Director of Neil Simon Stage/Screen Works, Gene Saks, Dead at 93

Noted stage and screen director, Gene Saks, who helmed several Neil Simon plays on Broadway and

won three Tonys, for the Cy Coleman-Michael Stewart musical “I Love My Wife” along with Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “Biloxi Blues”, died Saturday at 93.  His wife, Keren, told the New York Times that he died from pneumonia in his East Hampton, NY home.  Saks directed seven feature films, all of them based on theatre works. The films included Simon adaptations “The Odd Couple,” “Barefoot in the Park,” “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” He also directed the 1969 “Cactus Flower,” which earned Goldie Hawn an Oscar for supporting actress. And, after directing the hit Broadway musical “Mame,” Saks did the big screen version in 1974. For the film, Lucille Ball played the title character, with many critics complaining that Angela Lansbury could repeat her Broadway triumph. Both the stage and screen versions of “Mame” co-starred Saks’ wife at the time,  Bea Arthur.

Saks started as a stage and TV actor and later did occasional roles in films and on TV, most memorable in his film bow with the 1965 film “A Thousand Clowns.” Later screen credits include the 1994 Paul Newman vehicle “Nobody’s Fool.”