Elaine May
Encyclopedia
Elaine May is an American film director, screenwriter and actress. She achieved her greatest fame in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines in partnership with Mike Nichols
. She is a two time Academy Award nominated screenwriter and also the mother of Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin
.
in 1932, the daughter of the theatre director/actor Jack Berlin and his wife, Ida, an actress, who had a small role in May's film, A New Leaf
. As a child, Elaine occasionally performed with her father in the Yiddish theater he ran. In 1942, the family moved to Los Angeles
.
She married Marvin May in the late 1940s and gave birth to a daughter, actress-director-screenwriter Jeannie Berlin
(who is known by her mother's maiden name) in 1949 at age 17; the couple later divorced. In 1962, she married lyricist Sheldon Harnick
, best known for his work in Fiddler On The Roof
. However, they divorced a year later when May became romantically involved with her psychoanalyst, Dr. David L. Rubinfine. May and Rubinfine remained married until his death in 1982, though they lived separately in later years.
and Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. In 1953, she became a member of the improvisational theatre group The Compass Players, founded by Paul Sills
and David Shepherd
, which later became The Second City
. She remained a member until 1957. During her membership, May met Mike Nichols
, who was then starring in one of Sills' plays, and began a successful partnership with him. Together they formed a standup comic duo Nichols and May
, performing in New York clubs and making several TV appearances. In 1960, they made their Broadway debut with An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May; the original-cast album won the Grammy Award
in 1962 for Best Comedy Performance
.
Throughout the 1960s, thanks in part to the successful work with Nichols, May wrote, directed, and acted in various forms of theatre. In addition, she wrote and performed for radio and recorded several comedy albums. Her work with Nichols during this time was of great importance in establishing improvisation as a form of comedy. Their stage act and records featured just the two voices with a solo pianist (Marty Rubenstein).
May formed and directed an improvisational company called The Third Ear in New York that included Reni Santoni
, Peter Boyle
, Renee Taylor
, and Louise Lasser
.
, Power Plays, Taller Than A Dwarf, and Adult Entertainment. She also directed the off-Broadway production of Adaptation/Next
.
, a screwball comedy based on Jack Ritchie's The Green Heart. (Ritchie would later retitle the story after A New Leaf.) The film starred Walter Matthau
and May in the lead roles. Originally, May handed in a 180-minute black comedy that the studio cut into a 102-minute weird romance.
Her second directorial effort was The Heartbreak Kid
. This comedy was critically lauded and modestly popular, based on a screenplay by Neil Simon
, and starring Charles Grodin
, Eddie Albert
, Cybill Shepherd
and May's own daughter, Jeannie Berlin
. Albert and Berlin each received Supporting Actor/Actress Oscar nominations for the film.
May followed up these two comedies with the bleak crime drama entitled Mikey and Nicky
. Budgeted at $1.8 million and scheduled for a Summer 1975 release, the film ended up costing $4.3 million and not coming out until December 1976. She was eventually fired by Paramount Pictures (the studio that financed the film), but succeeded in getting herself rehired by hiding two reels of the negative until the studio gave in. The film's subsequent failure at the box office assured her banishment from Hollywood, until actor-producer Warren Beatty
decided to give her one more chance.
Their collaboration, Ishtar
(1987), co-starring Beatty and Dustin Hoffman
, was an even more notorious disaster than her previous film. Largely shot on location in Morocco, the production was beset by creative differences among the principals and enormous cost overruns. The advance publicity was largely negative, and despite some positive reviews (Los Angeles Times
, Washington Post) the film became known as one of the biggest cinematic disasters of all time. To date, May has not directed another film.
as Heaven Can Wait
. May reunited with her former comic partner, Mike Nichols
, for The Birdcage
in 1996. The film relocated the classic French farce, La Cage aux Folles
, from France to South Beach
, Miami. May received her second Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay when she again worked with Nichols on Primary Colors in 1997.
