Biography
Woody Allen is a cult American film director, whose films are considered an honor for a Hollywood star, and the creator of the “intellectual comedy” genre. Proof of the world recognition of his talent is the many prestigious awards, including four Oscars, which he never attended. The director sent all the awards to his parents, preferring to engage exclusively in creativity. In addition to film, Allen's hobbies include writing books, studying contemporary art, and playing the clarinet.
Childhood and youth
Haywood Allen Stuart Konigsberg, who is known as Woody Allen, was born in New York in December 1935. His grandparents, Jewish by nationality, were German emigrants and spoke Yiddish and German. Haywood Allen Stewart was the firstborn son of Nettie and Martin Konigsberg.
Eight years later, daughter Letty was born (now she is a producer of Woody Allen's films). The future director's parents were born and raised in Manhattan, then moved to Brooklyn. Nettie worked as an accountant in a candy store owned by the family. Martin worked as an engraver and jeweler.
For the first 8 grades, Konigsberg Jr. studied at a Jewish school. As a child, his peers called him Red because of his hair color. Heywood could stand up for himself, although, judging by the photo, he seemed weak. He was a baseball player and played basketball. The guy also earned authority with his innate sense of humor.
Lettre ouverte à Hollywood : la fille adoptive de Woody Allen, Dylan Farrow (29 ans), l'accuse une nouvelle fois d'…
Published by Public Sunday, February 2, 2014
Woody Allen and his daughter Dylan Farrow
He wrote comic articles for the school newspaper, taking the pseudonym Woody Allen. They brought the young writer his first earnings. At the age of 16, Allen was noticed by comedian Milt Kaman. He got Woody on The Sid Caesar Show as a humor writer.
After graduating from school, Woody Allen becomes a student at New York University, where he chooses the department of cinematography. He did not stay there long, as he was not particularly diligent. For some time, Woody attended one of the colleges in New York, but his studies did not work out there either. The young man was forced to earn money.
In his youth, he wrote sketches for newspapers and appeared as a comedian in city nightclubs. Producer Charles Feldman saw one of these performances. He invited the witty Woody to complete the unfinished comedy. A year later, the film “What's New, Pussy?” was released, in which Allen made his debut both as a screenwriter and as an actor.
The first success inspired Woody Allen. He began acting in episodic roles in films and taking on the development of other people's scripts. But soon the guy realized that he himself was capable of building a career and making films.
Childhood
On December 1, 1935, the first child was born into an ordinary Jewish family. Nettie and Martin Koningsberg named their son Stuart Allan, but the whole world knows him as Woody Allen.
Woody Allen in childhood and youth
The boy spent his childhood in Brooklyn. The family lived poorly; there were not even books in the house, except for the Torah and several other free religious publications received from the local synagogue. Martin was an engraver, but the money he brought in was not enough, and his mother had to work part-time in a flower shop.
The boy had an excellent sense of humor, he knew how to perform magic tricks and played basketball well. But he hated school fiercely. Small in stature, red-haired and awkward with glasses, he was the subject of ridicule from his classmates. After the birth of his sister, the Koningsbergs’ small apartment became very crowded, and he had no place to study.
Woody Allen dreamed of cinema even in his youth
The only place where the guy felt good was cinema halls. After the lights went out, he seemed to disconnect from reality and plunge into the ghostly world of cinema. Coming home from the cinema, the teenager dreamed of his own movie, in which he would play on par with the greatest actors in Hollywood.
While still at school, Allan began writing stories, but for a long time he did not dare to show them to anyone other than his parents. Nettie and Martin listened to their son with pleasure, but did not understand his hobby. They wanted him to have a decent life, not as difficult as theirs, they predicted that he would become a lawyer.
Personal life
Despite some oddities in communication and various phobias, Woody Allen has always been popular with women. In his youth, an attractive young man (the director’s height is 163 cm, weight is 68 kg) interested girls with his unconventional sense of humor.
The director's first wife was Harleen Rosen. The young people met in early youth. The first meeting took place at a jazz concert.
