--- name: "Paul Mazursky" canonical: "https://film.one/person/paul-mazursky" roles: ["Producer","Director"] born: "25 April 1930" died: "30 June 2014" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_as: "producer" average_over: 0 updated: "2026-09-20T06:13:21.485543+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Paul Mazursky Producer and director. Born 25 April 1930 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Died 30 June 2014. ## Details - **Work:** Producer, Director - **Born:** 25 April 1930, Brooklyn, New York, USA - **Died:** 30 June 2014 - **Active:** 1978–1993 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 acting, 1 directing - **Academy Awards:** 5 Oscar nominations - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1970s 82 (1), 1990s 86 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mazursky, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q270560, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005196/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/47773 ## Fi1m on Paul Mazursky > Paul Mazursky made comedies about people who were doing fine until they weren't: marriages, affairs, divorces, all watched without a villain in sight. At his best, in *An Unmarried Woman*, nobody has done anything wrong and it still hurts. The first half hour of *An Unmarried Woman* (1978) is spent on a marriage that works. Erica and Martin Benton have sex before breakfast, jog together in the cold and argue about their daughter's boyfriend, and Paul Mazursky, who wrote it as well as directing it, is in no hurry to get to the part where Martin leaves. That is the habit that runs through his films. He shows you people who are content before he takes the contentment away, so that when it goes there is nobody to blame, and the film has to manage without a villain. He came to directing by way of everything else. He began as an actor, in Stanley Kubrick's *Fear and Desire* (1953) among other early parts, and wrote television in the 1960s with Larry Tucker, including *The Danny Kaye Show* and the pilot of *The Monkees*. *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice* (1969), which he co-wrote, was his first feature, a comedy about two couples working out what the new sexual rules allowed. Through the 1970s and 1980s he kept to the same ground: *Harry and Tonto* (1974), *An Unmarried Woman*, *Moscow on the Hudson* (1984), *Down and Out in Beverly Hills* (1986), *Enemies, a Love Story* (1989), most of them set in New York or Los Angeles, most of them comedies with something sadder underneath. Leon Capetanos wrote four of the scripts with him. He usually gave himself a small part. What he did well was listen. The dialogue sounds overheard rather than written, and he got performances out of women that other directors of his generation did not seem to want. Jill Clayburgh's Erica has been competent all her life and is then, for the first time, unsure of everything, and she never once asks for our sympathy. We liked Michael Murphy's Martin by the time he walked out, which we did not expect and rather resented, and that is the point: Mazursky wants us to lose something along with her. He told Roger Ebert he did not have it in him to make a film in which everything was black and white, and the films bear him out. What he did less well was trust the watching. The therapy scenes in *An Unmarried Woman* stop to say what the kitchen scenes have already shown, and when Alan Bates arrives as Saul, the artist with a sense of humour, the film goes soft around him. That softness was the charge laid against the later work, *Scenes from a Mall* (1991) and *The Pickle* (1993) among it, and the reviews for those were mixed. He directed less often after that, and made a documentary in 2006. Start with *An Unmarried Woman*, then *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice*, and watch for the director himself somewhere in the background, apparently having a better time than his characters. ## Biography Paul Mazursky was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he began his career as an actor in the 1950s and later wrote for television before making his feature directorial debut with *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice* (1969). Mazursky directed, wrote and produced *An Unmarried Woman* (1978). He received five Academy Award nominations across his career, including for *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice* (1969), *Harry and Tonto* (1974), *An Unmarried Woman* (1978) and *Enemies, A Love Story* (1989). Other films he directed include *Next Stop, Greenwich Village* (1976), *Moscow on the Hudson* (1984), *Down and Out in Beverly Hills* (1986), *Moon over Parador* (1988) and *Scenes from a Mall* (1991). Mazursky died in Los Angeles on 30 June 2014. