Woody Allen has acted in, directed, and written many films starting in the 1960s. His first film was the 1965 comedy What's New Pussycat?, which featured him as both writer and performer. Feeling that his New Yorker humor clashed with director Clive Donner's British sensibility, he decided to direct all future films from his own material. He was unable to prevent other directors from producing films based on previous stage plays of his to which he had already sold the film rights, notably 1972's successful film Play it Again, Sam from the 1969 play of the same title directed by Herbert Ross.