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
. She is a two time Academy Award nominated screenwriter and also the mother of Oscar nominee Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin is an American film, television and stage actress.Berlin was born Jeannie Brette May in Los Angeles, California to Marvin May and actress/comedian/screenwriter/playwright Elaine May. May directed Berlin in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid, which garnered Berlin Golden Globe and...
.
Personal life
Elaine Berlin was born in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
in 1932, the daughter of the theatre director/actor Jack Berlin and his wife, Ida, an actress, who had a small role in May's film, A New Leaf
A New Leaf
A New Leaf is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedienne with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed . For this film...
. As a child, Elaine occasionally performed with her father in the Yiddish theater he ran. In 1942, the family moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
She married Marvin May in the late 1940s and gave birth to a daughter, actress-director-screenwriter Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin is an American film, television and stage actress.Berlin was born Jeannie Brette May in Los Angeles, California to Marvin May and actress/comedian/screenwriter/playwright Elaine May. May directed Berlin in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid, which garnered Berlin Golden Globe and...
(who is known by her mother's maiden name) in 1949 at age 17; the couple later divorced. In 1962, she married lyricist Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
, best known for his work in Fiddler On The Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
. However, they divorced a year later when May became romantically involved with her psychoanalyst, Dr. David L. Rubinfine. May and Rubinfine remained married until his death in 1982, though they lived separately in later years.
Career
In 1950, May attended the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and Playwrights Theatre in Chicago. In 1953, she became a member of the improvisational theatre group The Compass Players, founded by Paul Sills
Paul Sills
Paul Sills was a director and improvisation teacher, and the original director of Chicago's The Second City.-Biography:...
and David Shepherd
David Shepherd (producer)
David Shepherd is an American producer, director, and actor primarily noted for his work in improvisational theatre-Career:Born in 1924, in the city of New York City to an old money family, Shepherd grew up with left-leaning sensibilities. He studied English at Harvard and received an M.A. in the...
, which later became The Second City
The Second City
The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
. She remained a member until 1957. During her membership, May met Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, who was then starring in one of Sills' plays, and began a successful partnership with him. Together they formed a standup comic duo Nichols and May
Nichols and May
Nichols and May is a Grammy Award-winning American improvisational comedy duo act developed by Mike Nichols and Elaine May. Their three comedy albums reached the Billboard Top 40 between 1959 and 1962.-Development and collaboration:...
, performing in New York clubs and making several TV appearances. In 1960, they made their Broadway debut with An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May; the original-cast album won the Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1962 for Best Comedy Performance
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album was awarded from yearly 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to present day. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1967 it was Best Comedy Performance...
.
Throughout the 1960s, thanks in part to the successful work with Nichols, May wrote, directed, and acted in various forms of theatre. In addition, she wrote and performed for radio and recorded several comedy albums. Her work with Nichols during this time was of great importance in establishing improvisation as a form of comedy. Their stage act and records featured just the two voices with a solo pianist (Marty Rubenstein).
May formed and directed an improvisational company called The Third Ear in New York that included Reni Santoni
Reni Santoni
Reni Santoni is an American film, television and voice actor.Santoni was born in New York City of French and Spanish descent.He began his career in off-Broadway theatre...
, Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....
, Renee Taylor
Renee Taylor
Renée Taylor is an American actress, Academy Award nominated writer and one-time director, best-known for having played Fran Drescher's outspoken mother, Sylvia Fine, on the TV series The Nanny.- Career :...
, and Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser
Louise Lasser is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of the title character on the soap opera parody Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She was married to Woody Allen and appeared in several of his films.-Personal life:...
.
Playwriting
May also wrote several plays during this period. Her greatest success was the one-act Adaptation. Other stage plays she has written include Not Enough Rope, Mr Gogol And Mr Preen, Hot Line, After the Night and the MusicAfter the Night and the Music
After the Night and the Music is a play by Elaine May.Borrowing its title from the Howard Dietz song "You and the Night and the Music,", it actually is a one-acter preceded by a curtain raiser, a quartet of interlaced monologues, and an intermission....
