Simon, Neil (Marvin Neil Simon), 1927–, American playwright, b. New York City. His plays, nearly all of them popular, if not always critical successes, are comedies treating recognizable aspects of modern middle-class life. Particularly adept at portraying the middle-aged, Simon is a master jokesmith who builds up his characters through funny lines rather than plot, although he does often attempt serious themes. The Gingerbread Lady (1970), for example, deals honestly with alcoholism, and his Pulitzer Prize–winning Lost in Yonkers (1991) treats the anguish of parental rejection. His many other plays include Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965), Plaza Suite (1968), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), The Good Doctor (1973), God's Favorite (1974), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1984), Broadway Bound (1986), Laughter on the 23d Floor (1993), and 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001). Many of his plays have been adapted into films, and Simon has written numerous screenplays.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, Rewrites (1996) and The Play Goes On (1999); biography by R. Johnson (1985); studies by E. M. McGovern (2d ed. 1979), R. K. Johnson (1983), G. Konas, ed. (1997), H. Bloom, ed. (2002), and S. Koprince (2002).

Simon, (Marvin) Neil

(born July 4, 1927, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. playwright. After studying at New York University, he worked as a comedy writer for Sid Caesar in the 1950s. His autobiographical play Come Blow Your Horn (1961) was the first of a long series of hit comedies that includes Barefoot in the Park (1963; film, 1967), The Odd Couple (1965; film, 1968), and Plaza Suite (1968; film, 1971). His later plays include the autobiographical trilogy of Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985, Tony Award), and Broadway Bound (1986). His plays deal humorously with the everyday conflicts of ordinary middle-class people, often in New York City. For Lost in Yonkers (1991), he received a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Simon, (Marvin) Neil (1927– ) playwright; born in New York City. After fulfilling his obligation to the Air Force Reserve in 1946, he took a clerical job with Warner Brothers in New York, but soon began writing comic material for radio and television personalities (1947–60). With his brother Danny Simon he wrote sketches for Broadway shows such as Catch a Star (1955) and New Faces of 1956. His first full-length comedy, Come Blow Your Horn (1961), was a success but it was The Odd Couple (1965) that launched his career as late-20th-century America's most successful writer of comedies. Year in and year out he filled theaters—and eventually the television screen and moviehouses—with his string of popular comedies and musicals (Sweet Charity, 1966; Promises, Promises, 1969); in 1966 he had four hit shows on Broadway. At the same time, he became increasingly dissatisfied at hearing himself dismissed as a gag-writer, and starting with The Gingerbread Lady (1970), he began to deal with more serious themes; with Chapter Two (1977), he became autobiographical; and with Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983) he began a series of dramas drawing on his youthful years; he was finally given serious recognition with the Pulitzer for Lost in Yonkers (1991).