Marshall Brickman

{{Short description|American screenwriter and director (1939–2024)}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Cropped_Photo_of_Marshall_Brickman.jpg

| name = Marshall Brickman

| birth_name = Marshall Jacob Brickman

| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|8|25}}

| birth_place = Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|11|29|1939|8|25}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| nationality = American

| occupation = {{hlist|Writer|director|musician}}

| alma_mater = Brooklyn Technical High School, University of Wisconsin–Madison

| spouse = {{marriage|Nina Feinberg|1973}}

| children = 2

}}

Marshall Jacob Brickman (August 25, 1939 – November 29, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director,{{Cite web |last=Coyle |first=Jake |date=2 December 2024 |title=Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote ‘Annie Hall,’ other films with Woody Allen, dies at 85 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/marshall-brickman-who-co-wrote-annie-hall-other-films-with-woody-allen-dies-at-85/ |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=The Times of Israel|agency = Associated Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Kaufman |first=Anna |date=2 December 2024 |title=Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote 'Annie Hall' with Woody Allen, dies at 85 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/12/02/marshall-brickman-dead-dies/76699980007/ |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}} best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen, with whom he shared the 1977 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Annie Hall.{{Cite web |date=2014-10-05 |title=The 50th Academy Awards {{!}} 1978 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1978 |access-date=2024-12-01 |website=www.oscars.org |language=en}} He was previously the head writer for Johnny Carson, writing scripts for recurring characters such as Carnac the Magnificent. He is also known for playing the mandolin and banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s, and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker.

Background

Marshall Jacob Brickman was born on August 25, 1939, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to American parents Pauline (née Wolin) and Abram Brickman.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/movies/marshall-brickman-dead.html|title = Marshall Brickman, Woody Allen’s Co-Writer on Hit Films, Dies at 85|last = Gates|first = Anita|date = December 1, 2024|accessdate = December 1, 2024|newspaper = The New York Times|url-access = limited}} His parents were Jewish.{{cite web|last=Jonas |first=Gerald |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/15/movies/marshall-brickman-humanizes-the-nuclear-arms-race.html?pagewanted=all |title=Marshall Brickman Humanizes The Nuclear Arms Race |work=The New York Times |date=June 15, 1986 |access-date=May 31, 2013}}{{cite web | url=https://www.jewishexponent.com/2013/06/14/a-boys-for-all-seasons/ | title=A 'Boys' for All Seasons | work=Jewish Exponent | date=June 14, 2013 | access-date=December 26, 2019 | author=dmichaels | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323161753/https://www.jewishexponent.com/2013/06/14/a-boys-for-all-seasons/ | archive-date=March 23, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite web | last = Klickstein | author-link =Mathew Klickstein | first = Mathew | title = The Jewish 'Jersey Boys' | newspaper = Baltimore Jewish Times | date = September 14, 2016 | url = http://jewishtimes.com/52028/the-jewish-jersey-boys/news/ | access-date = September 15, 2016}} His father immigrated from Poland. The family returned to the United States in 1943, and Brickman grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn.{{cite news|url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/marshall-brickman-dead-annie-hall-screenwriter-1236074246/|last = Koseluk|first = Chris|title = Marshall Brickman, Oscar-Winning Screenwriter on ‘Annie Hall,’ Dies at 85|date = December 1, 2024|accessdate = December 1, 2024|work = The Hollywood Reporter}}

Brickman was a 1956 graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School, where he was an honor roll student and a participant in WNYE. After attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he studied science and music and briefly aspired to be a doctor, he became a member of folk act the Tarriers in 1962, recruited by former classmate Eric Weissberg. A banjo album that he and Weissberg recorded around this time was later re-licensed as the bulk of the soundtrack to the 1972 film Deliverance. 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.

