Screenwriter, actress, comedienne, dramatist, and film director, Elaine May has enriched her five major screenplays with a mix of these talents.

May was born Elaine Berlin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Yiddish actor Jack Berlin. In 1949, still in her teens, she married Marvin May. The marriage was dissolved. (Her daughter Jeannie uses the Berlin name.)

Elaine May's professional talents surfaced early. Before graduating from high school she already had many stage and radio appearances to her credit. She studied the Stanislavsky method of acting with Maria Ouspenskaya. She became a performer in Chicago, where she appeared in repertory at the Playwrights Theater, in an improvisational group at the Compass Players, and in Miss Julie at the University of Chicago. In Chicago she met Mike Nichols, and by 1957 Nichols and May were doing improvisational skits together at supper clubs. They made television appearances and released a comedy improvisational...