Woody Allen is as close to an auteur as contemporary popular culture permits. While his style has changed dramatically since the release of Take the Money and Run (1969), his work has always been distinctively his. Over the last thirty years, he has epitomized the ideal of complete artistic control. His reputation for eclectic casting, neurotic privacy, and the intertwining of his personal and professional lives has made him a recognizable public phenomenon even among people who have never seen one of his films.

Woody Allen

Born Allan Stewart Konigsberg, Allen broke into show business while he was still in high school by writing jokes for newspaper columnists. As depicted in Annie Hall (1977), Allen grew tired of hearing other comedians do less than justice to his material and took to the Manhattan nightclub circuit. He also appeared as an actor on Candid Camera, That Was...