Crowned the "Unknown King of Comedy" by New York Magazine, Andrew Bergman is the writer and director of The Freshman, Honeymoon In Vegas, It Could Happen To You, So Fine and Striptease. He has also written The In-Laws, Fletch, and co-wrote Soapdish, as well as The Scout and Oh, God, You Devil. He wrote the original story and co-authored the screenplay of Blazing Saddles, and also directed Isn't She Great.
Bergman began his motion picture career at the very top, by writing the story and co-writing the screenplay of the classic Blazing Saddles. He went on to write such other memorable comedies as The In-Laws, Fletch, and Soapdish. In fact these four Bergman movies, plus The Freshman, were nominated by the American Film Institute as among the greatest comedies of all time.
Andrew Bergman has also written the Broadway hit Social Security, directed by Mike Nichols, which had a one-year run in 1986. His most recent work, the musical version of Honeymoon In Vegas, written with the composer Jason Robert Brown, had a record breaking run at the Paper Mill Playhouse and recently ran on Broadway. The New York Times called it "a classic Broadway musical…a revelation... a sure bet. Normally I'm all for calling a moratorium on musicals based on movies. Then along comes 'The Producers,' 'Once,', or 'Honeymoon In Vegas.'" He also wrote Working Title , which debuted at New York's American Jewish Theater in 1996.
Bergman was born in Queens, New York. He graduated magna cum laude from Harpur College and went on to receive a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Wisconsin. His dissertation on Depression-era films, We're In the Money, written in 1971, is still in print, published by Ivan Dee Publishers. He has also written three novels, the Jack LeVine detective books: The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 (1974), Hollywood and LeVine (1975) and Tender Is LeVine (2001), plus Sleepless Nights (1994).
Mr. Bergman also holds an honorary doctorate in letters from Binghamton University. He was awarded the Writers Guild of America Award in 1975 for best original screenplay (Blazing Saddles) and the Hudson Valley Film Festival Tribute Award in 1999. In 2007 the Writers Guild of America awarded him the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing.
