MAZURSKY, PAUL

MAZURSKY, PAUL (1930– ), U.S. director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mazursky began work in films as an actor, playing a small part in Stanley Kubrick's first film, Fear and Desire (1953), and a juvenile delinquent in The Blackboard Jungle (1955). He then turned to writing for television (The Danny Kaye Show) in collaboration with Larry Tucker. They also helped create the pilot for the tv series The Monkees. In 1968, Mazursky and Tucker wrote the screenplay for I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. In 1969, Mazursky directed his first film, Bob … Carol … Ted … Alice. He and Tucker also wrote the screenplay, which earned them an Oscar nomination. Mazursky followed this by directing a host of motion pictures, many of which he also wrote and produced. His films include Alex in Wonderland (1970); Blume in Love (1973); Harryand Tonto (Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, 1974); Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976); An Unmarried Woman (Oscar nomination for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, 1978); Willie and Phil (1980); Tempest (1983); Moscow on the Hudson (1986); Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986); Moon over Parador (1988); Enemies: A Love Story (Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, 1989), based on an Isaac Bashevis Singer short story; Scenes from a Mall (1991); The Pickle (1993); and Faithful (1995).

For television he directed the tv movies Winchell (1998) and Coast to Coast (2004).

Mazursky wrote Show Me the Magic: My Adventures in Life and Hollywood, a collection of autobiographical anecdotes (1999).

[Jonathan Licht /

Ruth Beloff (2^nd ed.)]