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) ### Performed in (1) - *Carlito's Way* (1993), Fi1m 86, as Judge Feinstein — [page](https://film.one/film/carlitos-way.md) ### Directed (1) - *An Unmarried Woman* (1978), Fi1m 82, as Hal — [page](https://film.one/film/an-unmarried-woman.md) ## Complete filmography (69) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Other Side of the Wind* (2018), as Paul Mazursky - *Kung Fu Panda 2* (2011), as Musician Bunny (voice) - *Femme Fatales* (2011), series, as Warden Jeffries - *Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy* (2007), Director, Producer - *Cattle Call* (2006), as Judge Mendel - *I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With* (2006), as Charlie Perlman - *Coast to Coast* (2004), as Stanly Tarto · Director - *Do It for Uncle Manny* (2002), as Famous Movie Director - *The Majestic* (2001), as Studio Executive (voice) - *Big Shot's Funeral* (2001), as Tony - *Curb Your Enthusiasm* (2000), series, as Norm — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/curb-your-enthusiasm.md) - *Crazy in Alabama* (1999), as Walter Schwegmann - *Once and Again* (1999), series, Actor - *A Slight Case of Murder* (1999), as John Brant - *The Sopranos* (1999), series, as Sunshine — Fi1m 94, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sopranos.md) - *Winchell* (1998), as Winchell's Father · Director - *Antz* (1998), as Psychologist (voice) - *Why Do Fools Fall In Love* (1998), as Morris Levy - *Bulworth* (1998), as Paul Mazursky (uncredited) - *Weapons of Mass Distraction* (1997), as Dr. Jonathon Cummings - *Touch* (1997), as Artie - *2 Days in the Valley* (1996), as Teddy Peppers - *Faithful* (1996), as Dr. Susskind · Director - *Miami Rhapsody* (1995), as Vic - *Love Affair* (1994), as Herb Stillman - *Carlito's Way* (1993), as Judge Feinstein — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/carlitos-way.md) - *Frasier* (1993), series, as Vinnie (voice) — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/frasier.md) - *The Pickle* (1993), as Butch Levine · Writer, Director, Producer - *Man Trouble* (1992), as Lee MacGreevy - *Scenes from a Mall* (1991), as Doctor Hans Clava · Director, Producer, Writer - *Taking Care of Business* (1990), Executive Producer - *Enemies, a Love Story* (1989), as Leon Tortshiner · Screenplay, Director, Producer - *Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills* (1989), as Sidney - *Punchline* (1988), as Arnold - *Moon Over Parador* (1988), as Momma · Director, Producer, Screenplay - *Down and Out in Beverly Hills* (1986), as Sidney Waxman · Screenplay, Producer, Director - *Into the Night* (1985), as Bud Herman - *Moscow on the Hudson* (1984), as Dave · Director, Writer, Producer - *Tempest* (1982), as Terry Bloomfield · Director, Writer, Producer - *History of the World: Part I* (1981), as Roman Officer - The Roman Empire - *Willie & Phil* (1980), as Narrator (voice) (uncredited) · Writer, Director, Producer - *A Man, a Woman and a Bank* (1979), as Norman Barrie - *An Unmarried Woman* (1978), as Hal · Director, Producer, Writer — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/an-unmarried-woman.md) - *A Star Is Born* (1976), as Brian Wexler - *Next Stop, Greenwich Village* (1976), as Casting Director (uncredited) · Director, Writer, Producer - *Harry and Tonto* (1974), as Prostitute (uncredited) · Producer, Writer, Director - *Blume in Love* (1973), as Hellman · Director, Producer, Writer - *Getting Together* (1971), series, Actor - *Alex in Wonderland* (1970), as Hal Stern · Screenplay, Director - *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice* (1969), as Man Screaming at the Institute (uncredited) · Writer, Director - *I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!* (1968), as Hippie on Sidewalk (uncredited) · Writer, Executive Producer - *The Monkees* (1966), series, as T.V. Interviewer · Writer - *Love on a Rooftop* (1966), series, as Young Man - *Deathwatch* (1966), as Maurice - *General Electric True* (1962), series, Actor - *Saints and Sinners* (1962), series, as Jimmy Sloan - *Last Year at Malibu* (1962), Director - *The Chevy Mystery Show* (1960), series, as Danny, The Waiter, Reporter - *The Detectives* (1959), series, as Buddy, Charley Grimes - *The Untouchables* (1959), series, as Flip (uncredited) - *Adventures in Paradise* (1959), series, as Paul Michelet - *The Twilight Zone* (1959), series, as Frank, Orderly — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-twilight-zone.md) - *The Rifleman* (1958), series, Writer - *The Steve Allen Show* (1956), series, as Comedy Team - *Blackboard Jungle* (1955), as Emmanuel Stoker - *Fear and Desire* (1953), as Sidney - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Joseph Kane - *Robert Montgomery Presents* (1950), series, Actor - *Kraft Television Theatre* (1947), series, Actor ## Gallery - ![Paul Mazursky](https://film.one/media/person/401213/gallery-308abcfb54d3.jpg) Paul Mazursky — che (Please credit as "Petr Novák, Wikipedia" in case you use this outside Wikimedia projects.), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Paul_Mazursky.jpg/1280px-Paul_Mazursky.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Paul Mazursky](https://film.one/media/person/401213/gallery-4d8e13aa1b3a.jpg) Paul Mazursky — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 5 nominated - 1990: Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated), for *Enemies, a Love Story* - 1979: Best Picture (nominated), for *An Unmarried Woman* - 1979: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *An Unmarried Woman* - 1975: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Harry and Tonto* - 1970: Best Writing, Original Screenplay (nominated), for *Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice* ### Other awards — 1 won - Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement 2014: Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/paul-mazursky