The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Successful film producer Martin Bregman dies aged 92
American film producer Martin Bregman was responsible for a series of hit films including Scarface, Sea of Love, Venom, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Four Seasons, Betsy’s Wedding and Carlito’s Way.
He was also a respected personal manager, representing such stars as Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda and Bette Midler.
Bregman, who has died aged 92, discovered Pacino in an Off Broadway play, and helped to support the actor as he built his stage and then film career. Born in New York City in 1926, he grew up in the Bronx and suffered from polio as a child.
He began his career selling insurance and broke into the entertainment business as a night club agent before moving successfully into personal management.
He worked to land Pacino the actor’s first film role in 1971’s Panic in Needle Park, beating then unknown actor Robert De Niro.
Bregman ventured into film producing in 1973, building projects around Pacino, initially with the Sidney Lumet-directed Serpico. The film’s success set the path for many more highly acclaimed collaborations with Pacino, including Dog Day Afternoon in 1975, Scarface in 1983, and 1989’s Sea of Love.
Beginning in 1979 with The Seduction of Joe Tynan, and for most of the 1980s, Bregman enjoyed a successful run of films with writer/ director Alan Alda. Their creative and business partnership yielded such well received films as The Four Seasons in 1981, Sweet Liberty in 1986, A New Life in 1988 and Betsy’s Wedding, in 1990.
Bregman lived in New York City and had two sons with his first wife and a daughter with his second. He died from a cerebral heamorrhage on Saturday.