“Forgotten Hollywood”- Simon’s Longtime Partner Has Died…
Manny P. here… 
Gene Saks was a prolific actor-director who teamed with playwright and fellow New Yorker Neil Simon on hit Broadway and movie productions of such Simon comedies as The Odd Couple and Brighton Beach Memoirs. He won three Tony Awards for his direction. At one time, he was also married to Bea Arthur for almost three decades. GENE SAKS ——>
Saks trained for acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York. He made his acting debut on Broadway in South Pacific in 1949. On stage, he also appeared in A Shot in the Dark and A Thousand Clowns. Gene played Jack Lemmon’s brother in the screen adaptation of Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and he also appeared in Nobody’s Fool starring Paul Newman.
Saks shared a long-term professional association with playwright Neil Simon, also directing Simon’s plays Biloxi Blues, Lost in Yonkers, and California Suite. Additional theatre credits include Enter Laughing, Mame, and Same Time Next Year. Among Saks’ film directing credits are Barefoot in the Park, Cactus Flower (which won Goldie Hawn the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Mame, A Fine Romance, and the 1995 television production of Bye Bye Birdie. Saks was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1991.
Gene Saks was 93.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 29th, 2015 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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