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Alvin Sargent

Known For
Writing

Known Credits
2

Gender
Male

Birthday
April 12, 1927 (99 years old)

Place of Birth
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Alvin Sargent

Biography

Alvin Sargent (April 12, 1927–May 9, 2019) was an American screenwriter. He won two Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, for Julia (1977) and Ordinary People (1980). Sargent's other works include screenplays of the films The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1970), Paper Moon (1973), Nuts (1987), White Palace (1990), What About Bob? (1991), Unfaithful (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).

Alvin Sargent was born Alvin Supowitz in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Esther (née Kadansky) and Isaac Supowitz. He was of Russian Jewish descent. Sargent attended Upper Darby High School, leaving at age 17 to join the Navy. As of 2006, he was one of 35 alumni to be on the school's Wall of Fame.

Sargent began writing for television in 1953, and through the 1960s, he scripted episodes for Route 66, Ben Casey, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He collaborated on his first screenplay for a film on Gambit (1966) and gained recognition for I Walk the Line (1970) and Paper Moon (1973), for which he won the WGA Award for Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and was nominated for an Academy Award. He won the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay in 1978 for the film Julia (1977) and again in 1981 for Ordinary People (1980). He collaborated on the 2004 screenplay for Spider-Man 2 and the 2007 screenplay for Spider-Man 3. He'd also collaborate on the screenplay for the 2012 reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.

He had a long-time relationship with producer Laura Ziskin; they were married from 2010 until her death in 2011. His brother was writer and producer Herb Sargent.

Sargent died from natural causes at his home in Seattle on May 9, 2019, four weeks after his 92nd birthday.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Alvin Sargent, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Writing

2012The Amazing Spider-Man...Screenplay
2007Spider-Man 3...Screenplay
2004Spider-Man 2...Screenplay
2002Unfaithful...Screenplay
1999Anywhere but Here...Writer
1999Anywhere but Here...Screenplay
1996Bogus...Screenplay
1992Hero...Story
1991Other People's Money...Screenplay
1991What About Bob?...Story
1990White Palace...Screenplay
1988Dominick and Eugene...Writer
1987Nuts...Screenplay
1980Ordinary People...Screenplay
1978Straight Time...Screenplay
1977Julia...Screenplay
1977Bobby Deerfield...Screenplay
1976Ginny And Johnny...Original Film Writer
1973Paper Moon...Screenplay
1973Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing...Screenplay
1972The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds...Screenplay
1972Footsteps...Writer
1971The Impatient Heart...Writer
1970I Walk the Line...Writer
1969The Sterile Cuckoo...Screenplay
1968The Stalking Moon...Screenplay
1966Gambit...Screenplay
1962The Alfred Hitchcock Hour...Writer

Crew

1973The Way We Were...Additional Writing

Acting

1953From Here to Eternityas Nair (uncredited)
1953The Oscarsas Self