Mr. Saks was doing all right for the first decade and a half of his theatre career, playing parts in the Broadway hits , , A Shot in the Dark and . But he had far greater success as a director. His first Broadway assignment was 鈥檚 , based on the book by Carl Reiner, in 1963. It ran for a year and made a star of .
He followed that hit with the comedy Nobody Loves an Albatross, which ran half a year. Half a Sixpence, a musical starring English star , did better. It played for more than a year and won Saks his first of many Tony nomination. 鈥� Generation, starring , was another hit. With , 鈥檚 1966 musical, however, he tapped into a goldmine. The smash show became one of the most successful musicals up till that time, playing more than 1,500 performances, and netting Mr. Saks another Tony nomination. (It won one for his then wife, , who played Vera Charles.)
Following that triumph, Hollywood came calling. His first two film credits were the cinematic adaptations of Neil Simon鈥檚 , starring and , and , starring and . It was the beginning of an artistic partnership that would last thirty years. Next, in 1969, came another adaptation on a hit stage comedy, , starring Matthau, and Goldie Hawn. The film won Hawn an Oscar, turning the 鈥淟augh-In鈥� actor into a bankable film star.
Mr. Saks鈥� next two films, an adaptation of Simon鈥檚 (1972) and the film version of Mame (1974), bombed, and his film career never recovered thereafter. He would later say that he had not found his film jobs artistically satisfying.
However, in the theatre, he was about to begin his most fruitful period. 鈥檚 romantic comedy , which he directed on Broadway in 1975, proved a massive hit, running three years. The next year, he staged , his first Simon play. It was a success. Over the next 16 years, he became Simon鈥檚 go-to director, filling the role occupied by in the 1960s and the early 鈥�70s. He directed nine more Simon works on Broadway, including what many consider the playwright鈥檚 crowning achievement: the autobiographical 鈥淏righton Beach Trilogy鈥� of , and . Speaking of his affinity for Simon's work, he said, "he writes about things I know about and care about. We both come from middle-class, first-generation Jewish families, and our humor springs from the same roots."
His other Simon credits included the comedies , , Jake鈥檚 Women and a 1985 revival of The Odd Couple cast with women in the leads. He won Tony Awards for , Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues and was nominated for Lost in Yonkers. He had little success outside of the Simon canon, missing with A Month of Sundays, The Supporting Cast, Special Occasions and the musical . But his final Broadway credit, , starring , was a hit.
On screen, his directing career having dried up, he returned to his first love, acting, taking supporting parts in 鈥淒econstructing Harry,鈥� 鈥淚.Q.,鈥� and 鈥淣obody鈥檚 Fool鈥� in the 1990s.
Jean Michael Saks was born Nov. 8, 1921, in New York City. He was trained at the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research and Cornell University. He got his start in the late 鈥�40s in the then nascent Off-Broadway movement as a member of a Greenwich Village group called the Interplayers. The company included future stars and , , who would go on to write , and , who later became one of Broadway鈥檚 most successful press agents.
鈥淥ff-Broadway started because we wanted to act,鈥� Mr. Saks recalled of those days. 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 much chance to act on Broadway. There was a chance, but it was a long shot. So we gathered together in little bands and began the Off-Broadway movement. It was the only way to go.鈥�
By 1949, the troupe had been winnowed down to its core players and renamed Off-Broadway Inc. A newcomer, Bea Arthur, was added to their ranks. They married in 1950 and had two children. The company secured the rights to 鈥檚 Yes Is For a Very Young Man and found itself with a hit on its hands. It was followed by two failures, however, and the group dissolved.
Mr. Saks is survived by his two sons with Arthur, Matthew and Daniel; his wife, the former Keren Ettlinger, whom he married in 1980; and their daughter, Annabelle.
