Elaine May, the notable one-half of the improvisational comedy duo ‘Nichols and May,’ began acting at 3 in her father’s traveling company. In 1955, she joined Chicago’s improvisational theater group ‘The Compass Players,’ where she teamed up with Mike Nichols to write and perform comedy sketches which gained popularity on Broadway, nightclubs and TV. In 1961, May turned to playwriting.
May made her screen debut on ‘Omnibus’ (1958), followed by several guest-appearances on various TV shows.
Her debut film appearance was in comedy-film ‘Enter Laughing’ (1967), then she appeared with Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk in slapstick romantic-comedy ‘Luv’ (1967), an uncredited role in Mike Nichols’ romantic-comedy drama-film ‘The Graduate’ (1967), and short-film ‘Bach to Back’ (1967)for which she was also the writer.
May made her directorial debut with black-comedy ‘A New Leaf’ (1971), a successful film which she also wrote and starred in, fetching ‘Golden Globe’ nomination for her performance.  She wrote screenplay of comedy-drama film ‘Such Good Friends’ (1971) under pseudonym Esther Dale.
Next, May directed another successful and critically acclaimed romantic black-comedy ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ (1972) which starred her daughter. Peter Falk and John Cassavetes played the title roles in her crime-drama gangster film ‘Mikey and Nicky’ (1976), which suffered due to delay, and was box-office disappointment, but later her ‘director’s cut’ received appreciation.
May was co-writer for the fantasy-comedy film ‘Heaven Can Wait’ (1978) which brought her nomination for ‘Academy Award for Best Screen play.’ She played ‘Millie’ wife of Walter Matthau, her ‘A New Leaf’ costar, in comedy-film ‘California Suit’ (1978).
May was (uncredited) co-writer for epic historical drama-film ‘Red’ (1981), romantic-comedy film ‘Tootsie’ (1982), musical-fantasy ‘Labyrinth’ (1986) and drama-film ‘Dangerous Minds’ (1995). May wrote and directed adventure comedy-film ‘Ishtar’ (1987) starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, which failed at box-office but received few good reviews.
May starred alongside Marlo Thomas in 1990 film ‘In the Spirit’ earning praise. She wrote the screenplay of the hit comedy-film ‘The Birdcage’ (1996) adapted from French farce ‘La cage aux folles,’ and directed by her comedy act partner Mike Nichols. She also wrote screenplay of Nichols’ comedy-drama film ‘Primary Colors’ (1998) fetching second ‘Oscar’ nomination.
May starred in Woody Allen’s crime-comedy film ‘Small Time Crooks’ (2000), and much later, starred in Allen’s miniseries ‘Crisis in Six Scenes’ (2016). In 2016, she directed TV-documentary ‘Mike Nichols: American Masters.’
