Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, and Tony Roberts form quite a team in ANNIE HALL
ANNIE HALL (Woody Allen, 1977)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Monday, March 13, $14, 7:00
212-727-8110
filmforum.org
“You’re an actor, Max. You should be doing Shakespeare in the Park,” Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) says to his best friend, Rob (Tony Roberts), in Annie Hall. “Oh, I did Shakespeare in the Park, Max. I got mugged. I was playing Richard the Second and two guys with leather jackets stole my leotard,” Rob responds. Tony Roberts is indeed an actor, with a fifty-five-year stage and screen career that includes six Allen films (Play It Again, Sam, Annie Hall, Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Radio Days) and two Woodman plays (Don’t Drink the Water, Play It Again, Sam). Now seventy-seven, Roberts will be at Film Forum on March 13 for a special tribute; the evening begins with a screening of Annie Hall, which won four Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress for Diane Keaton), followed by a conversation between Roberts and actor/producer John Martello, the former longtime executive director of the Players Club who was fired over a financial dispute in April 2013.
Best friends Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) and Rob (Tony Roberts) play tennis in ANNIE HALL
In Annie Hall, the steadfast, skirt-chasing Roberts stars as an actor on a hit TV series who is loving life in California, which disappoints Singer. During the film, Rob dons a sharp white suit, a space outfit, and tennis gear; however, unlike in the Broadway show Doubles, Roberts keeps his clothes on. The New York City native and two-time Tony nominee has also appeared in such films as Serpico, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Amityville 3-D, and Switch and such Broadway productions as Barefoot in the Park, They’re Playing Our Song, The Sisters Rosensweig, and Promises, Promises. He also starred in an all-star two-part Love Boat episode as cruise director Julie McCoy’s (Lauren Tewes) long-lost love; the cast also included Lorne Green, Mark Harmon, Eleanor Parker, Ray Milland, Julia Duffy, Donny Most, and Lisa Hartman. It should be a splendid event honoring this character actor extraordinaire, who gets to play a leading role for a night.