Elaine May

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Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and director. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols before transitioning her career, regularly breaking the mold as a writer and director of several critically acclaimed films. She has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022. In 1955, May moved to Chicago and became a founding member of the Compass Players, an improvisational theater group. She began working alongside Nichols and in 1957, they both quit the group to form their own stage act, Nichols and May. In New York, they performed nightly in clubs in Greenwich Village alongside Joan Rivers and Woody Allen, as well as on the Broadway stage. They also made regular appearances on television and radio broadcasts. They released multiple comedy albums and received four Grammy Award nominations, winning Best Comedy Album for An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May in 1962. Their collaboration was covered in the PBS documentary Nichols and May: Take Two (1996). May infrequently acted in films, including Luv, Enter Laughing (both 1967), California Suite (1978), and Small Time Crooks (2000). She became the first female director with a Hollywood deal since Ida Lupino when she directed the 1971 black screwball comedy A New Leaf. Experimenting with genres, she directed the dark romantic comedy The Heartbreak Kid (1972), the gangster film Mikey and Nicky (1976), and adventure comedy Ishtar (1987). May later earned acclaim writing the screenplays for Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978), and Mike Nichols' The Birdcage (1996) and Primary Colors (1998). Heaven Can Wait and Primary Colors each earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, while the latter won her the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. May returned to acting in Woody Allen's Amazon Prime series Crisis in Six Scenes (2016) and on Broadway in the revival of the Kenneth Lonergan play The Waverly Gallery (2018) the latter of which earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The win made May the second-oldest performer behind Lois Smith to win a Tony Award for acting. In 2022, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences gave May an Honorary Academy Award for her "bold, uncompromising approach to filmmaking, as a writer, director, and actress". Description above from the Wikipedia article Elaine May, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Filmography

Movies and shows, newest first

2022
The Same Storm
Movie Ruth Lipsman Berg
2018
Somebody Feed Phil
TV show Self
2017
The Good Fight
TV show Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2016
Mike Nichols: An American Master
Movie Director
2016
Crisis in Six Scenes
TV show Kay Munsinger
2001
Down to Earth
Movie Original Film Writer
2000
Small Time Crooks
Movie May
1998
Primary Colors
Movie Screenplay
1996
Nichols and May: Take Two
Movie Self (archive footage)
1996
The Birdcage
Movie Screenplay
1994
Wolf
Movie Operator (voice) (uncredited)
1990
In the Spirit
Movie Marianne Flan
1988
Calling the Shots
Movie Self (archive footage)
1987
Ishtar
Movie Director
1986
American Masters
TV show Self
1982
Tootsie
Movie Additional Writing

More credits

1981
Reds
Movie Additional Writing
1978
Heaven Can Wait
Movie Screenplay
1978
California Suite
Movie Millie Michaels
1976
Mikey and Nicky
Movie Woman on TV (voice) (uncredited)
1972
The Heartbreak Kid
Movie Director
1971
Such Good Friends
Movie Screenplay
1971
A New Leaf
Movie Henrietta Lowell
1970
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis
Movie Self (archive footage)
1970
All the Difference
Movie (voice)
1967
The Graduate
Movie Girl with Note for Benjamin (uncredited)
1967
Bach to Bach
Movie A Woman (voice)
1967
Luv
Movie Ellen Manville
1967
Enter Laughing
Movie Angela Marlowe
1962
The Merv Griffin Show
TV show Self
1960
The Fabulous Fifties
Movie Self
1959
The Big Party
TV show Self
1957
DuPont Show of the Month
TV show Candy Carter
1957
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
TV show Self
1956
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV show Self
1956
The Steve Allen Show
TV show Self - Comedian
1952
Omnibus
TV show
1950
What's My Line?
TV show Self - Mystery Guest
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Crackpot
Movie Director