Skip to main content
  • TotalFilm
  • Edge
  • Newsarama
  • Retrogamer
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Best Netflix Shows
Don't miss these
Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines
Streaming Services 3 new to Prime Video movies you should watch this weekend (March 7–March 8)
Misery
Streaming Services 3 new to Netflix movies I recommend you watch this weekend (March 7–March 8)
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus
Movies The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
Glen Powell as Becket in How to Make a Killing
Comedy Movies How to Make a Killing is Glen Powell's latest mid-budget movie, and I hope he never stops making them
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Streaming Services The 20 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William Shakespeare in Hamnet
Streaming Services 6 of the best new shows and movies streaming this week on Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, and more (March 2–March 8)
Walton Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout season 2
TV The 25 best shows on Amazon Prime Video to watch right now
Best anime movies: Chihiro and No-Face sitting in a train carriage during Spirited Away.
Anime Movies The 30 best anime movies to watch right now
For All Mankind
Apple TV Plus The 25 best shows on Apple TV to watch right now
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Sonic 3
Amazon Prime Video The 25 best movies on Prime Video to watch right now
David Lynch as Gordon Cole and Laura Dern as Diane in Twin Peaks: The Return.
Streaming Services The 25 best shows on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Emma D'Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 3
TV The 30 best shows on HBO Max to watch right now
The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time: pictures of Alien, Arrival, Terminator, Brazil and 2001.
Sci-Fi Movies The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time
Ghostface in Scream (2022)
Horror Movies All 7 Scream movies ranked, from worst to best
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

50 Greatest Woody Allen Characters

Features
By Simon Kinnear published 17 September 2012

Made in Manhattan

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

Tina

The Character: Brassy broad and consort of gangsters who fakes a relationship with Broadway Danny Rose to deflect from her actual affair with Danny's client.

Best Line: "You're living like a loser."

How Woody-Esque? Allen often cast Mia Farrow as variations on herself, but here her casts his then-girlfriend completely against type to showcase her range.

You may like
  • Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning as Gustav and Rachel in Sentimental Value Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård discuss unlikely friendships and avoiding cliche in Sentimental Value
  • Superman kisses Lois Lane in James Gunn's Superman The 20 best movies on HBO Max to watch right now
  • Tom Hanks as Commander Ernie Krause during one of the best Apple TV movies, Greyhound. The 10 best movies on Apple TV to stream right now

Marion Post

The Character: Philosophy professor (played by Gena Rowlands) whose rented flat enables her to eavesdrop on Another Woman , causing her to re-evaluate her life.

Best Line: "If someone had asked me when I reached my fifties to assess my life, I would have said that I had achieved a decent measure of fulfilment, both personally and professionally. Beyond that, I would say I don't choose to delve."

How Woody-Esque? One of Allen's most Bergman-esque films steers clear of comedy, but in her introverted way Marion is just as self-doubting as Woody.

Harry Block

The Character: Famous writer who begins to question the morality of basing his fiction on friends and acquaintances in Deconstructing Harry .

Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Best Line: "I'm a guy who can't function well in life but can in art."

How Woody-Esque? As a wry apology for any writer's magpie thieving from their memories of real-life people, this is quintessentially Woody.

Z-4195

The Character: "Zee" is a neurotic worker ant in Dreamworks' CG animation Antz who falls in love with the colony's princess.

You may like
  • Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning as Gustav and Rachel in Sentimental Value Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård discuss unlikely friendships and avoiding cliche in Sentimental Value
  • Superman kisses Lois Lane in James Gunn's Superman The 20 best movies on HBO Max to watch right now
  • Tom Hanks as Commander Ernie Krause during one of the best Apple TV movies, Greyhound. The 10 best movies on Apple TV to stream right now

Best Line: "I think everything must go back to the fact that I had a very anxious childhood. My mother never had time for me. You know, when you're - when you're the middle child in a family of five million, you don't get any attention."

How Woody-Esque? One of the rare occasions when Allen acts in a film he didn't write, but it scarcely matters - this script mines just about every cliché in the Woody playbook.

Howard Prince

The Character: Bookie who agrees to become The Front by taking credit for blacklisted writers' scripts during the McCarthy era and finds himself under investigation.

Best Line: "Fellas... I don't recognize the right of this committee to ask me these kind of questions. And furthermore, you can all go fuck yourselves."

How Woody-Esque? Although Howard is meant to be unable to write in this rare dramatic role for Allen, Woody can't help but make him a witty figure.

Nola Rice

The Character: A struggling American actress failing to fit in with the British upper class in Match Point , until she's murdered by lover Chris.

Best Line: Asked if she's anything special, Nola replies, "Well, no one's ever asked for their money back."

How Woody-Esque? As a catty American in an otherwise all-British class, she's the most Woody-esque by default. Allen was impressed enough by Scarlett Johansson's performance to work with her twice since.

