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a parental role, watching the child grow up. Thus, although in purely legal terms Allen had done nothing wrong, the relationship between him and Soon-Yi was viewed by most onlookers as inappropriate, to say the least.
    Had the matter stopped there, however, the scandal might have been forgotten; as it was, the situation took a turn for the worse when, during the ensuing custody battle, Farrow accused Allen of sexually abusing the daughter they had adopted together, Dylan (now known as Malone). The charges were later dropped, but the damage had been done, and Allen’s reputation never entirely recovered from the scandal.
     
    G IFT FOR COMEDY
     
    Allen was born Allen Stewart Konigsberg to Martin and Nettea Konigsberg in New York City on
    1 December 1935. His family were Jewish German immigrants, and Yiddish, as well as German, was spoken at home. In later years this Jewish background proved a constant source of inspiration and comedy for Allen. His parents were hard-working immigrants from the Lower East Side and when they married they moved to Flatbush, Brooklyn, where Allen and his sister Letty were raised.
    Allen began his education at Hebrew school, then went to public school and high school, before attending New York University and City College of New York. However, he never took his university education very seriously, and before long was asked to leave both establishments, due to the fact that he hardly ever turned up to lectures or did any work. This was because, since the age of 16, he had been busy honing his career as a comedian.
    From an early age, Allen had showed a strong gift for comedy. He wrote jokes for an agent, who sold them to newspaper columnists, and by the age of 16 he was writing for comedians such as Sid Caesar. Three years later, he was writing for TV comedy shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show and making a lot of money. In the early 1960s, Allen started a career as a stand-up comedian, making a joke out of his nervousness and playing up his image as a neurotic New York Jewish intellectual.
    From there, he moved on to writing plays and screenplays, directing movies and, by the late 1960s, he was making his own films. He became one of the most creative film makers in Hollywood, writing, directing and starring in his own pictures, which ranged from offbeat comedies such as Bananas, Sleeper and Love and Death , to romantic comedies like Annie Hall , to serious dramas such as Interiors . On the way, he often broke new ground: Annie Hall , which also starred Diane Keaton, marked a new era for romantic comedy; Manhattan , made in black and white, was a touching tribute to the city he never left; and Hannah and Her Sisters , a romantic comedy with tragic undertones, won three Academy Awards. His output was extraordinary and besides these successes, there were numerous movies that failed at the box office but drew praise from the critics.
    However, from the year 2000 onwards, most critics agreed that his movies were not up to his previous standards, until in 2005 he made Match Point , starring Scarlett Johansson, which was a box office success and won him another Academy Award. Despite his importance as a film maker, Allen chose never to attend the Academy awards ceremonies in person to collect his accolade.
     
    L EADING LADIES
     
    Throughout his career, Allen had a history of having relationships with his leading ladies, which began after he divorced his first wife, Harlene Rosen. The couple, aged 19 and 16, found they did not have much in common and spent many hours in bitter dispute. Harlene finally lost patience with her husband when he poked fun at her in public after she had been sexually assaulted by a stranger outside their apartment. She sued him for divorce, and after the split, Allen went on to marry actress Louise Lasser. He and Lasser co-starred in a movie called Take the Money and Run, but they divorced just three years later, although Lasser continued to star in his movies. His next