The couple got married in 1956 in Hollywood and moved to New York, where Harleen studied philosophy and Woody wrote humorous sketches and scripts. The marriage lasted 5 years and broke up. After the divorce, Rosen repeatedly sued her ex-husband for his caustic remarks about her, estimating her offense at $1 million.
Woody Allen's second marriage to actress Louise Lasser lasted even less. After 3 years, the couple separated, during which time the artist managed to star in several of her husband’s films, including the films “Grab the Money and Run” and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask.” Woody Allen did not get married until 1997.
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Woody Allen and Mia Farrow
In 1970, the director met Diane Keaton. She had a significant influence on the director’s work and starred in many of his films, the most striking of which was “Annie Hall.” By the way, the title of the film is the real name of the actress. The film presents biographical episodes from the life of the star couple. The relationship ended, but Allen and Keaton parted as friends and subsequently continued to communicate and collaborate.
In 1980, Woody Allen had an affair with Mia Farrow. The actress played in 13 films by the director, including the most popular “The Purple Rose of Cairo” and “Hannah and Her Sisters.” The couple lived together for 12 years without registering a relationship. Mia gave birth to Allen's only son, Ronan Seamus Farrow.
They also adopted two children, Malone and Misha. The end of the relationship was accompanied by a loud scandal and several lawsuits. The former common-law wife brought charges of child molestation against Woody, but did not provide evidence.
Allen and Farrow's only son, Ronan Seamus Farrow, was included in Forbes magazine's list of the most successful young people under 30 in 2011. He was an adviser to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on youth affairs and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, which allowed him to study at the University of Oxford.
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Woody Allen and his wife Soon-I Previn
In 2014, details of a sensation associated with Woody Allen appeared in the media. The public learned about an outrageous incident concerning the personal life of the film director. The memories of his adopted daughter Dylan (Malone) Farrow turned out to be more than piquant: she claimed that she was harassed by her stepfather as a 7-year-old child.
The director’s own son took the side of his half-sister, but Woody Allen himself denied this statement. He clarified that only once did he put his head on Dylan’s lap, but this event happened in full view of others during a general viewing of a television movie in the director’s house. The director's confession did not convince his family members; they are still confident that Dylan's words are correct.
The director's name is associated with another scandalous story. In 2018, model Christina Englehardt accused Allen of being molested by him at the age of 16. Nevertheless, the actress recalls this relationship, which subsequently lasted several years, without blaming the celebrity.
Woody Allen's personal life
It would be logical to assume that the director, who conquered the whole world with his humor, is a cheerful person and an optimist in life. But that's not true. It is known that Woody is a neurotic, suffering from bouts of melancholy and hypochondria. Allen has many phobias, for example, he is susceptible to arachnophobia, that is, the fear of spiders, as well as all insects in general. The director does not eat fish for fear of choking on a bone and hates small tea leaves in brewed tea.
Woody Allen is a neurotic, suffering from bouts of melancholia and hypochondria. Since he turned 50, he measures his blood pressure and body temperature several times a day. Allen is terrified of dying and regularly undergoes examinations in the best clinics. Every day the director visits psychoanalysts. He admits that he never managed to meet a doctor who would help him get rid of the obsessive desire to take a kitchen knife and run with it through the streets after passers-by.
The director was married several times. His first wife was Harleen Rosen in 1956. The marriage lasted six years; the woman later said that she did not expect Woody to be so oppressive and quarrelsome. She sued Allen, estimating the moral damage he caused her with his behavior at a tidy sum, and won the case.
Woody Allen and Harleen Rosen He lived even shorter with his next wife, Louise Lasser. Having married in 1966, they divorced in 1969. The reason was also Woody's obnoxious character and his infatuation with Diane Keaton.
Woody Allen and Diane KeatonThe appearance of director Mia Farrow in the life of director Mia Farrow marked the beginning of their collaboration and a long, unhappy romance. Even though Woody and Mia were not married, they have a son, Ronan.
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow The reason for the final breakup was again the director's passion for another woman. The role of the homewrecker was played by Mia's 22-year-old adopted daughter Soon-I Previn, with whom the director officially married in 1997.
