Norman Wexler

Background

Norman was born on August 6, 1926, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Harry and Sophia (Brisson) Wexler.

Education

In 1948, Wexler studied at Harvard College.

Career

After his spell in college, he went in 1951 to New York where he worked in advertising. It was not for him, but it paid the rent while he worked on the plays that he decided were really his life. Several of them were performed on the New York stage and regional theaters.

He then moved to Hollywood, where he wrote his 1970 film Joe, a story that owed much to the "dirty fingernail" philosophy. It centered around a building worker who befriends, in a bar, a businessman who has just murdered his daughter's lover, a drug addict. The picture, starring Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon, was much acclaimed by audiences, although some critics were more astringent.

Unfortunately, Wexler's own life mirrored much that was in his films. He had his brutal personal moments as well as more affectionate episodes. He was diagnosed as a manic depressive - one of the reasons claimed for a threat he made against President Nixon in 1972 for which he was jailed.

Hardly surprisingly his professional life suffered, but he made several attempted comebacks. Raw Deal, a film he wrote in 1986 for Arnold Schwarzenegger, flopped. But in 1996, his play Forgive Me, Forgive Me Not was staged in a Los Angeles theatre.

Achievements

• Norman Wexler pulled off one of the most remarkable feats in Hollywood movies over the past 25 years. He brought back the musical. It was but a fleeting comeback, but by writing the screenplay of Saturday Night Fever he at least gave hope to a group of film devotees who had given up on ever again seeing dancers on the big screen in a picture that centered around popular music.
  
  Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Norman Wexler was not necessarily prolific, but he was responsible for the screenplays for some very popular films. His film career began with Joe, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. From there, he added Serpico and Saturday Night Fever to his impressive resumé, the first of which earned him a second Academy Award nomination. He also managed to earn a cinematographer credit for the film The Kids Are Alright.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Joe 1969
  • Serpico 1973
  • Who Calls it War! 1950
  • Staying Alive 1983

• movie

  • Mandingo

    (Based on the novel by Kyle Onstott, Mandingo takes the au...)

    1975
  • Saturday Night Fever

    (John Travolta performs as the troubled Tony Manero - Broo...)

    1977
  • Raw Deal

    (Dismissed some time ago from the FBI, Mark Kaminsky is co...)

    1986
  • Drum

    (This film picks up the story 15 years after the events of...)

    1976

Membership

Wexler was a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild and of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Personality

Wexler's real skill with Saturday Night Fever was to be able not just to mix dialogue and action with the dancing - an art that seemed to have died with the last of the Gene Kelly movies - but with a story that was not in the least bit light and fluffy. It wasn't packed with laughs either.

Quotes from others about the person

• "He was a man who had a knack for writing characters with a little dirt under their fingernails."

Connections

Wexler had two daughters: Erica and Merin. Erica an actress and artist and Merin an author and social worker in Philadelphia.

Father:

Harry Wexler

Mother:

Sophia (Brisson) Wexler

Daughter:

Erica Wexler

Daughter:

Merin Wexler