BERGMAN, ANDREW

BERGMAN, ANDREW (1945– ), U.S. writer, director, producer. Born in Queens, n.y., Bergman attended Harper College before earning his doctorate in American history at the University of Wisconsin. His doctoral dissertation, "We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films" (1971), earned him respect as a trenchant sociologist and film historian and led to a job as a youth contact in the pr department at United Artists. After writing the critically acclaimed Broadway comedy Social Security, Bergman received his first screenwriting credit for the Mel Brooks blockbuster farce Blazing Saddles (1974), which was based on Berman's treatment for a film called "Tex X." Bergman earned the sole screenwriting credit for the 1979 comedy The In-Laws, starring Alan *Arkin and Peter *Falk. He made his directorial debut two years later with So Fine, a Madison Avenue satire about a professor who conquers the garment industry with an idea for transparent jeans. Bergman was widely praised for his adaptation of Michael Ritchie's novel Fletch (1985), featuring Chevy Chase as droll newspaper reporter Irwin Fletcher. Bergman continued to write and direct during the 1990s while also producing a number of films in conjunction with producer Michael Lobell and their joint venture Lobell/Bergman Productions. The versatile Bergman both wrote and directed The Freshman (1990), starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, as well as the features Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) and Striptease (1996), while writing the screenplays for Soapdish (1991) and The Scout (1994). His production credits include Chances Are (1989), Undercover Blues (1993), Little Big League (1994), and Striptease (1996).

[Walter Driver (2^nd ed.)]