Marriage with an adopted daughter
The real reason for the breakup with Mia was Allen's affair with Soon-Yi Previn. She is the adopted daughter of Farrow and her ex-husband Andre Previn. In the late 90s, Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn got married. Together they raised their adopted children Beshe and Menzie.
Allen spoke about his relationship with his current wife in his memoirs Apropos of Nothing (“Out of Place”), which was published in March 2020. The release of the book was accompanied by a scandal: publishing houses refused to cooperate with the director due to allegations of harassment of his adopted daughter Dylan. But Woody Allen's literary work finally saw the light of day.
In the book, the author described in detail the beginning of the affair with Soon-i Previn. At that time, the director was 55 years old, and the girl was only 21 years old. The couple could not tear themselves away from each other, experiencing real passion. According to the director, despite the fact that his relationship with Soon-yi was condemned by the public and Allen's previous wife, he does not regret marrying his adopted daughter.
Dirty story
In 1992, Mia reported Allen's harassment of Soon-Yi, as well as her other adopted daughter, Dylan. Ronan supported his mother and spoke in court on the side of the prosecution; since then he has refused to communicate with Woody Allen. Despite his testimony, the court dropped all charges against Allen.
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow with children In 2021, after the screening of High Life at Cannes, Ronan and Dylan wrote on their Instagram and Twitter new accusations of their adoptive father of molesting them. The scandal divided Hollywood into those who support the director and those who sided with Mia and her children. Support came from his ex-wives and Diane Keaton, as well as Javier Bardem, Sean Penn, Owen Wilson, Martin Scorsese and Scarlett Johansson.
Now Woody, who turns 82 in 2021, is always by his faithful wife Soon-Yi. Her love and support mean a lot to the director, who has repeatedly spoken of his gratitude to his wife.
Woody Allen and Soon-Yi interviewed for the New Yorker Soon-Yi called on the public to ignore the vile insinuations, and she also noted that this long-standing ugly story had a negative impact on the director's health.
Creation
The cinematic biography of Woody Allen, starting with Feldman's comedy, is rapidly developing. In 1966, he made a parody of the painting "What's Up, Tiger Lily?" directed by Senkichi Taniguchi. And 3 years later, Allen made the film “Grab the Money and Run.” He not only worked on writing the script for this film, but also played the main role in it.
Then Woody Allen takes the entire process of creating films into his own hands: he writes scripts for them, directs them and participates as an actor.
This is how his films “Love and Death”, “Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask”, “Manhattan”, “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy”, “Broadway Denny Rose”, “The Purple Rose of Cairo”, “ Husbands and Wives" and many other films, warmly received by both viewers and critics. In 1998, the black and white film “Celebrity” was shot, in which the young Charlize Theron shone.
Woody Allen in his youth (still from the film “Love and Death”)
The film “Annie Hall” occupies a special place in Woody Allen’s cinematic biography. With the release of this film, the director began to turn from comedy to deeper drama and a new quality of humor. The film won 4 Academy Awards and many other awards. Diane Keaton, who starred in the title role, is nominated for best actress.
"Annie Hall" was included in the list of "100 best films" selected by the American Film Academy, ranking 35th. And in the list of “100 Best Comedies” the film took 4th place. Film critics consider the film the best of all that Woody Allen has directed.
The film became a breakthrough in the director's career and received nominations for 4 Oscars. Allen's films display his signature directorial style: an intellectual comedy with elements of psychological drama, absurdity and satire. No one had made films like this before Allen.
Woody Allen, Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez
Published by Flare.com.pl Sunday, April 15, 2021
Woody Allen, Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez
Since the 90s, Allen has appeared less and less as an actor. And in the 2000s, he completely gave up acting, concentrating on writing scripts and directing. In the second half of the 2000s, Woody created films that critics conventionally call the “European cycle.” These are paintings based on events in major European cities.
Match Point, which the director himself considers his best film, was filmed in Britain. In 2006, the film “Sensation” appeared, starring Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman.
Later the films “Come what may”, “Roman adventures”, “Midnight in Paris” appeared. The last work, which starred Owen Wilson, grossed $150 million in 2012 and was awarded four Oscars and a Golden Globe.