, Power Plays, Taller Than A Dwarf, and Adult Entertainment. She also directed the off-Broadway production of Adaptation/Next
Next (play)
Next is a one-act play by Terrence McNally.At the comedy's center are Marion Cheever, a middle-aged, overweight, debt-ridden, divorced father of two who mistakenly has been called by the draft, and Sergeant Thech, a no-nonsense female examining officer...
.
Directing
May made her film writing and directing debut in 1971 with A New LeafA New Leaf
A New Leaf is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedienne with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed . For this film...
, a screwball comedy based on Jack Ritchie's The Green Heart. (Ritchie would later retitle the story after A New Leaf.) The film starred Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
and May in the lead roles. Originally, May handed in a 180-minute black comedy that the studio cut into a 102-minute weird romance.
Her second directorial effort was The Heartbreak Kid
The Heartbreak Kid (1972 film)
The Heartbreak Kid is a 1972 dark romantic comedy film directed by Elaine May, written by Neil Simon, and starring Charles Grodin, Jeannie Berlin, and Cybill Shepherd...
. This comedy was critically lauded and modestly popular, based on a screenplay by Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
, and starring Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin
Charles Grodin is an American actor, comedian, author and former cable talk show host. Grodin began his acting career in the 1960s appearing in TV serials including The Virginian. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968...
, Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
, Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, as Betsy in Taxi Driver, as Madeleine Spencer in Psych, as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, and as Phyllis Kroll on The L...
and May's own daughter, Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin
Jeannie Berlin is an American film, television and stage actress.Berlin was born Jeannie Brette May in Los Angeles, California to Marvin May and actress/comedian/screenwriter/playwright Elaine May. May directed Berlin in the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid, which garnered Berlin Golden Globe and...
. Albert and Berlin each received Supporting Actor/Actress Oscar nominations for the film.
May followed up these two comedies with the bleak crime drama entitled Mikey and Nicky
Mikey and Nicky
Mikey and Nicky is a 1976 film written and directed by Elaine May. Using three cameras that she sometimes left running for hours, May captured spontaneous interaction between Peter Falk and John Cassavetes...
. Budgeted at $1.8 million and scheduled for a Summer 1975 release, the film ended up costing $4.3 million and not coming out until December 1976. She was eventually fired by Paramount Pictures (the studio that financed the film), but succeeded in getting herself rehired by hiding two reels of the negative until the studio gave in. The film's subsequent failure at the box office assured her banishment from Hollywood, until actor-producer Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
decided to give her one more chance.
Their collaboration, Ishtar
Ishtar (film)
Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
(1987), co-starring Beatty and Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, was an even more notorious disaster than her previous film. Largely shot on location in Morocco, the production was beset by creative differences among the principals and enormous cost overruns. The advance publicity was largely negative, and despite some positive reviews (Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Washington Post) the film became known as one of the biggest cinematic disasters of all time. To date, May has not directed another film.
Writing
Elaine May received an Oscar nomination for updating Here Comes Mr. JordanHere Comes Mr. Jordan
Here Comes Mr. Jordan is a comedy film in which a boxer, mistakenly taken to Heaven before his time, is given a second chance back on Earth. It stars Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains and Evelyn Keyes. The movie was adapted by Sidney Buchman and Seton I. Miller from the play Heaven Can Wait by Harry...
as Heaven Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)
Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
. May reunited with her former comic partner, Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, for The Birdcage
The Birdcage
The Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...
in 1996. The film relocated the classic French farce, La Cage aux Folles
La Cage aux Folles (film)
La Cage aux Folles is a 1978 French-Italian film adaptation of the 1973 play La Cage aux Folle by Jean Poiret. It is co-written and directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault.-Plot:...
, from France to South Beach
South Beach
South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach, Florida, United States. It is the area south of Indian Creek and encompasses roughly the southernmost 23 blocks of the main barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay.This area was the first...
