Marshall Brickman

Marshall Jacob Brickman (August 25, 1939 – November 29, 2024) was an American screenwriter and director, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen, with whom he shared the 1977 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Annie Hall. 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, for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker, and for his co-authoring the books for the Broadway musicals Jersey Boys and The Addams Family Musical with Rick Elice.

Life and career Early years and education Marshall Jacob Brickman was born on August 25, 1939, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to American parents Pauline (née Wolin) and Abram Brickman. His parents were Jewish. His father immigrated from Poland.

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. 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.

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.

With partner Rick Elice, he wrote the book for the Broadway musical Jersey Boys, about 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons.

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 died in Manhattan on November 29, 2024, at the age of 85.

Works Film Year Title Director Writer 1973 Sleeper 1974 Ann in Blue 1977 Annie Hall 1979 Manhattan 1980 Simon 1983 Lovesick 1986 The Manhattan Project 1991 For the Boys 1993 Manhattan Murder Mystery 1994 Intersection 2001 Sister Mary Explains It All 2014 Jersey Boys

Television Year Title Director Writer 1975 The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence

Theatre Year Title Notes Venue 1975 Straws in the Wind Sketches, Book Off-Broadway 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