Cactus Flower

Gene Saks (born November 8, 1921) is an American stage and film director. Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix (née Lewkowitz) and Morris J. Saks.Saks studied at Cornell University and trained for acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with the influential German director Erwin Piscator.

Saks has shared a long-term professional relationship with playwright/comedy writer Neil Simon, directing his plays Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Jake’s Women, Rumors, Lost in Yonkers, Broadway Bound, The Odd Couple, and California Suite. Additional Broadway credits include Enter Laughing; Half a Sixpence; Mame; I Love My Wife; Same Time, Next Year; and Rags.

Among Saks’ screen credits are Cactus Flower, which won Goldie Hawn the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Barefoot in the Park, The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Odd Couple, Mame, So I Married an Axe Murderer (uncredited), and the 1995 television production of Bye Bye Birdie.

Saks made his acting debut on Broadway in South Pacific in 1949. On stage he also appeared in A Shot in the Dark, The Tenth Man, and A Thousand Clowns, in the role of Leo “Chuckles The Chipmunk” Herman, which he reprised in the film version. He portrayed Jack Lemmon’s brother in the screen adaptation of Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue.

Saks was married to actress Bea Arthur from 1950-1978. The couple had two sons.