Alan Bergman, a letrist winner of an Oscar who helped write

Alan Bergman, the winning lyricist of an Oscar who associated with his wife, Marilyn, for a enduring and loving association that produced successes as outdated as “How does music keep playing?”, “Can be you” and the classic “The Way We were,” he died at 99.

Bergman died on Thursday night at his home in Los Angeles, said the spokesman for the Ken Sunshine family in a statement on Friday. The statement said Bergman, in recent months, had suffered respiratory problems “but continued writing songs until the end.”

The Bergmans married in 1958 and remained together until their death, in 2022. With collaborators that range from Marvin Hamlisch and Quincy Jones to Michel Legrand and Cy Coleman, they were among the most successful and prolific associations of their time, providing words and occasional music for hundreds of songs, including films that become as famous as the movies. Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett and many other artists made their material, and Barbra Streisand became a frequent collaborator and close friend.

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Combining the feeling of tin alley and contemporary pop, the letters made of Bergmans known to millions, many of whom would not have recognized writers if they had walked next to them. Among his most famous works: the Streisand-Neil diamond duo “You Don’t Traing Me Flowers”, the well-appointed favorite of Sinatra “Nice ‘N’ Easy” and the topical themes for the situation comedies of the 70s “Maude” and “Good Times”. His film compositions included “In the Heat of the Night” by Ray Charles of the film of the same name; “The windmills of your mind” by Noel Harrison, of “The Thomas Crown affair”; And “It May You Be You” by Stephen Bishop of “Tootsie”.

Leah Puttkammer through Getty Images

The entire world seemed to sing and cry to “The Way We Were”, a snapshot recorded by Streisand for the 1973 romantic drama of the same name that co -struck Streisand and Robert Redford. Established in the tender and bittersweet Hamlisch melody, it was essentially a song about itself: a nostalgic ballad about nostalgia, an indelible ode to the uncertainty of the past, starting with one of the most famous opening stanzas in history: “Memories / illuminate the corners of my memories of grimace / muuuugurismo.

“The Way We Were” was the best -selling song of 1974 and brought to the Bergmans one of his three Oscar, the others that come for “Windmills of Your Mind” and the soundtrack of “Yentl”, the film directed by Streisand of 1983. Sometimes, the academy awards could be confused with an exhibition of Bergman. In 1983, three of the best song nominees presented lyrics of the Bergmans, who received 16 nominations in total.

The Bergmans also won two Grammy, four Emmy, were presented with numerous honors for life for life and received tributes from individual artists, including the Bergman album of Streisand 2011, “Whatrs Most Whatrs Most”. In “Lyricrically, Alan Bergman,” Bergman handled the voices himself. Although better known for their cinematographic work, the Bergmans also wrote the Broadway musical “Ballroom” and provided lyrics of the Symphony “Visions of America”.