Paul Mazursky

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Paul Mazursky (born April 25, 1930) is an American actor and film director.

Mazursky was born in Brooklyn, New York,1935 Bergen Street. Actual first name Irwin. A descendant of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.^[1] He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1951. He made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick's first feature, Fear and Desire. In 1965 Mazursky collaborated with Larry Tucker in crafting the script of the original pilot of The Monkees TV series, in which they both also appeared in cameo.

Mazursky's first film as director was Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which Tucker produced. He also directed Alex in Wonderland, An Unmarried Woman, and Scenes from a Mall. Other films include Blackboard Jungle, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, adapted from a play by French playwright René Fauchois, Moon Over Parador (1988) and the autobiographical Next Stop, Greenwich Village. He has recently published his autobiography which recounts his experience in film making and well-known screen personalities he has directed, such as Peter Sellers. His quirky and iconoclastic approach to film subject matter has usually resulted in either big hits or audacious flops.

Mazursky has appeared as himself in a number of documentaries on film, including A Decade Under the Influence, New York at the Movies, and Screenwriters: Words Into Image. In Moon Over Parador, when Judith Malina, cast as the dictator's mother, was unavailable, and with the Rio Opera House available for three days of shooting, Mazursky played her himself, in drag.

In more recent years, Mazursky had a small part as "Sunshine", the poker dealer, on The Sopranos.