Alan Bergman, the adorned lyricist who over the course of seven a long time penned songs together with “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were,” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” with spouse Marilyn Bergman, has died. He was 99.
Bergman died late Thursday night in his house in Los Angeles, household spokesperson Ken Sunshine confirmed in a press release to The Occasions on Friday. The songwriter “suffered from respiratory issues” in latest months however remained steadfast in his songwriting “till the very end.”
A Brooklyn native, Bergman was finest identified for his collaborations together with his spouse, Marilyn, which spanned music, tv and movie. The husband and spouse, after assembly via composer Lew Spence, married in 1958. Collectively, they penned music for quite a lot of high-profile acts together with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, John Williams and Barbra Streisand, with the final finally turning into the couple’s muse.
The Bergmans had been three-time Oscar winners. The couple received their first Oscar in 1969 for the moody “Windmills of Your Mind,” featured in “The Thomas Crown Affair,” shared with French composer Michel Legrand. Their second and third Oscar wins stemmed from works with Streisand: the title tune from “The Way We Were” in 1974 (shared with Marvin Hamlisch) and in 1984 for the rating of “Yentl,” shared with Legrand.
The composers and their work had been constant contenders on the Oscars, with their contributions to movies “The Happy Ending,” “Tootsie,” “Yes, Giorgio” and the 1995 remake of Billy Wilder‘s “Sabrina” also receiving nominations from the academy. On the small screen, the Bergmans left their personal touch on numerous TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s, providing the theme music for shows including “Good Times,” “Alice,” “In the Heat of the Night” and Norman Lear’s “Maude.”
Along with Oscars, the Bergmans additionally received 4 Emmys, two Golden Globes and two Grammys, together with the tune of the yr award for “The Way We Were.”
Oscar-winning songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman at their house in 2008.
(Lawrence Ok. Ho / Los Angeles Occasions)
Alan Bergman, born Sept. 11, 1925 in Brooklyn, was a son of a salesman and knew from an early age that songwriting was his ardour. He graduated from the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and pursued his graduate research in music at UCLA. He briefly labored as a tv director for Philadelphia station WCAU-TV however returned to Los Angeles to totally pursue songwriting, on the behest of mentor Johnny Mercer.
Alan and Marilyn Bergman are members of the Songwriters Corridor of Fame, which awarded the duo its Johnny Mercer Award in 1997. Additionally they obtained the Grammy Trustee Award for lifetime achievement, the Nationwide Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award, the Nationwide Music Publishers Assn. Lifetime Achievement Award and honorary doctorates from Berklee Faculty of Music and the College of Massachusetts. In 2011, College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill honored Bergman with a distinguished alumnus award.
Marilyn Bergman died in January 2022 of respiratory failure at 93. After her loss of life, Alan continued working, most lately collaborating with jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, who will document his 9 songs co-written with Bergman later this yr for an upcoming album.
Alan Bergman is survived by his daughter Julie Bergman and granddaughter Emily Sender. He will likely be laid to relaxation at a non-public graveside burial. Ruth Value’s Jazz Bakery introduced earlier this month it will have fun Bergman’s one hundredth birthday with a tribute live performance at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage in September. The efficiency will go on as deliberate, The Occasions has realized.
The household ask that donations be made in Bergman’s title to the ASCAP Basis Alan and Marilyn Bergman Lyric Award and the Johnny Mercer Basis.
Occasions pop music critic Mikael Wooden contributed to this report.
