Martin Bregman

Martin Bregman
Born	(1926-05-18)May 18, 1926 New York City, United States
Died	June 16, 2018(2018-06-16) (aged 92) New York City, United States
Resting place	Kensico Cemetery[1]
Occupation	Film producer
Spouses	Elizabeth Driscoll (divorced) Cornelia Sharpe ​ (m. 1981)​
Children	3

Martin Leon "Marty" Bregman (May 18, 1926 – June 16, 2018)^[2] was an American film producer and personal manager. He produced many films, including Scarface, Sea of Love, Venom, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Four Seasons, Betsy's Wedding, Carlito's Way, Carlito's Way: Rise to Power, The Bone Collector, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash.

Early life

Bregman was born in New York City to Leon and Ida (Granowski) Bregman.^{[citation needed]} He was Jewish and grew up in the Bronx.^[3] As a child, he suffered from polio. He began his career selling insurance and first got into the entertainment business as a night club agent.

Career

Building relationships with investors such as New York real estate magnate Lewis Rudin, Bregman moved successfully into personal management, eventually representing such stars as Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda and Bette Midler.^[4] Bregman discovered Pacino in an Off Broadway play, and helped to support the actor as he built his stage and then film career, among other things working to land Pacino his first film role in 1971's Panic in Needle Park, winning out over then unknown actor Robert De Niro.^[4]

Bregman ventured into film producing in 1973, building projects around Pacino, initially with the Sidney Lumet directed Serpico. The film's acclaim set the path for many more highly acclaimed collaborations with Pacino, including 1975's Dog Day Afternoon, 1983's Scarface, 1989's Sea of Love and 1993's Carlito's Way. In the 1970s Bregman nearly directed David Rabe's screenplay for First Blood with Pacino starring as John Rambo, but Pacino declined to appear because he found the story too dark.^[5] 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. Other films include 1999's The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and 2002's The Adventures of Pluto Nash, starring Eddie Murphy, one of the producer's rare box-office failures.^[6] While in 1983, both Alda and Bregman signed deals with Universal Pictures, he was moved off to movie production studio Lorimar Motion Pictures in 1986.^[7]

Bregman also produced two short-lived television shows, 1980's S*H*E and 1984's The Four Seasons, with Alda, based on the films.^[6]

Personal life

Bregman lived in New York City and had two sons with former wife Elizabeth Driscoll, Christopher and film producer Michael (Sea of Love, Carlito's Way), and a daughter, singer Marissa Bregman,^[8] with another wife, actress Cornelia Bregman (née Sharpe) (Serpico, Open Season, The Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The Next Man, S*H*E, Venom). He died from a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 92, on June 16, 2018.^[9]

Filmography

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year	Film	Credit	Notes	Other notes
1973	Serpico
1975	Dog Day Afternoon
1976	The Next Man
1979	The Seduction of Joe Tynan
1980	S*H*E
	Simon
1981	The Four Seasons
	Venom
1983	Eddie Macon's Run
	Scarface
1986	Sweet Liberty
1987	Real Men
1988	A New Life
1989	Sea of Love
1990	Betsy's Wedding
1992	Whispers in the Dark
	Blue Ice
1993	The Real McCoy
	Carlito's Way
1994	The Shadow
1995	Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
1996	Matilda	Executive producer
1997	Nothing to Lose
1998	One Tough Cop
1999	The Bone Collector
2002	The Adventures of Pluto Nash
2003	Carolina
2005	Carlito's Way: Rise to Power		Direct-to-video	Final film as a producer

As an actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1976	The Next Man	None	Uncredited

Television

Year	Title	Credit
1984	The Four Seasons	Executive producer

References

1. "Service information for Martin Bregman | Glascott Funeral Home". glascottfuneralhome.com.
2. Anita Gates (June 17, 2018). "Martin Bregman, Producer of 'Scarface' and 'Serpico,' Dies at 92". The New York Times. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
3. Lindsay Rittenhouse, Just Kids From the Bronx: the true story of family, friendship and growing up, New York Observer, March 24, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
4. "Marty Bregman". Cityfile. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
5. "First Blood". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
6. "Martin Bregman Biography – Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
7. "Alda & Bregman In Pact with Lorimar". Variety. April 23, 1986. p. 5.
8. "Now You're in the Parade". March 22, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
9. "Martin Bregman, 'Scarface' Producer, Dies at 92". Variety. June 17, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2018.

External links

• Martin Bregman at IMDb