Woody Allen - John Baxter

The first major biography and critical study of the great American film director, actor, writer, wit and humorist to appear since the extraordinary events in his private life made headline news in 1993. Woody Allen is one of the most significant cultural figures of our time.

Woody Allen has long been an enigma, obscured by a faade no less carefully constructed than his films. Where does the real Woody Allen begin and the film character end? John Baxter shows how the reality gave way to the image of a nebbish: a whining (but lovable) loser, racked by insecurity, bullied by women and taking solace in psychoanalysis. He demonstrates that the 'Woody' of Allen's films is as remote from the real man as was the 'Little Tramp' from Charlie Chaplin.

Woody Allen's films are celebrated for their wit and their ironic characterisations of Manhattan types, together with their neuroses. The best of them rank among the finest of all screen comedies. Allen not only survived the scandal and furore that swept the world media when he abandoned his long-time partner Mia Farrow to live with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi, but flourished - his next two films, Bullets over Broadway and Mighty Aphrodite, both won Oscars.