LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Reuters) – Frank Pierson, who won an
Oscar for his screenplay for the 1975 film “Dog Day Afternoon,”
died on Monday at age 87, representatives for the writer said.
Pierson passed away of natural causes at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles, said the Writers Guild of
America, West, a group for which Pierson once served as
president.
Pierson most recently co-wrote an episode of the critically
acclaimed television show “Mad Men” that aired earlier this
year, and he had roughly 20 writing credits in television and
film.
But he is best known for “Dog Day Afternoon,” which starred
Al Pacino as a man who tries to rob a bank to pay for his male
lover’s sex change operation and becomes a hero to a crowd of
bystanders during a standoff with police.
Pierson also directed the 1976 Barbra Streisand film “A Star
Is Born” and several made-for-television movies. Aside from his
Oscar win for “Dog Day Afternoon,” Pierson also was nominated
for Oscars for his writing on the 1965 Western “Cat Ballou” and
1967 prison drama “Cool Hand Luke.”
“From great, great movies like ‘Cat Ballou’ ‘Cool Hand Luke’
and ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ to his joining the writing staffs of
‘The Good Wife’ and ‘Mad Men’ well past his 80th birthday, he’s
always shown us … how to do it with class, grace, humor,
strength, brilliance, generosity and joyful tenacity,” said Phil
Robinson, a member of the board of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences.
Pierson, who was born in Chappaqua, New York, worked in
advertising before he sold a story and changed careers to become
a screenwriter.
He is survived by his wife, Helene, children Michael and
Eve, and five grandchildren.
(Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Eric Beech)
