Marshall Brickman, who co-wrote 'Annie Hall' with Woody Allen, dies at 85
Marshall Brickman, the prolific Hollywood writer behind several Woody Allen films and "Jersey Boys" on Broadway, has died at 85.
The office of Patrick Herold, Brickman's representative, confirmed his death to Paste BN Monday. He died Friday in Manhattan, his daughter Sophie told The New York Times on Sunday, declining to cite a cause.
Best known for his collaborations with Allen, Brickman helped to pen cinematic gold with a trilogy of films that became both cult classics and critical darlings. The two first co-wrote "Sleeper" (1973), followed by "Annie Hall" (1977) and "Manhattan" (1979), nabbing an Oscar win for "Annie Hall."
"I felt Marshall was an authentically funny person — a wonderful wit. He stood out from the crowd," Allen told the Times in a statement Sunday.
That observation is backed up in the details of Brickman's long and wide-ranging resume with a stint as a late-night television writer. The brains behind several popular Johnny Carson sketches, he served as head writer on "The Tonight Show" for three years, later working for Dick Cavett before veering into professional film-making.
Born in 1939 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Brickman spent his childhood in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Abram and Pauline Brickman, two socialist Jews who moved from Brazil to the United States once WWII reached America.
That the script for "Annie Hall" brought to life a humor and neuroses signature to New York-Jewish culture was a testament to Allen and Brickman's commonalities. It was Allen, though, who became the public face of the pair's collaborations, acting in and directing the films.
Asked to compare himself with Allen in an interview with The New York Times from 1977, Brickman said, "Woody lives on the East Side. I live on the West Side. He lives on the top. I live in the middle. My wife would would say we're not at all alike. At night, at my house, I show up."
After decades in cinema, Brickman took his talents to the stage. In the early 2000s, he wrote the script for "Jersey Boys," a Broadway musical dramatizing the come-up of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
"Broadway is much more complicated technically, in a way, than film because on film you can stop and go back and do it again," Brickman told The Greenville (S.C.) News, part of the Paste BN Network, in 2013.
The show opened in 2005 and has since become a well-honored member of the musical theater canon.
Brickman is survived by his wife Nina Feinberg his daughters Sophie and Jessica and five grandchildren, The New York Times reports.