Known For
Writing
Known Credits
9
Gender
Male
Birthday
September 16, 1936 (89 years old)
Place of Birth
Iran
Mardik Martin (September 16, 1934 – September 11, 2019) was an American screenwriter of such classics as Mean Streets, New York, New York, and Raging Bull directed by his lifelong friend Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro. Mardik Martin is among the revered screenwriters on the Writers Guild of America's list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.
Martin Mardik was born into a family of Armenian genocide survivors that fled to Iran. They later moved to Iraq. Although his family in Iraq was wealthy, he fled the country to avoid the draft and arrived in New York City in a penniless state.
In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind’s 1998 book on the New Hollywood, the author writes that Martin had to wash dishes to pay his way through NYU, where he met fellow student Martin Scorsese in 1961. The two formed a close friendship and worked together on Scorsese's early projects such as It's Not Just You, Murray! and the semi-autobiographical Season of the Witch, which ultimately became Mean Streets. According to Biskind, "The two young men sat in Martin's Plymouth Valiant and wrote. In the winter, in the cold and snow." Martin also shared writing credits on the Scorsese films New York, New York (with Earl Mac Rauch) and Raging Bull (with Paul Schrader).
In 2014, Martin co-wrote the screenplay of the German drama The Cut, which won a special mention by the Young Jury Members of the Vittorio Veneto Film Festival for its director Fatih Akin at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.
Martin died of unknown causes on September 11, 2019. He was found dead in his house five days short of his 85th birthday.
Raging Bull
The King of Comedy
New York, New York
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood
Movies Are My Life
From the Classroom to the Streets: The Making of 'Who's That Knocking at My Door'
Martin Scorsese Directs
Raging Bull: Before the Fight
Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood
| 2014 | The Cut...Screenplay | |
| 2008 | Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood...Writer | |
| 1980 | Raging Bull...Screenplay | |
| 1978 | American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince...Writer | |
| 1978 | The Last Waltz...Screenplay | |
| 1977 | Valentino...Writer | |
| 1977 | New York, New York...Screenplay | |
| 1974 | Italianamerican...Writer | |
| 1973 | Mean Streets...Screenplay | |
| 1971 | Revenge Is My Destiny...Writer | |
| 1964 | It's Not Just You, Murray!...Writer |
| 1968 | Who's That Knocking at My Door...Assistant Director | |
| 1964 | It's Not Just You, Murray!...Assistant Director |
| 2008 | Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywoodas Self | |
| 2005 | Raging Bull: Before the Fightas Self | |
| 2004 | From the Classroom to the Streets: The Making of 'Who's That Knocking at My Door'as | |
| 2003 | Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywoodas Self | |
| 1990 | Martin Scorsese Directsas Self | |
| 1988 | Movies Are My Lifeas Self | |
| 1982 | The King of Comedyas Second Man at Bar | |
| 1980 | Raging Bullas Copa Waiter | |
| 1977 | New York, New Yorkas Well Wisher in Moonlit Terrace |