Career

Brickman left the New Journeymen to pursue a career as a writer, initially writing for television in the 1960s, including Candid Camera, The Tonight Show,{{cite book

| first1=Mike

| last1=Sacks

| authorlink=Mike Sacks

| date=July 8, 2009

| title=And Here's The Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers

| publisher=Writers Digest

| isbn=978-1582975054

| url=http://www.andheresthekicker.com/ex_marshall_brickman.php

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006150230/http://www.andheresthekicker.com/ex_marshall_brickman.php

| url-status=usurped

| archive-date=2011-10-06

}} and The Dick Cavett Show. It was during this time that he met Allen, with whom he would collaborate on three completed film screenplays during the 1970s: Sleeper (1973), Annie Hall (1977, which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar), and Manhattan (1979). In 2015, members of the Writers Guild of America voted Annie Hall as the funniest screenplay ever written.{{cite news |first=Dave |last=McNary |title='Annie Hall' Named Funniest Screenplay by WGA Members |url=https://variety.com/2015/film/news/annie-hall-funniest-screenplay-writers-guild-1201639002/ |work=Variety |date=November 11, 2015 |access-date=December 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222103723/http://variety.com/2015/film/news/annie-hall-funniest-screenplay-writers-guild-1201639002/ |archive-date=December 22, 2017 |url-status=live }}

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. His script with Allen for Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) had been put aside some years earlier when the project was later revived.{{cite news | last = Dowd | first = Maureen | author-link= Maureen Dowd| title = Diane and Woody, Still a Fun Couple | newspaper = The New York Times | date = August 15, 1993 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/15/movies/diane-and-woody-still-a-fun-couple.html?pagewanted=all | access-date = October 28, 2011}}

With partner Rick Elice, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Jersey Boys, about 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The two collaborated again in 2009 to write the book for the musical The Addams Family.{{cite web | url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/01302009/entertainment/theater/up__addams_152662.htm | title=Up & Addams | work=New York Post | date=January 30, 2009 | access-date=December 26, 2019 | author=Riedel, Michael | author-link = Michael Riedel (journalist) | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417000932/http://www.nypost.com/seven/01302009/entertainment/theater/up__addams_152662.htm | archive-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=live }}

Brickman's "Who's Who in the Cast," a parody of a Playbill cast list, was published in the July 26, 1976, issue of The New Yorker, and drew so much attention that it was republished in the special theatre issue of May 31, 1993. His other pieces for The New Yorker include "The Recipes of Chairman Mao" (August 27, 1973) and "The New York Review of Gossip" (May 19, 1975).

Personal life and death

In 1973, Brickman married Nina Feinberg, with whom he had two daughters. He had previously been married to Michelle Phillips' sister, Russell Ann Gilliam.{{cite news|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/12/04/marshall-brickman-woody-allen-annie-hall-manhattan-oscar/|title = Marshall Brickman, Annie Hall and Manhattan co-writer who helped reinvent Woody Allen|newspaper = The Daily Telegraph|date = 4 December 2024|accessdate = 7 December 2024|url-access = subscription}} He died in Manhattan on November 29, 2024, at the age of 85.{{Cite web |last=Garner |first=Glenn |date=2024-12-01 |title=Marshall Brickman Dies: Woody Allen’s Co-Writer On ‘Annie Hall’ & ‘Manhattan’ Was 85 |url=https://deadline.com/2024/12/marshall-brickman-dies-85-woody-allens-co-writer-annie-hall-manhattan-1236190524/ |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=Deadline Hollywood |language=en-US}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"
Year ! Title ! Director ! Writer
1973 \| Sleeper \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1974 \| Ann in Blue \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1975 \| The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1977 \| Annie Hall \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1979 \| Manhattan \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1980 \| Simon \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}}
1983 \| Lovesick \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}}
1986 \| The Manhattan Project \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}}
1991 \| For the Boys \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1993 \| Manhattan Murder Mystery \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
1994 \| Intersection \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}
2014 \| Jersey Boys \| {{no}} \| {{yes}}

class="wikitable"

Year

! Title

! Director

! Writer

1973

| Sleeper

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1974

| Ann in Blue

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1975

| The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1977

| Annie Hall

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1979

| Manhattan

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1980

| Simon

| {{yes}}

1983

| Lovesick

| {{yes}}

1986

| The Manhattan Project

| {{yes}}

1991

| For the Boys

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1993

| Manhattan Murder Mystery

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

1994

| Intersection

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

2014

| Jersey Boys

| {{no}}

| {{yes}}

Theatre

Year ! Title ! class="unsortable" \| Notes ! Venue
class="wikitable"
1975	Straws in the Wind	Sketches, Book	Off-Broadway{{Cite web\|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Marshall-Brickman/\|title=Marshall Brickman Theatre Credits, News, Bio and Photos\|website=www.broadwayworld.com}}
2005	Jersey Boys	Book (with Rick Elice). Nominated Best Book of a Musical Tony Award	August Wilson Theatre
2010	The Addams Family	Book (with Rick Elice)	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre