Elaine May

Skuespiller, Forfatter, Instruktør

21. april 1932 (94 år)
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".

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Film og serier på Plex

  • Fagre voksne verden
    Fagre voksne verden1967
  • Small Time Crooks
    Small Time Crooks2000

Kendt for

  • The Birdcage
    The Birdcage1996
  • Præsidentkandidaten
    Præsidentkandidaten1998
  • Himlen må vente
    Himlen må vente1978
  • Tootsie
    Tootsie1982
  • Ishtar
    Ishtar1987
  • I lyst og nød
    I lyst og nød1971
  • Jaget af fortiden
    Jaget af fortiden1976
  • Hjerteknuseren
    Hjerteknuseren1972
  • Down to Earth
    Down to Earth2001
  • Crisis in Six Scenes
    Crisis in Six Scenes6 episoder
  • California Suite
    California Suite1978
  • In the Spirit
    In the Spirit1990
  • Ægteskab på tremandshånd
    Ægteskab på tremandshånd1971
  • Enter Laughing
    Enter Laughing1967
  • No Nukes
    No Nukes1980
  • American Masters
    American Masters40 sæsoner
  • The Same Storm
    The Same Storm2021
  • Bach to Bach
    Bach to Bach1967

Filmografi

2021
The Same Storm · as Ruth Lipsman Berg
2017
The Good Fight · as Ruth Bader Ginsburg
2016
Crisis in Six Scenes · as Kay Munsinger
2000
Small Time Crooks · as MayPå Plex
1994
Wolf · as Operator (voice) (uncredited)
1990
In the Spirit · as Marianne Flan
1982
Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter · as Millie Michaels
1978
California Suite · as Millie Michaels
1976
Mikey and Nicky · as Woman On Tv (voice) (uncredited)
1971
A New Leaf · as Henrietta Lowell
1967
The Graduate · as Girl With Note For Benjamin (uncredited)På Plex
1967
Bach to Bach · as A Woman (voice)
1967
Luv · as Ellen Manville
1967
Enter Laughing · as Angela Marlowe
1957
The DuPont Show of the Month · as Candy Carter
1952

2001
Down to Earth · as Original Film Writer
1998
Primary Colors · as Screenplay
1996
The Birdcage · as Screenplay
1988
1987
1984
1982
1978
Heaven Can Wait · as Screenplay
1976
1971
Such Good Friends · as Screenplay
1971
1967

2022
2019
The 73rd Annual Tony Awards · as Self - Winner
2018
2016
2003
1997
The Fifties · as Self (in Nichols & May Sketch)
1996
1996
Nichols and May: Take Two · as Self (archive Footage)
1988
Calling the Shots · as Self (archive Footage)
1985
American Masters · as Self
1981
Beatlemania · as Self
1979
1977
1973
1969
1967
1962
1962
1960
1957
1956
1956
The Steve Allen Show · as Self - Comedian
1953
Person to Person · as Self
1950
What's My Line? · as Self - Mystery Guest
1948
The Perry Como Show · as Self - Comedienne

1987
Ishtar · as Songs
1980
No Nukes · as Contribution