Marshall Brickman with Woody Allen
Marshall Brickman is 82 years old today.
A screenwriter and director, Brickman is best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen. He also played the banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, after attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he became a member of Folk act The Tarriers in 1962, recruited by former classmate Eric Weissberg. Following the disbanding of The Tarriers in 1965, Brickman joined The New Journeymen with John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, who later had success with The Mamas & the Papas.
He left The New Journeymen to pursue a career as a writer, initially writing for television in the 1960s, including Candid Camera, The Tonight Show and The Dick Cavett Show. It was during this time that he met Woody Allen, with whom he would collaborate on three completed film screenplays during the 1970s. These were Sleeper (1973), Annie Hall (1977, which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar), and Manhattan (1979).
Brickman directed several of his own scripts in the 1980s, including Simon, Lovesick, and The Manhattan Project, as well as Sister Mary Explains It All, a TV adaptation of the play by Christopher Durang.
With partner Rick Elice, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical, Jersey Boys. The two collaborated again in 2009 to write the book for the musical, The Addams Family.