Woody Allen was born Allen Stewart Konigsberg in Brooklyn, New York, in 1935. Allen decided when he was just a child that he wanted to write and make movies. At 15 he changed his name to Woody Allen, and at 16 was hired to write jokes for radio and television. In the early 1950s he first attended New York University, where he failed motion picture production and English, and then City College of New York, where he also flunked out. He wrote for television for five years, writing for Sid Caesar and winning an Emmy nomination, but found this career stifling and turned to standup comedy.

In 1965 Allen wrote and starred in his first film, What's New, Pussycat? The following year he made his directorial debut with What's Up, Tiger Lily? and wrote a Broadway play, Don't Drink the Water. Around this time he became a regular contributor of...