Eric Lax

Eric Lax is an American biographer and author of "On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy" as well as several other books and articles.

He graduated from Hobart College in 1966 with a major in English. Upon graduating he joined the Peace Corps serving in Chuuk and the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. After completing his two year placement, he worked in Washington D.C., with the Peace Corps organization in a capacity that allowed him travel to more than 40 countries worldwide. [http://www.hws.edu/centennial/lax.asp William Smith Centennial :: William Smith Leaders : Eric Lax ’66] ]

He left the Peace Corps in 1970 to pursue writing full time. Lax's interest in comedy led to his first book, "On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy" in 1975, which was part biography of Woody Allen and part general treatise on comedy. In 1984 Lax wrote "Life and Death on 10 West" about the bone marrow transplantation ward at the UCLA Medical Center, which was headed at the time by his college classmate Robert Peter Gale. It was recognized by The New York Times Book Review as one of the Notable Books of the Year and received an award from the Leukemia Society of America. Lax later authored or coauthored biographies of Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, and Howard Walter Florey.

In addition to writing biographical books, Lax has written articles that have appeared in several periodical publications including the The Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Washington Monthly, and The Washington Post. [http://www.usc.edu/libraries/partners/laih/fellows/EricLax.php Eric Lax] ] He has worked as a contributing editor of Esquire magazine.

He is also a member of the Board of Visitors, at the California Institute of the Arts; a board member and past president of PEN American Center West; a member of the International PEN Board; and chair of the trustees of the International PEN Foundation.

Eric Lax has appeared in several video biographies and, as of February 2008, lives in Los Angeles.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1404168/ accessed 16 February 2008]

Bibliography

*(1975) "On Being Funny: Woody Allen and Comedy", Charterhouse, New York, ISBN 0883270420.
*(1984) "Life and Death on 10 West", 267 pp., Times Books, ISBN 0812910370.
*(1991) "Woody Allen: A Biography", 439 pp., Alfred a Knopf Inc.
*(1992) "Woody Allen: A Biography" 2nd Ed., 439 pp., Vintage Books.
*(1996) "Paul Newman: A Biography", 192 pp., Turner Publishing, ISBN 1570362866.
*(1997) with Ann M. Sperber, "Bogart", 676 pp., Morrow, ISBN 0688075398.
*(1998) "Newman: Paul Newman - A Celebration", Pavilion, ISBN 1857939557.
*(2000) "Woody Allen: A Biography" 3rd Ed., 439 pp., Da Capo Press, ISBN 0306809850.
*(2004) "The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle ", 389 pp., Little Brown, ISBN 0316859257.
*(2007) "Conversations with Woody Allen: His Films, the Movies, and Moviemaking", 416 pp., Knopf, ISBN 0375415335.

References