I Ought to Be in Pictures is a comedy drama play written by Neil Simon, his 18th. The play opened on Broadway in 1980. It was subsequently made into a film, released in 1982. The play involves a film screenwriter who has abandoned his family, and his daughter who arrives at his home, seeking his help in becoming an actress. I Ought to Be in Pictures (also promoted as Neil Simon's I Ought to Be in Pictures) is a 1982 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross and based on Neil Simon's 1980 play of the same name. The film stars Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret, and Dinah Manoff (the only cast member to reprise her Broadway role in the film). Other actors who have supporting roles are Lance Guest, Eugene Butler, David Faustino, Martin Ferrero and Michael Dudikoff. For the film version, most of the script from the play is the same with even more settings such as Dodger Stadium and the Hollywood Park Racetrack. The house used in the film was at 1761 Vista Del Mar Avenue, in Hollywood.

Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received three Tony Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006.

Walter Matthau is best known for his film roles in A Face in the Crowd (1957), King Creole (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball comedy The Bad News Bears (1976). He also starred in 10 films alongside Jack Lemmon, including The Odd Couple (1968), The Front Page (1974) and Grumpy Old Men (1993). Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie (1966). Matthau is also known for his performances in Stanley Donen's romance Charade (1963), Gene Kelly's musical Hello, Dolly! (1969), Elaine May's screwball comedy A New Leaf (1971) and Herbert Ross' ensemble comedy California Suite (1978). He also starred in Plaza Suite, Kotch (both 1971), Charley Varrick (1973), The Sunshine Boys (1975), and Hopscotch (1980). On Broadway, Matthau originated the role of Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple by playwright Neil Simon, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1965, his second after A Shot in the Dark in 1962. Matthau also received two British Academy Film Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In 1963 he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance in The DuPont Show of the Week. In 1982, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During World War II, Matthau saw active service as a radioman-gunner in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom, crewing a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. He was with the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. While based in England at RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk, he flew missions across to continental Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. He ended the war with the rank of Staff Sergeant, and returned home to America for demobilization at the war's end intent on pursuing a career as an actor.

Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret. She is known for her roles in Pocketful of Miracles (1961), State Fair (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Viva Las Vegas (1964), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Train Robbers (1973), Tommy (1975), Magic (1978), The Villain (1979), The Return of the Soldier (1982), Who Will Love My Children? (1983), 52 Pick-Up (1986), Newsies (1992), Grumpy Old Men (1993), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Any Given Sunday (1999), Taxi (2004), The Break-Up (2006) and Going in Style (2017). She has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards. In 2010, she won an Emmy for her guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Her singing and acting careers span six decades, starting in 1961. Initially, she was billed as a female version of Elvis Presley. She has a sultry, vibrant contralto voice. She had a Top 20 hit song in 1961 and a charting album in 1964, and she scored a disco hit in 1979. She recorded a critically acclaimed gospel album in 2001 and an album of Christmas songs in 2004.

Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Carol Weston on Empty Nest, Elaine Lefkowitz on Soap, Marty Maraschino in the film Grease, and Libby Tucker in both the stage and film adaptations of I Ought to Be in Pictures, for which she won a Tony Award.

Produced by Emanuel Azenberg, the play had its premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 1979, with Tony Curtis as Herb. After 17 previews, the Broadway production, directed by Herbert Ross, opened on April 3, 1980 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it ran for 324 performances. Ron Leibman (replacing Tony Curtis) as Herb, Dinah Manoff as Libby and Joyce Van Patten as Steffy comprised the cast. Bill Macy and Dick Latessa subsequently portrayed Herb. The three-character comedy-drama involves Herbert Tucker, a struggling screenwriter with writer's block who abandoned his New York family 16 years earlier. His daughter Libby arrives at the West Hollywood home of her father, who she barely remembers. She is convinced that he can give her the Hollywood acting career she desires.

Filled with guilt and demanding love, Libby not only forces Herb to deal with the responsibilities of parenthood, but to come to terms with his on-again/off-again relationship with girlfriend Steffy. Simon adapted his play for a 1982 feature film directed by Herbert Ross. Manoff reprised her role of Libby, with Walter Matthau as Herb and Ann-Margret as Steffy. Additional characters portrayed by Lance Guest and David Faustino, among others, were added to the plot. The film was released on March 26, 1982, a year after the original broadway play ended and was filmed mainly in Los Angeles, California.

A 19-year-old Brooklynite, Libby Tucker is visiting her dead grandma's grave at a New York cemetery, and reveals that she is moving to Hollywood to become an actress and find her father, screenwriter Herbert Tucker. Libby takes a bus to Denver, then hitchhikes the rest of the way. She tries to call Herb, but gets nervous and hangs up.

The next morning, Libby goes to the house where Herb lives and meets his girlfriend, Steffy Blondell, who invites Libby inside. After becoming acquainted and learning the reason why Libby is in town, Steffy decides to leave. Herb awakens to find Libby after a 16-year gap in their lives. The two chat about their pasts, and Libby fills Herb in on the family he left behind, including her younger brother Robbie. The two eventually begin arguing about Libby's goal of becoming an actress. Just as Steffy returns, Libby runs out of the house.

Herb tracks down Libby at a motel and eventually persuades her to come back to live at his house. They begin to get along, although the high-strung Libby also begins to realize that Herb is not nearly as successful in Hollywood as she had assumed he was. He is also on the verge of losing Steffy, who has been asked on a date by another man and has been waiting a long time for Herb to make a commitment to her.

A studio makeup artist, Steffy helps Libby out by arranging for her go to a drama school. Libby meets a young man named Gordon there and together they take a part-time job doing valet parking at a celebrity-filled private party. Libby comes home at 3 a.m. and tells Herb about putting business cards on car windshields reading "Sunset Valet Parking. No party is too big or too small" on the front and "Libby Tucker, New York-Trained Actress. No part is too big or too small" on the back with her phone number included. Herb tells her that there is no chance of this helping her to become an actress, but Libby clings to her optimistic dreams.

Libby realizes more and more that her trip's true purpose was to reestablish a relationship with her father. She decides to return home. After packing up, Libby makes a long-distance phone call and gets Herbert to talk to her mother for the first time in 16 years. He speaks with her brother Robbie as well. Libby goes back home after taking Herb's picture for a keepsake. On the bus, she waves goodbye to Herb and Steffy, who appear to have worked out their differences.