Heywood Allen is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many accolades, including the most nominations (16) for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has won four Academy Awards, ten BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Emmy Award and a Tony Award. Allen was awarded an Honorary Golden Lion in 1995, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1997, an Honorary Palme d'Or in 2002, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2014. Two of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a horn section.
Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temperament hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.
Stardust Memories is a 1980 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, who stars alongside Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, and Tony Roberts. Sharon Stone has a brief role, in her film debut. It follows a filmmaker who recalls his life and his loves—the inspirations for his films—while attending a retrospective of his work. The film is shot in black and white and is reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963), which it parodies.
Mariel Hemingway is an American actress. She began acting at age 14 with a Golden Globe-nominated breakout role in Lipstick (1976), and she received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations for her performance in Woody Allen's Manhattan (1979).
Sleeper is a 1973 American science fiction comedy film directed by and starring Woody Allen, who co-wrote it with Marshall Brickman. Parodying a dystopic future of the United States in 2173, the film involves the misadventures of the owner of a health food store who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200 years later in an ineptly led police state. Contemporary politics and pop culture are satirized throughout the film, which includes tributes to the classic comedy of Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin. Many elements of notable works of science fiction are also paid tribute to, or parodied.
Higher Learning is a 1995 American drama film written and directed by John Singleton and starring an ensemble cast. The film follows the changing lives of three incoming freshmen at the fictional Columbus University: Malik Williams, a track star who struggles with academics; Kristen Connor, a shy and naive girl; and Remy, a lonely and confused man seemingly out of place in his new environment.
Celebrity is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and features an ensemble cast. The screenplay describes the divergent paths taken by a couple following their divorce.
Bullets Over Broadway is a 1994 American black comedy crime film directed by Woody Allen, written by Allen and Douglas McGrath, and starring an ensemble cast including John Cusack, Dianne Wiest, Chazz Palminteri and Jennifer Tilly. Set in 1920s New York, the film centers around a struggling playwright who is urged to cast the talentless girlfriend of a notorious mobster in his newest play in order to get it produced.
Broadway Danny Rose is a 1984 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. It follows a hapless theatrical agent who, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. The film stars Allen as the titular character, as well as Mia Farrow and Nick Apollo Forte.
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 American sex comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Mia Farrow.
Allen Garfield was an American film and television actor.
Paris Blues is a 1961 American musical romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sidney Poitier as expatriate jazz saxophonist Eddie Cook, and Paul Newman as trombone-playing Ram Bowen. The two men romance two vacationing American tourists, Connie Lampson and Lillian Corning. The film also deals with American racism of the time contrasted with Paris's open acceptance of black people. The film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Harold Flender.
Edmond Hall was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. Over his career, Hall worked extensively with many leading performers as both a sideman and bandleader and is possibly best known for the 1941 chamber jazz song "Profoundly Blue".
Living Out Loud is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and set in New York City, starring Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, Martin Donovan, and Elias Koteas.
Jerry Zigmont is a New Orleans-style jazz trombonist. While growing up in Connecticut, Jerry began his musical studies at the age of 12. He performed in a variety of marching bands, drum corps, jazz bands, brass quintets, classical orchestras, and later earned degrees in Performance and Music Education at the University of Connecticut.
New Orleans is a 1947 American musical romance film starring Arturo de Córdova and Dorothy Patrick, and directed by Arthur Lubin. Though it features a rather conventional plot, the film is noteworthy both for casting jazz legends Billie Holiday as a singing maid romantically involved with bandleader Louis Armstrong, and extensive playing of New Orleans-style Dixieland jazz: over twenty songs are featured in whole or part.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a 2009 American black comedy crime drama film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Tom Bower, Jennifer Coolidge, Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner, Val Kilmer, and Brad Dourif. Though the film's title and story loosely resemble that of Abel Ferrara's 1992 film Bad Lieutenant, according to Herzog, it is neither a sequel nor a remake; its only commonality is a corrupt policeman as the central character. Nonetheless, the director of the original Bad Lieutenant film, Abel Ferrara, expressed dismay that the Herzog film was being made. Both Bad Lieutenant films were produced by Edward R. Pressman.
Irrational Man is a 2015 American mystery comedy drama film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Jamie Blackley, Joaquin Phoenix, Parker Posey, and Emma Stone. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2015. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on July 17, 2015, by Sony Pictures Classics, followed by a wide release on August 7.
Soon-Yi Previn is the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow and musician André Previn. She is married to filmmaker Woody Allen, and the couple have two adopted children.