Scarlett Johansson habló sobre la acusación de abuso sexual contra Woody Allen ttp://infob.ae/1g3oUsL
Published by Infobae Monday, March 17, 2014
Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson
In the summer of 2013, Woody Allen’s film “Jasmine” was shown on world screens. Critics wrote many laudatory reviews about the film. The following year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded Allen the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
At the same time, the film “Under the Mask of a Gigolo” appeared, in which Sharon Stone starred, and 2 years later the film “Irrational Man” with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role was released. The brilliant duet of Colin Firth and Emma Stone was presented in the project “Magic of Moonlight”.
After a while, the film “High Life” was released, created in the spirit of a comedic melodrama. The main roles in the film were played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. At the same time, the series “Crisis in Six Scenes” began airing, in which Allen himself appeared as the main performer.
Woody Allen y Dylan Farrow cruzan cartas sobre las acusaciones de abuso sexual.
> https://cinemania.es/actualidad/noticias/20597/woody-allen-y-dylan-farrow-cruzan-cartas-sobre-las-acusaciones-de-abuso-sexual Published by REVISTA CINEMANÍA Monday, February 10, 2014
Woody Allen with his wife and children
One of the last completed works in Woody Allen’s directorial filmography is the film “Wonder Wheel,” which was released in 2017. The film unfolds a love drama between the wife of the owner of an amusement park and a young rescuer, with whom the stepdaughter of the middle-aged heroine also falls in love. Starring Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Juno Temple and James Belushi.
Woody is known not only for the films he created, he also wrote many books and created a number of collections of plays and stories. The man is also a big fan of jazz music. Allen himself plays clarinet and saxophone. From time to time he performs in clubs and concert venues. In the fall of 2008, Woody staged the opera Gianni Schicchi for the first time. Its premiere took place in Los Angeles. Critics recognized the production as the most significant event of the year.
The scandalous news caused discrimination against the director in Hollywood. In 2021, Amazon Studios terminated the contract with Allen, under which it was supposed to ensure the release of five films by the filmmaker.
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Woody Allen and his monument
As a result of the disruption of the release of four films, including the film “A Rainy Day in New York,” where Timothée Chalamet and Selena Gomez starred, Woody decided to sue the company. He sued the studio for $68 million. The director's lawyers appealed to the fact that Dylan's statement became known to the public 2 years before the signing of the contract.
While the doors are closed for the master in Hollywood, the Spanish production company Mediapro, which previously participated in the creation of the films “Vicky, Christina, Barcelona” and “Midnight in Paris,” signed a contract with him. Backstage photos of the making of the film appeared on an Instagram account registered in the name of Woody Allen. The film was released in 2021.
The director did not lose his presence of mind. In addition to his main directorial activities, he prepared a program for concerts as a clarinetist, which took place in the summer of 2021 in Europe.
Woody Allen has prepared a caring Death for his anniversary
He doesn't make long films. An hour and a half - and it’s done, but who else is capable of working at such a crazy speed, producing a new picture every year? This time Allen prepared something like a fig in his pocket. Death in the Flesh was played by two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz. And although he appears in only one scene, he believes that this is better than nothing at all. “I always wanted to work with Woody Allen,” Waltz admitted. — My character cares about the well-being of the living, understands their hardships, and worries about people. He's very compassionate."
When Allen turned 80 and attended the Cannes Film Festival with High Life, he was asked about death. Woody remembered being afraid of her at the age of five, and by 80 he was consoled by the fact that his parents were long-lived. Mom lived to be almost 100 years old, and dad outlived her. He admitted that he feels younger than calendar years and gratefully accepts everything that life gives. And he advised us to stock up on irony or shoot ourselves.
Allen is a child of Brooklyn, born into a simple family, and to earn a living, he wrote humoresques for the newspaper under the pseudonym Woody Allen. He said that his roots go back to St. Petersburg-Leningrad, where he once managed to visit during Soviet times.
What is the reason for the unprecedented success of this irrational director and man, or perhaps, on the contrary, a 100% pragmatist? Why are the world's major festivals willing to do anything to get his paintings? Why does the appearance of a frail and homely bespectacled man on the star track cause a stir? Probably it’s all about his incredible vitality, his ability to seize every moment as a gift of fate.