Elliot

The Character: Michael Caine won his first Oscar playing Elliot in Hannah And Her Sisters - husband to Hannah and lover of one of her sisters.

Best Line: "God, she's beautiful. She's got the prettiest eyes. She looks so sexy in that sweater. I just want to be alone with her and hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her and take care of her. Stop it you idiot, she's your wife's sister."

How Woody-Esque? Woody takes the more Woody-esque role of Mickey Sachs in the film, but given his own turbulent personal life, there may be more of him in Elliot than he'd care to admit.

Marcia Fox

The Character: Kooky poker-playing author who encourages Woody to catch an alleged killer in Manhattan Murder Mystery .

Best Line: "When I come back from the ladies room, I'll tell you how to trap him."

How Woody-Esque? Angelica Huston is hardly in the film, but she's exactly the kind of oddball presence who tends to steal later Woody films from under the star's nose.

Olive Neal

The Character: Jennifer Tilly gets a fabulous excuse to use her screechy voice as the dumb gangster's moll whose dreams of stardom ignite the plot of Bullets Over Broadway .

Best Line: Given "black pearls" as a gift, Olive moans, "What do think I am, some kind of chump? They're black for God's sake. They probably came from defective oysters."

How Woody-Esque? Olive's complete lack of intellectual guile puts her on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Emmet Ray

The Character: Alcoholic jazz guitarist (played by Oscar-nominated Sean Penn) who finds that his belief in never settling down is being tested by his love for mute Hattie in Sweet And Lowdown .

Best Line: The mournful, repeated last line: "I made a mistake!"

How Woody-Esque? Never mind their shared relationship troubles; his love of jazz mirrors Woody's own.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Current page: Page 2

Prev Page Page 1 Next Page Page 3
Simon Kinnear
Read more
Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning as Gustav and Rachel in Sentimental Value
Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård discuss unlikely friendships and avoiding cliche in Sentimental Value
 
 
Superman kisses Lois Lane in James Gunn's Superman
The 20 best movies on HBO Max to watch right now
 
 
Tom Hanks as Commander Ernie Krause during one of the best Apple TV movies, Greyhound.
The 10 best movies on Apple TV to stream right now
 
 
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
The 20 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
 
 
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Sonic 3
The 25 best movies on Prime Video to watch right now
 
 
For All Mankind
The 25 best shows on Apple TV to watch right now
 
 
Latest in Movies
An apparently dead person wearing a matted fur bunny suit
Severance star Adam Scott's new horror movie Hokum just got an intensely creepy first trailer
 
 
Don Lee in The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
James Wan is set to direct his first movie since the Aquaman sequel, and it's a remake of a hit Korean crime thriller
 
 
Kate Winslet at the 2023 BAFTA Television Awards
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum casts Kate Winslet as female lead
 
 
Grogu saluting in The Mandalorian and Grogu
New Mandalorian and Grogu TV spot doesn't give much away about the movie, but it does show Baby Yoda sneezing everywhere
 
 
Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford in Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars fans are discussing why two major characters barely interacted, but I think it makes total sense
 
 
Ghostface in Scream 7
Scream 7's Ghostface star doesn't know who she kills in the new sequel: "I'm going to leave that up to the audience"
 
 
Latest in Features
In Pokemon Pokopia, the transformed Ditto trainer takes a selfie looking aghast in front of a glowing piece of land where a relic is buried
I've spent 20 hours in Pokemon Pokopia obsessing over its mysterious world and what it hides beneath the surface
 
 
BG3
The future of RPGs is isometric
 
 
Photo of a Mario nendoroid figure holding a microSD Express card with a Turtle Beach Switch 2 case in the background.
These Mario Day-inspired Switch 2 accessories will power up your console more than a super star
 
 
Underside of Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop with glass viewing window and RGB fans
We could get a shock when 2026 gaming laptop prices are unveiled, here's what you need to know about buying this year
 
 
Emily Rudd as Nami and Iñaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy in Netflix's One Piece
One Piece season 2 ending explained: Who is Mr. Zero? Who dies? Will there be a season 3?
 
 
In Hitman World of Assassination, Agent 47 sits at the departure gate in an airport during the loading screen
After weeks spent locked into Hitman's Freelancer mode, I realize there's one vital thing 007 First Light needs to learn
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Wonderer heads to the Spire in a screenshot from Slay the Spire 2's animated reveal trailer
    1
    Xbox lead thinks "we have been in a golden age for indies" since 2008, and it's "a fantastic time to be a developer" if you ignore all the smoke
  2. 2
    The Future Games Show returns this week - here's how to watch
  3. 3
    Xbox teases "some iconic games from the past" to be re-released in 2026 from its "game preservation team"
  4. 4
    Steam expert advises devs stick to the "Little League" section with friendslop before attempting anything like Mewgenics
  5. 5
    With Donkey Kong Bananza, Nintendo learned "it is more fun to destroy that which is beautiful"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...