Alan Bergman - Life & Career

Life & Career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he studied at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UCLA. His involvement in the entertainment industry began in the early 1950s as a director of children's television shows. He and his wife Marilyn Bergman, whom he married in 1958, were born in the same hospital and raised in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, but did not meet until each had relocated to Los Angeles. Together they have written the music and lyrics for numerous television shows, films, and stage musicals.

In 1983, the couple became the first songwriters ever to have written three of the five tunes nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song - "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" from Best Friends, "It Might Be You" from Tootsie (with Dave Grusin), and "If We Were in Love" from Yes, Giorgio (with John Williams); "Up Where We Belong" from "An Officer and a Gentleman" won that year.They also wrote the popular theme song And Then There's Maude for the hit Norman Lear television series Maude .

Bergman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and in 1995 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Berklee College of Music. He is a member of the board of Barbra Streisand's charitable foundation. In 2011, he was presented with a Distinguished Alumnus award from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.