NEW YORKâ Gene Saks, 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 âThe Odd Coupleâ and âBrighton Beach Memoirs,â has died. He was 93.
Saks, who won three Tony Awards for his direction, died from pneumonia Saturday at his East Hampton home in New York, according to his son, Daniel.
Saksâ grab bag of hits also included many without Simon. Among them were the musicals âMameâ (1966), starring Angela Lansbury and his then-wife Bea Arthur; âHalf A Sixpence,â starring British pop star Tommy Steele (1965), and âI Love My Wifeâ (1977), as well as such comedies as âEnter Laughingâ (1963) and âSame Time, Next Yearâ (1975).
The Simon-Saks collaboration had its beginnings in 1963 when Simon asked Saks â then a Broadway actor â to come to New Hope, Pennsylvania, and critique a tryout of âBarefoot in the Park.â Simon didnât need much help. The play â under Mike Nicholsâ direction â turned out to be one of Broadwayâs biggest hits of the 1960s, running for more than 1,500 performances.
But three years later, when Simon was preparing the film version of âBarefoot in the Park,â he persuaded producer Hal Wallis to hire Saks as director of his first movie. The film, which starred Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, was a huge success.
Besides the famous trilogy of âBrighton Beach Memoirs,â âBiloxi Bluesâ and âBroadway Bound,â their work together on Broadway included âCalifornia Suite,â âLost in Yonkers,â âRumors,â âJakeâs Womenâ and the female version of âThe Odd Couple.â
Their other films were âThe Odd Couple,â â with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau â âLast of the Red Hot Lovers,â âThe Prisoner of Second Avenueâ and âBrighton Beach Memoirs.â
âI donât believe every director can direct every play,â Simon once mused. âBut Gene and I have had such a common point of view that my instincts tell me lately, âGo with Gene.ââ
In a 1987 interview Saks explained his affinity for Simon: âAside from Neilâs wit, his brightness and his ability to characterize, he writes about things I know about and care about. We both came from middle-class, first-generation Jewish families, and our humor springs from the same roots.â
Saks had been an actor for 15 years, and his career was gaining momentum, when he moved on to directing after producer Morton Gottlieb had seen him direct a scene at the Actors Studio and was impressed.
Gottlieb asked Saks to direct âEnter Laughing.â It became a hit, elevating Alan Arkin to stardom.
By the mid-1970s Saks was one of Broadwayâs most prominent directors, and at one point in 1977 he had three shows running concurrently on Broadway: âSame Time, Next Year,â âCalifornia Suiteâ and âI Love My Wife.â
It was the Cy Coleman-Michael Stewart musical âI Love My Wifeâ that brought Saks his first Tony. He went on to win two more for Simon plays, âBrighton Beach Memoirsâ in 1983 and âBiloxi Bluesâ in 1985.
Saks was born in 1921, in New York City, and grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, where his father ran a womenâs wholesale shoe business. He wanted to become a basketball star, but changed his mind when he played the title role in âCharleyâs Aunt,â a venerable old farce in which a young man disguises himself as a woman.
He avoided talking about his ambition because âacting was so associated with femininity.â
Saks graduated from Cornell University in 1943 and joined the Navy. Being in the service in wartime changed his mind about acting. âI realized that life can be short and youâd better do what you want to do,â he reasoned.
After serving for three years, he studied at the New School for Social Research and the Actors Studio.
He appeared in such plays as Paddy Chayefskyâs âThe Tenth Manâ (1959), âA Shot in the Darkâ (1961) and the Herb Gardner comedy âA Thousand Clownsâ (1962) in which he played a childrenâs TV performer known as Chuckles the Chipmunk, a role Saks recreated in the film version.
But he decided he wanted to direct. âI liked telling people what to do,â he said.
In a 1985 interview, Saks had this to say about the twin professions of acting and directing: âFor me, I had to overcome shyness to be an actor. But as a director you lose your subjectivity, your self-consciousness. And instead of just your role, itâs the life of the whole play that becomes a reflection of you.â
Saks married Arthur in 1950 and they had two sons, Matthew and Daniel, before the marriage ended in divorce. With his second wife, Karen, he had a daughter, Annabelle.
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