|
|
|
|
  Biography Titles |
Screenwriter Elaine May has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a highly regarded writer, director, and performer. She was honored with an Academy AwardŽ nomination for Best Screenplay for the comedy Heaven Can Wait, which she cowrote with the film's star Warren Beatty, and her adaptation of Joe Klein's book Primary Colors. She made her feature film directorial debut on A New Leaf, which she also scripted. She wrote and directed Mikey and Nicky and Ishtar and directed The Heartbreak Kid from a screenplay by Neil Simon, a film that earned a Best Supporting Actress OscarŽ nomination for her daughter, Jeannie Berlin. Plays May has written for the stage include Adaptation, Not Enough Rope, Mr. Gogol and Mr. Preen, and the one-act play Hot Line, presented as part of the 1995 Off-Broadway hit Death Defying Acts. She also directed the Off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's Adaptation/Next. May has acted on-screen in such films as Luv, Enter Laughing, A New Leaf, California Suite, and In the Spirit. As a child she toured in several plays with her father, Yiddish stage actor Jack Berlin. At the University of Chicago, May met Mike Nichols, and both were founders of the trail-blazing Compass Players, which later became Second City. The duo went on to create one of the most successful comedy acts of the day. Together they headlined An Evening With Nichols and May on Broadway for a successful year long run, in addition to appearing at cabaret clubs around the country. 
|
