February 1,2014, New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, with Dylan's permission, published a column that included excerpts from a letter Dylan had written to Kristof restating the allegation against Woody Allen, and called out fellow actors who have continued to work in his films.
116.
Woody Allen responded to the allegation in an open letter, in The New York Times, strongly denying it.
117.
In 2003, a life-size bronze statue of Woody Allen was installed in Oviedo, Spain.
118.
Woody Allen had visited the city the previous year to accept a Prince of Asturias Award.