, Miami. May received her second Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay when she again worked with Nichols on Primary Colors in 1997.
Films as writer
- Such Good FriendsSuch Good FriendsSuch Good Friends is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Esther Dale is based on the novel of the same title by Lois Gould.-Plot:...
(1971) – Under the pseudonym Esther Dale - Heaven Can WaitHeaven Can Wait (1978 film)Heaven Can Wait is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. It is the second film adaptation of Harry Segall's stageplay of the same name, preceded by Here Comes Mr. Jordan and followed by Down to Earth...
(1978) – Co-Writer (OscarAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominee and WGAWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
winner) - Reds (1981) – Co-Writer (Uncredited)
- TootsieTootsieTootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
(1982) – Co-Writer (Uncredited) - LabyrinthLabyrinth (film)Labyrinth is a 1986 British/American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson, produced by George Lucas, and designed by Brian Froud. Henson collaborated on the screenwriting with children's author Dennis Lee, Terry Jones from Monty Python, and Elaine May .The film stars David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin...
(1986) – Co-Writer (Uncredited) - Dangerous MindsDangerous MindsDangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...
(1995) – Co-Writer (Uncredited) - The BirdcageThe BirdcageThe Birdcage is a 1996 American comedy film directed by Mike Nichols, and stars Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Hank Azaria, and Christine Baranski. The script was written by Elaine May...
(1996) (WGAWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
nominee) - Primary Colors (1998) (OscarAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
nominee and WGAWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
nominee)
Films as writer and director
- A New LeafA New LeafA New Leaf is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedienne with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed . For this film...
(1971) – also role as Henrietta Lowell (WGAWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
nominee) - Mikey and NickyMikey and NickyMikey and Nicky is a 1976 film written and directed by Elaine May. Using three cameras that she sometimes left running for hours, May captured spontaneous interaction between Peter Falk and John Cassavetes...
(1976) - IshtarIshtar (film)Ishtar is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Elaine May and starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as "Rogers and Clarke" – a duo of incredibly untalented lounge singers who travel to Morocco looking for work, and stumble into a four-party Cold War standoff.It also starred Isabelle Adjani...
(1987)
Films as actress
- Enter LaughingEnter LaughingEnter Laughing is a play by Joseph Stein.Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner, it centers on the journey of young aspiring actor David Kolowitz as he tries to extricate himself from overly protective parents and two too many girlfriends, while struggling to meet the challenge of...
(1966) – as Angela - LuvLuv (film)Luv is a 1967 romantic slapstick comedy starring Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Elaine May and Nina Wayne. The original Broadway production of Luv by Murray Schisgal opened at the Booth Theater in New York on 11 November 1964. It ran for 901 performances and was nominated for the 1965 Tony Award for...
(1967) – as Ellen Manville - Bach to Bach (1967) – as a Woman
- A New LeafA New LeafA New Leaf is a dark comedy film based on the short story The Green Heart by Jack Ritchie, starring Elaine May, Walter Matthau, George Rose and James Coco. Better known for her collaboration as a stage comedienne with The Graduate director Mike Nichols, May also wrote and directed . For this film...
(1971) – as Henrietta Lowell (Golden Globe nominee, Best Actress (musical or comedy)) - California SuiteCalifornia Suite (film)California Suite is a 1978 American comedy film directed by Herbert Ross. The screenplay by Neil Simon is based on his play of the same title...
(1978) – as Millie Michaels - In the Spirit (1990) – as Marianne Flan
- Small Time CrooksSmall Time CrooksSmall Time Crooks is a 2000 American crime-comedy film directed, written, and starring Woody Allen, along with Tracey Ullman and Hugh Grant.-Plot:...
(2000) – as May (National Society of Film CriticsNational Society of Film CriticsThe National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization. As of December 2007 the NSFC had approximately 60 members who wrote for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers.-History:...
winner, Best Supporting Actress)