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'Spider-Man' screenwriter Alvin Sargent dies, the Oscar winner was 92

Alvin Sargent also came up with the story for the Bill Murray comedy What About Bob?
Alvin Sargent also came up with the story for the Bill Murray comedy What About Bob?

Alvin Sargent, the Oscar winning writer of Julia and Ordinary People, who also scribed several Spider-Man films, has died at the age of 92.

Sargent will be mostly remembered by modern audiences for scribing 2004’s Spider-Man 2 and 2007’s Spider-Man 3, as well as rewriting The Amazing Spider-Man.

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However, his talents as a screenwriter were recognised long before then. Sargent actually got his start on television, writing his first episodes in 1953 and then ultimately working on Route 66 and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

It wasn’t until 1966 that Sargent moved to the big screen, writing Gambit for Michael Caine. Over the next few years he added I Walk The Line, with Gregory Peck, the Paul Newman directed The Effect Of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds, and Peter Bogdanovich’s criminally under-rated Paper Moon to his CV.

Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man
Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man

After completing an uncredited re-write on 1976’s A Star Is Born Sargent earned his first Oscar for Julia, claiming the Best Adapted Screenplay gong, while Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Robards picked up the Best Supporting Academy Awards.

Sargent only had to wait four years for his next Oscar, picking up the Adapted Screenplay award again for Ordinary People, which also saw Robert Redford pick up the Best Director and Timothy Hutton the Best Supporting Actor gongs, while also walking away with the Best Picture prize, too.

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After that Sargent’s most prominent work came at the turn of the century, as he wrote 2002’s Unfaithful in the same year he did another uncredited rewrite, this time for Spider-Man. His last three credits were for its two direct sequels and Andrew Garfield’s debut as the character.

Sargent reportedly passed away due to natural causes at his home in Seattle earlier this week.