Previous biographies have either been principally studies of his work (John Baxter's WOODY ALLEN: A LIFE, HarperCollins, 1998) or authorised (Eric Lax's WOODY ALLEN: A LIFE, Cape, 1992). Marion Meade tells the whole story from his working class beginnings in the Bronx, through his early career as a gag writer for New York newspaper columnists, his struggles as a stand-up comedian, to his break-through into films with What's New Pussycat (which he wrote and starred in alongside Peter O'Toole). As a writer/director he has made many films most notably Annie Hall (starring Diane Keaton with whom he lived for many years), Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters (with Mia Farrow, with whom he had a 13 year relationship) and Broadway Danny Rose. Marion Meade's is an unauthorised life, but many of those close to Allen both professionally and personally have talked as her previous books on Keaton and Dorothy Parker were widely praised.