Woody Allen makes intelligent and absurd comedies, stuffed with all sorts of nonsense that would turn into vulgarity for another director. He rarely breaks out of the most romantic city in the world, which New York became for him, where he lived his life. He sang it in his best films “Annie Hall”, “Manhattan” and “Interiors”, which made up the New York trilogy. Allen loves to delve into the depths of psychoanalysis and is ready to talk about sex with humor. It’s a pity that, due to his advanced years, he stopped acting in his films - playing eternally droning losers who for some reason are loved by the best women in the world.
He still performs at the jazz club, plays the clarinet and continues to appear in ridiculous clothes. He is pathologically conservative, does not use a computer, and has no idea about social networks. To master advanced technologies in cinema, there are other specialists who are always nearby.
He is accused of harassment and seduction of his young adopted daughter. There were many wives - official, civilian. In the early 90s, Allen broke up with actress Mia Farrow, preferring her adopted daughter, Korean Soon-Yi Previn. But since then, so much water has passed under the bridge, Allen’s wife has grown up a long time ago and, it seems, has no regrets. In the wake of MeToo, actresses who made careers from Allen's films told the world that if they knew about his tendencies, they would not have set foot on the set. A Rainy Day in New York was never released in the United States. They refused to rent it, and some of the artists donated their fees to charitable organizations.
Woody Allen always knew a lot about women. He rediscovered Diane Keaton, Mira Sorvino, Penelope Cruz, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslet and Emma Stone. They say that he used his official position at a time when the word “harassment”, which chained Allen, Polanski and Weinstein, did not enter our lives. But the cunning Woody got off with a slight fright so far.
He continues to make low-budget films by Hollywood standards, which does not stop the most successful actors, no matter how much Allen ironizes that they come to him when Steven Spielberg does not call them. Wallace Shawn, who starred with Allen in The Radio Age and The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, before the premiere of the Rifkin Festival, recalled the first time he walked into Woody’s office: “He was standing on a stepladder in front of the bookshelves and was looking for some book, almost no paying attention to me. He asked if I had plans for the summer. I answered no. That's how my first audition went." “Woody likes spontaneity. If a scene seems too artificial to him, he rejects it. Woody wants the actor to be driven by the subconscious,” says Shawn. Gina Gershon Allen advised: “Be yourself. You think too much." He explained to Louis Garrel: “You can do whatever you want, as long as it looks natural.”
His secret to hard work is this: “Any sudden change stimulates the release of mental energy. If I work in one room, I have to go to another. If I go outside, it’s even better. I take a shower and it’s really good, so I do it more often than usual. If, while in the living room, I realize that I have reached a dead end, I go upstairs and take a shower. Standing under streams of hot water for 45 minutes gives me a creative impulse. I dry myself with a towel, get dressed, fall on the bed and continue to think.”
There are several monuments to Woody Allen around the world. We have it too - in the form of giant bronze glasses in the lobby of the Kaliningrad cinema. The initiator of the seemingly crazy project was Maria Vasyukova, now living in Paris. She proceeded from the fact that the real name of the director was Allen Stewart Konigsberg, in another version - Konigsberg, as Kaliningrad was once called. Maria met with Allen, and he chose the sketch of the monument he liked. I didn’t come to the opening, but I asked him to take care of his glasses so that it wouldn’t happen like in Oviedo, where he stands at his full height, and hooligans do anything.
Filmography
- 1969 – “Grab the money and run”
- 1977 – “Annie Hall”
- 1979 – “Manhattan”
- 1985 – “The Purple Rose of Cairo”
- 1986 – “Hannah and Her Sisters”
- 1992 – “Husbands and Wives”
- 1994 – “Bullets over Broadway”
- 1999 – “Sweet and Ugly”
- 2008 – “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
- 2011 – “Midnight in Paris”
- 2012 – “Roman Adventures”
- 2014 – “The Magic of Moonlight”
- 2016 – “High Life”
- 2017 – “Wheel of Wonders”
- 2019 — “Rainy Day in New York”
