| Alvin Sargent | |
| Birth Name: | Alvin Supowitz[1] |
| Birth Date: | 12 April 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Screenwriter |
| Relatives: | Herb Sargent (brother) Alvin York (cousin) |
| Yearsactive: | 1956–2012 |
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.[2] Sargent attended Upper Darby High School, leaving aged 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 longtime relationship with producer Laura Ziskin; they were married from 2010 until her death in 2011.[3] 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.[4]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Gambit | Co-written with Jack Davies. |
| 1968 | The Stalking Moon | Co-written with Wendell Mayes. |
| 1969 | The Sterile Cuckoo | |
| 1970 | I Walk the Line | |
| 1972 | The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds | |
| 1973 | Paper Moon | |
| Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing | ||
| 1977 | Julia | |
| Bobby Deerfield | ||
| 1978 | Straight Time | Co-written with Jeffrey Boam. |
| 1980 | Ordinary People | |
| 1987 | Nuts | Co-written with Tom Topor and Daryl Ponicsan. |
| 1988 | Dominick and Eugene | |
| 1990 | White Palace | Co-written with Ted Tally. |
| 1991 | Other People's Money | |
| What About Bob? | Story only; co-written by Laura Ziskin. | |
| 1992 | Hero | Story only; co-written by Laura Ziskin and David Webb Peoples. |
| 1996 | Bogus | |
| 1999 | Anywhere but Here | |
| 2002 | Unfaithful | Co-written with William Broyles Jr. |
| Spider-Man | Uncredited.[5] | |
| 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Co-written with Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi. |
| 2012 | The Amazing Spider-Man | Co-written with James Vanderbilt and Steve Kloves. |