McGilligan, Patrick,    1951- <br/><br/>
Woody Allen :  a travesty of a mockery of a sham / 
Patrick McGilligan. 
 - First edition. 
 - xiii, 826 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates :   illustrations (some color) ;   25 cm. 
<br/><br/> Includes Filmography (pages 778-800). 
<br/><br/>Includes bibliographical references and index. 
<br/><br/>Fanfare: 2025: Death defying act<br/>I. Easy writer. 1935: Prep day<br/>1955: The Woodman cometh<br/>1961: The big noise<br/>II. Mr. Everything. 1965: The first golden age<br/>1970: Clockwork<br/>1977: Mr. Secretive<br/>III. Scenes from a non-marriage. 1980: The second golden age<br/>1985: Sleepwalking into a mess<br/>1992: The great unpleasantness<br/>IV. The great rectification campaign. 1993: The tears of a clown<br/>1999: The Soon-Yi era<br/>2012: Stuff happens<br/>V. A travesty of a mockery of a sham. 2016: Mr. Nothing 
<br/><br/> Across nearly nine eventful decades, Allen's life has been full of surprises. Writing jokes got him a gig as the youngest writer of Sid Caesar's television dream team. As a rising comic, he boxed a kangaroo on TV. He made a blank-check deal with a major studio for terms unmatched in Hollywood apart from early titans like Chaplin and Welles. All before Annie Hall. Yet despite once being one of the most consequen­tial American cultural figures, Allen is now persona non grata. In this judicious biography, acclaimed biographer Patrick McGilligan charts the meteoric rise and fall of the comedian whose nonconformity proved both his secret genius and Achilles' heel. Drawing on meticulous research, McGilli­gan reconstructs Allen's Brooklyn boyhood, his salad days as a television comedy writer, his rise to stand-up, and the thoughtful, award-winning film­making of his golden years in the 1970s and '80s. His messy relationships with wives and girl­friends, including Annie Hall costar Diane Keaton, were essential to his artistic development and undo­ing. Yet no one could have predicted his tumultuous personal and professional relationship with actress Mia Farrow, his alleged abuse of their adopted daughter Dylan, and his subsequent marriage to Mia's daughter Soon-Yi Previn. In this comprehensive, sweeping, and rigor­ous account of Allen's life and career, McGilligan astutely reveals the writer's writer beyond the smoke and controversy, and paints a compelling portrait of the most creative, productive, and influential film­maker of his time"-- Provided by publisher 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9780062941336 (hardcover) 006294133X (hardcover) 
<br/><br/><label>LCCN: </label>2024406402 
<br/><br/><label>Nat. Bib. No.: </label>GBC401704  bnb 
<br/><br/><label>Nat. Bib. Agency Control No.: </label>300001704  Uk 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Personal Names: </label><br/>Allen, Woody, 1935- 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Motion picture producers and directors--United States--Biography.<br/>Productores y directores de cine--Estados Unidos --Biografías<br/>Producteurs et réalisateurs de cinéma--États-Unis--Biographies.
<br/><br/><label>Index Terms--Genre/Form: </label><br/>Biographies.<br/>Biographies.
<br/><br/><label>LC Class. No.: </label>PN 1998.3   / A432M 2025 
<br/><br/><label>Dewey Class. No.: </label>791.430233092