Alan Bergman dead: ‘The Way We Were’ lyricist, Oscar winner was 99
Alan Bergman, the decorated lyricist who over the course of seven decades penned songs including “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were,” and “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” with wife Marilyn Bergman, has died. He was 99.
Bergman died late Thursday evening in his home in Los Angeles, family spokesperson Ken Sunshine confirmed in a statement to The Times on Friday. The songwriter “suffered from respiratory issues” in recent months but remained steadfast in his songwriting “till the very end.”
A Brooklyn native, Bergman was best known for his collaborations with his wife, Marilyn, which spanned music, television and film. The husband and wife, after meeting through composer Lew Spence, married in 1958. Together, they penned music for a variety of high-profile acts including Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, John Williams and Barbra Streisand, with the last eventually becoming the couple’s muse.
The Bergmans were three-time Oscar winners. The couple won 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 song from “The Way We Were” in 1974 (shared with Marvin Hamlisch) and in 1984 for the score of “Yentl,” shared with Legrand.
The composers and their work were consistent contenders at the Oscars, with their contributions to films “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.”
In addition to Oscars, the Bergmans also won four Emmys, two Golden Globes and two Grammys, including the song of the year award for “The Way We Were.”
Oscar-winning songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman at their home in 2008.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
Alan Bergman, born Sept. 11, 1925 in Brooklyn, was a son of a salesman and knew from an early age that songwriting was his passion. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and pursued his graduate studies in music at UCLA. He briefly worked as a television director for Philadelphia station WCAU-TV but returned to Los Angeles to fully pursue songwriting, at the behest of mentor Johnny Mercer.
Alan and Marilyn Bergman are members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which awarded the duo its Johnny Mercer Award in 1997. They also received the Grammy Trustee Award for lifetime achievement, the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Music Publishers Assn. Lifetime Achievement Award and honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the University of Massachusetts. In 2011, University 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 death, Alan continued working, most recently collaborating with jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, who will record his nine songs co-written with Bergman later this year for an upcoming album.
Alan Bergman is survived by his daughter Julie Bergman and granddaughter Emily Sender. He will be laid to rest at a private graveside burial. Ruth Price’s Jazz Bakery announced earlier this month it would celebrate Bergman’s 100th birthday with a tribute concert at Santa Monica’s Broad Stage in September. The performance will go on as planned, The Times has learned.
The family ask that donations be made in Bergman’s name to the ASCAP Foundation Alan and Marilyn Bergman Lyric Award and the Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Times pop music critic Mikael Wood contributed to this report.
