'The Way We Were' Lyricist Dies at 99

Alan Bergman won 3 Oscars with wife Marilyn
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 18, 2025 10:59 AM CDT
Oscar-Winning Lyricist Alan Bergman Dies at 99
Marilyn and Alan Bergman pose at their piano in their Beverly Hills home on March 17, 1980.   (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

Alan Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with his wife, Marilyn, for an enduring and loving partnership that produced such old-fashioned hits as "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," "It Might Be You," and the classic "The Way We Were," has died at 99. Bergman died late Thursday at his home in Los Angeles, family spokesperson Ken Sunshine said in a statement Friday. The statement said Bergman had, in recent months, suffered from respiratory issues "but continued to write songs till the very end," the AP reports.

  • The Bergmans married in 1958 and remained together until her death in 2022. With collaborators ranging from Marvin Hamlisch and Quincy Jones to Michel Legrand and Cy Coleman, they were among the most successful and prolific partnerships of their time, providing words and occasional music for hundreds of songs, including movie themes that became as famous as the films themselves.

  • Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Tony Bennett, and many other artists performed their material, and Barbra Streisand became a frequent collaborator and close friend.
  • The Bergmans crafted lyrics known by millions, many of whom would not have recognized the writers had they walked right past them. Among their most famous works: the Streisand-Neil Diamond duet "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" and the well-named Sinatra favorite "Nice 'n' Easy."
  • The Bergmans were born in the same Brooklyn hospital three years apart, grew up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, and moved to Los Angeles in 1950, but they didn't meet until they were introduced by mutual composing partner Lew Spence in 1957.
  • The Washington Post reports that they had long wanted to write songs for films and the "movies came knocking—literally" in 1967 when their Beverly Hills neighbor Quincy Jones came over looking for help with lyrics to the title song for In the Heat of the Night.

  • "The Way We Were," an instant favorite recorded by Streisand for the 1973 romantic drama of the same name that co-starred Streisand and Robert Redford, was the top-selling song of 1974 and brought the Bergmans one of their three Oscars. The others were for "Windmills of Your Mind" from 1968's The Thomas Crown Affair and the soundtrack to Yentl, the Streisand-directed movie from 1983. They were nominated for another 13 Oscars.
  • "We had a passion, and a joy, for writing," Alan said in a 2011 interview for the Film Music Foundation," per Variety. "We loved to write. We write every day. When you love what you do, and you do it with someone you love, that helps everything."
  • Bergman was reluctant to name a favorite song, but cited "A Love Like Ours" as among their most personal: "When love like ours arrives / We guard it with our lives / Whatever goes astray / When a rainy day comes around / A love like ours will keep us safe and sound."

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