fbpx

Neil Simon, Celebrated Jewish-American Playwright, Dies at 91

[additional-authors]
August 26, 2018
Screenshot from Twitter.

Award winning playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon passed away on Saturday in New York, due to complications of pneumonia.

The Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe and Pulitzer Prize winner had worldwide success with such enduring plays as “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “The Sunshine Boys,” “Plaza Suite,” “Lost in Yonkers,” and the trilogy based on his Jewish childhood and early career, “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Biloxi Blues,” and “Broadway Bound.”

Simon adapted many of his comedies for the movies and also wrote original scripts for films including “The Out-of-Towners,” “The Goodbye Girl” and “Murder by Death.”

He had gotten his start in television, writing in the late 1950s for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and “The Phil Silvers Show,” winning Emmys for both. His 1997 autobiography “The Play Goes On: A Memoir” was a best seller.

His last play was “Rose’s Dilemma” in 2003, and in 2006 he won the Mark Twain Prize For Humor at the Kennedy Center.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Difficult Choices

Jews have always believed in the importance of higher education. Today, with the rise in antisemitism across many college campuses, Jewish high school seniors are facing difficult choices.

All Aboard the Lifeboat

These are excruciating times for Israel, and for the Jewish people.  It is so tempting to succumb to despair. That is why we must keep our eyes open and revel in any blessing we can find.  

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.