The Brooklyn native got his start as a producer and director for such TV shows as "Kid Gloves" (CBS, 1951) and "The M&M Candy Carnival" (CBS, 1952-53). He teamed up with lyricist Marilyn Keith, whom he wed in 1958, and the pair began writing songs for stage shows, television, movies and for such popular singers as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and Sarah Vaughan.
The Bergmans also wrote the scores for such stage shows as "Something More" (1964), "Ballroom" (1978) and "The Lady and the Clarinet" (1980). Their TV shows have included lyrics for the theme songs of "Bracken's World" (NBC), the memorable "Maude" (CBS) and "Good Times" (CBS), "Alice" (CBS), the short-lived "Brooklyn Bridge" (CBS) and "The Powers That Be" (NBC, 1992). The two won Emmys for their score for "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom" (CBS, 1975) and the underscore for the TV-movie "Sybil" (NBC, 1976).
But it's for film lyrics that Alan and Marilyn Bergman have won their most lasting fame. Their first collaboration was on the title song for the picture "The Marriage-Go-Round" (1960, composed by Lew Spence). Their first award-winning hit was "The Windmills of Your Mind" (composed by Michel Legrand), for the 1968 film "The Thomas Crown Affair". Among their scores of hits over the next 25 years were "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" (with Legrand, for the 1969 film "The Happy Ending"), the award-winning "The Way We Were" (with Marvin Hamlisch for the 1973 film of that title), "I Believe in Love" (with Kenny Loggins, for the 1976 film "A Star is Born"), and "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" (with Legrand, for the 1983 film "Yentl"). The Bergmans have also contributed original lyrics to songs for scores of other films, including "In the Heat of the Night" (1967), "Sometimes a Great Notion" (1971), "Same Time, Next Year" (1978), "Tootsie" (1982), "Never Say Never Again" (1983), "Major League" (1989), "For the Boys" (1991) and "Sabrina" (1995).