Marilyn Bergman: Oscar-winning writer dies aged 93

Oscar-winner Marilyn Bergman, a lyric poet who worked with husband Alan on The Way We Were also hundreds of other songs, has died at the age of 93. The songwriting duo has worked together on various stage and screen shows, known as ballad specialists.

They wrote hits for Hollywood stars, including Barbra Streisand, Fred Aster, and Frank Sinatra. His agent said he died Saturday at his Los Angeles home with Alan and his daughter next door.

Bergman's cause of death is believed to be a respiratory failure and not related to Covid. She left her husband, 96 years old. The Bergmans were nominated for 16 Academy Awards and won three times - for The Way We Were from Barbra Streisand's 1973 film of the same name, Windmills of Your Mind from The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968, and their score for Yentl of Streisand in 1968. 1983

They also won several Grammy and Emmy awards and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.

Bergman is an innovator for women in the industry, becoming the first woman to be elected President and Chair of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1985.

That paying homage included American producer Quincy Jones, who described his death as "devastating." My dear, beautiful Marilyn Bergman, losing you so close to our brother Sydney this morning exhausted me. You, along with beloved Alan, symbolize Nadia Boulanger's belief that "an artist can never be more or less than he is as a person" (1/3) 

Born on November 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, in the same hospital as her husband, Bergman studied music early.

During his time at the New York School of Music and the Arts, he frequently played the piano from songwriter Bob Russell, which prompted him to consider becoming a professional songwriter.

But writing also hurts - in college, Bergman fell down a flight of stairs and broke both shoulders. Unable to write or play the piano, he spoke the text on a tape recorder.

Although she and Alan grew up together, they didn't meet until they moved to Los Angeles. It was the mid-1950s for Bergman, and he began writing lyrics for composer Liu Spence, who also worked with Allen.

Marilyn and Allen married two years later, in 1958. They had a daughter, Julie Bergman Sender, a film producer.