Woody Allen

Woody Allen is one of the most well known and respected names in the movie industry. His career of being a writer, director, actor and producer spans over 30 years and still thrives. His films have linked the boarders of drama and comedy, while continually being entertaining and honest. A very quiet man, Woody frequently declines the offer to make an appearance to promote his upcoming films. Details to his films are also kept relatively quiet, the trailers viewed in the theaters usually being the only information the viewer will see before the movie is released into the theaters. Although this is the case, most Woody Allen films are well worth the wait, time and money.

Woody was born on December 1st, 1935 in Brooklyn New York and was given the name Allen Stewart Konigsberg. Woody is the son of Martin and Nettea Cherrie Konigsberg, both of whom were Orthodox Jews. His father was continually changing jobs, from waiter to cab driver and even became involved in organized crime for a time being, while his mother was a book-keeper in a flower shop. With his one sibling Letty, his sister, Woody was raised in the Flat bush section of Brooklyn. 

The first film he ever saw was Disney’s Snow White at the age of three, although his first real memories of film were when his parents would take him to the movies around the age of five. He lived in a lower-middle class section of Brooklyn where he recalls being in walking distance of 25 or so movie theaters. He was entranced by movies and spent endless hours at the theaters, especially during the summers when there was no school. In the winter he would spend his entire weekend at the theaters, taking in pictures with such faces as James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and the Marx Brothers and loving every minute of it. 

It was at the age of 7 or 8 while watching a movie called The Black Swan, when it first occurred to Woody that he could make a film, although at that time it was more of a passing thought. What he really wanted to do was write, and even as a little child, before he could read, he was making up stories. The only subject in school that really interested him was English Composition.  

Once in his teens, Woody began to grow more conscious of directors and the roles that they played in the movie industry. Specifically interested in foreign directors and films, Woody and a group of friends from school became very devoted to European Cinema. These films seemed more “grown up,” and not only got them more interested in directors, but in film history as well.

At the age of 15, he changed his name to Woody Allen, and at 16 while still in school, Woody was hired to write jokes for radio and television performers. In 1957 he joined the cast of Sid Caesar.  

From 1961-1964, Woody himself worked the cabaret circuit as a stand-up comedian, writing his own material along with a few short stories on the side. While performing his routine in a club one night, Woody drew the attention of a producer who later approached him and asked him to write a film script. They hired him and in 1965 Woody wrote and acted in his first film, What’s New, Pussycat? After writing what he felt was a pretty good script, the producers took it and rearranged it, making it into a film that Woody was very unhappy with but could not do anything about. Although he had no experience in directing films, Woody vowed at that time that he would never write another script unless he was the director of the film.