Neil Simon

A former staff writer on the signature comedy series of TV's infancy, "Your Show of Shows" (NBC, 1950-54), Neil Simon went on to establish himself as one of Broadway's most prolific and consistently successful hit-makers. For close to thirty-five years, a Simon play or musical opened each season on Broadway with many of his biggest successes adapted to film, including "Barefoot in the Park" (1967) "The Odd Couple" (1968), "The Sunshine Boys" (1975) and "California Suite" (1978), receiving Oscar nominations for the latter three. He also earned notice for adapting a Bruce Jay Friedman story as "The Heartbreak Kid" (1972) and copped a fourth Academy Award nomination for "The Goodbye Girl" (1977). In the 80s, Simon wrote a cycle of thinly veiled autobiographical plays which were transposed for the screen, including the coming-of-age tale, "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1986) and the boot camp comedy, "Biloxi Blues" (1988). The third part, centering on his early success as a writer, aired on ABC as "Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound'" in 1992.

Most of Simon's scripts contain humor rooted in the character's conflict: in general, two or more people who are antagonistic resolve their conflicts by the end. While this may sound formulaic (and to some extent it is), Simon also excels at creating fully-rounded three-dimensional characters. Actors not only enjoy playing the roles he creates, many end up winning awards for them. On stage, Walter Matthau, Dinah Manoff, Matthew Broderick, Kevin Spacey and Mercedes Ruehl, to name a few, have received Tony Awards. Hume Cronyn received an Emmy for "Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound'" and among those who have won Oscars are George Burns, Richard Dreyfuss and Maggie Smith.

For many years, Simon's popular success seemed to overshadow his critical acceptance. Starting with the autobiographical trilogy, his work began to be perceived as richer and deeper The culmination was the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for "Lost in Yonkers". After returning to the world of "Your Show of Shows" for a Broadway production of "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" (1993), he cited the high cost of producing plays on the Great White Way, controversially insisting that "London Suite" be produced Off-Broadway in 1994. In 1997, Simon's 30th play, "Proposals", featuring his first major black character, opened on Broadway but quickly closed, while a revival of "The Sunshine Boys" enjoyed a much longer run thanks to the popularity of its stars Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.

Simon's feature output in the 90s fell off following the box-office failure of "The Marrying Man" (1991) and "Neil Simon's 'Lost in Yonkers'" (1993), causing the writer to turn to the small screen with "Neil Simon's 'London Suite'" (NBC, 1996), with a cast that included sitcom veterans Kelsey Grammer, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Richard Mulligan, and a misguided "The Sunshine Boys" (CBS, 1997), which was filmed in 1995 and teamed Peter Falk and Woody Allen. His return to the big screen with the sequel "The Odd Couple II" (1998) sank at the box office despite the presence of Matthau and Jack Lemmon . Later that year, a remake of "The-Out-of-Towners" (adapted by Marc Lawrence) starred Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in the roles originated by Lemmon and Sandy Dennis.

• Also Credited As:
  Marvin Neil Simon
• Born:
  July 4, 1927 in Bronx, New York
• Job Titles:
  Playwright, Screenwriter, Producer, Author

Family

• Brother: Danny Simon. born c. 1919; gave his brother an unfinished script which became "The Odd Couple"
• Daughter: Bryn Simon. adopted; mother, Diane Lander
• Daughter: Ellen Simon. born in 1957; mother, Joan Baim; first film script "Moonlight and Valentino" produced in 1995
• Daughter: Nancy Simon. born c. 1963; mother, Joan Baim
• Father: Irving Simon.
• Mother: Mamie Simon.
• Step-son: Michael Levoff. born c. 1984; son of Elaine Joyce

Education

• DeWitt Clinton High School, Bronx, New York, 1944
• New York University, New York, New York

Milestones

• 1945 Served with US Army Air Force
• 1955 First writing for stage, collaborated with brother on material for the Broadway revue "Catch a Star"
• 1961 First produced play, "Come Blow Your Horn"; adapted for film in 1963
• 1962 Wrote the book for the Broadway musical, "Little Me", starring Sid Caesar
• 1965 Sold the stage rights to "Barefoot in the Park" and the ancillary rights to "The Odd Couple" to Paramount Pictures for $125,000, possibly the worst business decision of career; received no money from the popular "The Odd Couple" TV series (ABC, 1970-1975), starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall
• 1966 First screenplay, "After the Fox", adapted from his story
• 1967 First film as associate producer, "Barefoot in the Park"; also scripted
• 1968 Garnered first Oscar nomination for adapting "The Odd Couple"; film teamed Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau
• 1968 Wrote book for musical "Promises, Promises", based on the classic Billy Wilder film "The Apartment"
• 1972 First screenplay not based on own work, "The Heartbreak Kid", adapted from a Bruce Jay Friedman short story
• 1975 Garnered second Oscar nomination for screenplay for "The Sunshine Boys"
• 1977 First of five screenplays starring second wife Marsha Mason, "The Goodbye Girl"; received third Academy Award nomination
• 1978 Earned last Oscar nomination (to date) for adapting "California Suite"
• 1982 Wrote first of trilogy of autobiographical plays, "Brighton Beach Memoirs"
• 1985 Second play in trilogy "Biloxi Blues", about his miliatary experiences, received Tony as Best Play
• 1986 Third play in trilogy "Broadway Bound" focused on early success as a comedy writer
• 1991 Received Pulitzer Prize in Drama for "Lost in Yonkers", a semi-autobiographical work
• 1992 "Neil Simon's 'Broadway Bound'" produced for ABC-TV; first adaptation of a Simon play made directly for TV
• 1993 "Laughter on the 23rd Floor", based on his experience writing for Sid Caesar, opened on Broadway starring Nathan Lane
• 1994 Created stir in theater world when he opted to allow new play "London Suite" to be produced Off-Broadway, citing economics of producing original non-musical work on Broadway
• 1997 30th play, "Proposals", featuring his first major black character, opened and closed on Broadway; the revival of "The Sunshine Boys" exhibited more staying power with a run in excess of six months, due in no small part to the chemistry of its stars Randall and Klugman
• 1998 Remake of "The-Out-of-Towners", based on his original screenplay, starred Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn in the roles once played by Lemmon and Sandy Dennis
• 1998 Wrote film sequel "The Odd Couple II", which sank at the box office despite the presence of Matthau and Lemmon
• 2000 Had new play "The Dinner Party" open on Broadway
• 2001 Adapted semi-autobiographical play about working on "Your Show of Show" for Showtime as "Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor"
• 2001 Returned to Broadway with the comedy "45 Seconds From Broadway"; was unable to attend opening night due to back surgery
• Was a staff writer on "Your Shows of Shows", starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca
• Was a staff writer on the TV series "Stanley", starring Buddy Hackett
• Wrote comedy material for radio with brother Danny
• Wrote for "The Phil Silvers Show/You'll Never Get Rich"