GENE SAKS
The Man Who Couldn't Stop Crying
Gene Saks began his career as an actor at the Cherry lane Theater in Greenwich Village in a production of Sean O'Casey's Juno and The Paycock. That was followed by W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood’s The Dog Beneath The Skin, EE Cummings Him, and Moliere’s Bourgeois Gentleman. As as result of those performances, he was then invited to become a member of The Actors Studio. He appeared on Broadway in South Pacific, The Tenth Man, Middle of the Night with Edward G. Robinson, A Shot in the Dark with Julie Harris and A Thousand Clowns with Jason Robards, in which he played the character of Chuckles The Chipmunk.
The first play Gene Saks ever directed was on Broadway. The play was Enter Laughing, with a young actor named Alan Arkin and it became the surprise hit of 1963. That was followed with a string of successes. Robert Preston in Nobody Loves An Albatross, Henry Fonda in Generation, the musicals Half A Sixpence, and Mame starring Angela Lansbury and the two character play Same Time Next Year with Ellyn Burstyn and Charles Grodin.
Mr. Saks was then called to Hollywood where he directed his first film, Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford, followed by The Odd Couple with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, Last Of The Red Hot Lovers, Cactus Flower with Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn, and Mame with Lucille Ball. He returned to New York to direct the musical, I Love My Wife with a score by Cy Coleman.
Mr. Saks then continued in what was to become a 20 year working relationship with Neil Simon. After directing several of his films, he directed Mr. Simon’s plays, California Suite, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, both starring Matthew Broderick, Broadway Bound with Linda Lavin, Jake’s Women with Alan Alda, Rumors, The Female Odd Couple with Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno, and Lost In Yonkers which won the Pulitzer prize for the author and Tony Awards for stars Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl and Kevin Spacey.
In London he directed John Wood in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of The Man Who Came to Dinner. Later films include Brighton Beach Memoirs and in Paris, Tchin Tchin with Marcello Mastrioanni and Julie Andrews.
In 1998 Mr. Saks had the great pleasure to direct Christopher Plummer in the one character play Barrymore, for which Mr. Plummer received the Tony Award as best actor.
Occasionally Mr. Saks takes on movie roles. His first was as Chuckles the Chipmunk in A Thousand Clowns, the role he had originated on Broadway. Later he appeared in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, with Jack Lemmon and Ann Bancroft, The Goodbye People with Martin Balsam, Lovesick, with Dudley Moore, Nobody's Fool starring Paul Newman, and IQ with Walter Matthau and Meg Ryan.
Mr. Saks has been nominated for six Tony Awards as Best Director, and won three for: Brighton Beach Memoirs , Biloxi Blues and the musical, I Love My Wife. In 1991 Mr. Saks was elected to the Theater Hall of Fame. He has received the George Abbot Award for lifetime achievement in the theater , The Guild Hall Award for Lifetime Achievements in the Performing Arts. For many years served as president of The Society for Directors and Choreographers and is a member of the board of directors of the Actors Studio, and has been an adjunct professor of drama at Columbia University. He received an honorary doctorate from The University of Rhode Island, and the Alumnae Award for Distinction in the Arts, from his alma mater, Cornell University.
Stage Directing Credits
1963- Enter laughing
1964-Nobody Loves An Albatross
1964- half A Sixpence
1965- Generation
1966 -Mame
1967- How The Other half Loves
1969- Sheep On The Runway
1972- California Suite
1975-Same Time Next Year
1977- I Love My Wife
1977- Home Again
1978- Prince Of Grand Street
1980-Save Grand Central
1982- The Supporting Cast
1983-Brighton Beach memoirs
1984- Biloxi Blues
1985- The Odd Couple (female cast)
1986-Broadway Bound
1987-A Month of Sundays
1988-Rumours
1991-Lost In Yonkers
1992-Jakes Women
1997- Barrymore
2000- Remembering Tennessee
Film Directing Credits
1967- Barefoot In The Park
1968-The Odd Couple
1969-Cactus Flower
1970-The Last Of The Red Hot Lovers
1972- Mame
1985-Brighton Beach memoirs
1989-Tchin-Tchin
1985-Bye Bye Birdie( Television)
Stage Acting roles
1947- The Dog Beneath The Skin
1948-Him
1949- The Bourgeois Gentleman
1949-Henry Iv
1950- Mr. Roberts
1952- South pacific
1959- The Tenth man
1960-Love and Libel
1961-A Shot in The Dark
1963- A Thousand Clowns
Film Acting Roles
1965-A thousand Clowns
1972-The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1976-The One and Only
1984-Lovesick
1986-The Goodbye People
1994- Nobody’s Fool
1994-IQ
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