Woody Allen biography

Allan Stewart Konigsberg (Brooklyn, United States, December 1, 1935).

Known by the stage name Woody Allen, he is an American musician, writer, screenwriter, playwright, actor, comedian and film director, recognized as one of the most famous and prestigious directors of contemporaneity.

His prolific work, within which forty-five films can be counted, is characterized by a language that some of his critics have pointed out as caustic. His comedies are also distinguished by the use of a black humor, which is imposed as a particular seal of this director who has earned, during almost five decades of career, four Academy Awards, as well as two Golden Globe Awards, among other awards.

Early life

Woody Allen was born on December 1, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, United States, under the name Allan Stewart Konigsberg. From New York parents, he came into the world in a large Jewish family, of good economic standing. His early years of study were in a Hebrew school.

From a very young age, he learned to play violin and then clarinet, an instrument he plays to this day, accompanied by The New Orlean Jazz Band. At the age of five, he entered a Brooklin public school 99, a stage that marked a change in character, transforming him into an introverted boy and few friends.

Beginnings as a comedian

Allan Stewart Konigsberg began his comedy career at the age of sixteen, when he began writing jokes for some renowned columnists. He provided comedic material to Mirror columnist Nick Kenny as well as Earl Wilson of The New York Post. In 1952, he decided to adopt the pseudonym Woody Allen.

At first, his material was published anonymously, but eventually began to be published under his pseudonym, which became popular within the world of creative writing.

In 1953, he entered New York University. However, it did not remain beyond the first semester. In 1955, Allen was hired as a screenwriter on The Colgate Happy Hour, signing his first contract. Two years later, in 1959, he received his first prize: the Sylvana Award. A few months later, he first visited the psychiatrist, from which he began his great interest in psychoanalysis, a recurring theme in his films.

During this time he also began his acting career, performing several shows in various nightclubs, as well as in one television show.

In 1960, one of his presentations at the blue angel venue, made on the recommendation of his agent Jack Rollins, became a total success, making him the subject of an offer, where he was given the opportunity to write a script, as well as to participate as a actor in the film “What’s new, Pussy Cat?” However, it took him two more years to manage the art of improvisation.

First films

In 1968, the production company Palomar Pictures decided to bet on Allen, supporting him for the making of the first film, fully written and directed by him, where he also acted.The film went to the public under the title “Take the Money and Run” becoming a real blockbuster success, even though the production company did not agree with the result.

In 1970, he also gained the support of United Artist, filming his second film “Bananas”. However, the contract with this production company included the total making of three Films. Woody Allen is granted full control over production. In 1973 he performed “The Dormilón” and in 1975 “Love an Death”.

Career as a filmmaker

The year 1977 marks the beginning of his fame as a director, following the production of his film “Annie Hall”, with which he won his first Oscar.

Two years later, in 1979, he became director icing in to the public, presenting his film “Manhattan”, which was a total success, quickly becoming a true classic of cinema, and which would also make him an Oscar winner as best director, which didn´t he went to receive for having forgotten the award ceremony, according to his own testimony, for playing with his jazz band that day.

However, his popularity is mainly due to the good receptivity that his films and tracks have had in Europe, being rather a little unpopular in Hollywood. Fact that is demonstrated from 2002, when he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts, and honored with a statue, placed in the center of Oviedo.

Perhaps for this reason, since 2005 he has made his films in European stages, where he is especially esteemed by French critics.Among his most outstanding Films you can count “Bananas” (1971); “Everything he ever wanted to know about sex and never dared to ask” (1972); two-time Oscar winner Annie Hall (1977); as well as Manhattan (1979) and The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) deserving of a Golden Globe Award.

Also, in his filmmaking is the Oscar-winning film, “Hanaah and His Brothers” (1986), as well as “Bullets on Broadway” (1994) and his recent productions “Match Point” (2005); “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2007) and “Midnight in Paris” filmed in 2011 and winner of an Oscar and a Golden Globe, just to name a few of her forty-five successful films.

Personal life

As for his personal life, Woody Allen had a long romantic relationship with actress Diane Keaton, who appeared in several of his films and with whom he has maintained a close friendship, since their separation in the early 1980s.

Later, in 1982 she began a relationship with fellow actress Mia Farrow, with which she would end up in 1992, after Farrow got in possession of Allen’s photos of one of her adopted daughters, Soon Yi, naked. Allen and Yi would finally get married in 1997.

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