Neil Simon (Neil Marvin Simon) Biography

American dramatist, born in the Bronx, New York, of Jewish parentage, educated at New York University. Simon began his career as a radio and television script writer and it is often held that the mark of writing for these media persists in his plays where his use of the one-line joke is a frequent device. His first play, Come Blow Your Horn (1961), was the first of a long line of major popular successes, and he has since proved to be the most commercially successful playwright of his time. Amongst his plays are Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965), The Star-Spangled Girl (1966), Plaza Suite (1968), Last of the Red-Hot Lovers (1969), The Gingerbread Lady (1970), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), The Sunshine Boys (1972), The Good Doctor (1973), God's Favourite (1974), California Suite (1976), Chapter Two (1977), I Ought To Be in Pictures (1980), Fools (1982), Actors and Actresses (1983), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Broadway Bound (1986). In addition, Simon has collaborated on six musicals of which the most famous are probably Heidi (1959), Sweet Charity (1966), and They're Playing Our Song (1978). He has also written the screenplays for many of his plays as well as original screenplays. He is a writer of popular comedies, rooted in such themes as marriage, sexual awakening, infidelity, and divorce, alert to the comic potential of how the young learn to make their way in the world.