Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter Alan Bergman dead at 99
Songwriter Alan Bergman, who won Grammys and Academy Awards for his work, died at the age of 99.
Bergman’s death has been confirmed by his spokesperson, Ken Sunshine, who confirmed the songwriter passed away at his home in Los Angeles with his daughter, Julie Bergman, present.
Although Bergman had suffered from respiratory issues during the latter part of his life, he never retired and remained committed to his craft until the end, as Billboard noted.
Bergman forged his songwriting career as part of a formidable partnership alongside his wife, Marilyn Bergman, who died in 2022, aged 93.
Together, the Bergmans won three Academy Awards, including ‘Best Original Song‘ for ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’ from The Thomas Crown Affair and also ‘The Way We Were’ from the 1973 movie of the same name starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand. They also won ‘Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score’ for Yentl.
In addition to winning ‘Best Original Song’ at the Oscars, ‘The Way We Were‘, performed by Streisand, also collected the Grammy for ‘Song of the Year’. They later picked up ‘Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media’ for Yentl, which the Bergmans created with composer Michel Legrand.
The couple were inducted together into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980, and also received honorary doctorates from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 1995.
Reflecting on his career, Bergman told the Film Music Foundation: “We had a passion, and a joy, for writing. We loved to write. We write every day. When you love what you do, and you do it with someone you love, that helps everything.”
The lyricist then explained how his partnership with Marilyn worked, sharing: “One is the creator and the other is the editor. And those roles change in seconds. It’s like pitching and catching, back and forth. And when we write four bars or eight bars, I sing them, so singing is a part of the process. It’s constant, back-and-forth communication.”
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