Endearing character player of film and TV also noted for his work as a serious and provocative playwright. Shawn made his acting debut on stage in his own translation of Machiavelli's "The Mandrake" in 1977. He made a brief but indelible first impression on screen two years later, playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in Woody Allen's "Manhattan" (1979) whom the protagonist dismisses as a "homunculus". Short, pale and bald, with a lisping, scratchy voice, Shawn looks more like a friendly gnome than a successful actor. Nonetheless, he immediately began amassing credits, appearing in two other films
