Everybody knows Neil Simon, the playwright. In the '60s, his hit plays like Barefoot in the Park, and The Odd Couple made him the hottest newcomer on Broadway. Seventeen Tony nominations and three wins later, at the end of his career, he took home a Pulitzer for Lost in Yonkers after 30 years. He was an inspired comic writer, and at least a little bit, a short stint in TV helped him get there.

In the 1950s, Simon stretched his muscles as a TV writer after he and his brother Danny Simon got their start in radio. He penned episodes of The Phil Silvers Show and Your Show of Shows, shoulder to shoulder with top comedy writers like Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and more. Later, TV viewers would become much more familiar with Simon's brand of humor, after his '65 play inspired first a hit 1968 movie, then in 1970 a hit TV series The Odd Couple. It ran for five seasons and won critical acclaim the whole time it was on air.

In his career, Neil Simon delivered laughs to distract from all of life's idiosyncrasies. On Saturday, August 25, EW reports that the legendary playwright passed away at the age of 91.