Norman Wexler

American writer, a playwright and screenwriter whose credits included the screenplays for "Mandigo" and "Saturday Night Fever." Raised in Detroit in a blue-collar family, Wexler had a knack for digging to the core of gritty characters. His script for "Serpico" was nominated for an Academy Award in 1973. Four years later he won more plaudits for his script for "Saturday Night Fever," the film that made John Travolta a star. After graduating from Harvard, Wexler moved to New York in 1951 to work in advertising. By the mid-1960s he was writing plays, several of which were produced in New York and at regional theaters. His film career took off in 1970 with "Joe," which was a hit with audiences and earned an Oscar nomination. Diagnosed as manic-depressive, Wexler was jailed in 1972 for making threats against Richard Nixon. Mental illness shadowed his career as he grew older. His last play was a comedy, "Forgive Me, Forgive Me," produced in Los Angeles. A resident of Greenwich, CT, Wexler moved to Washington DC in 1997. On 8/23/1999, 6:30 AM, Wexler suffered a fatal heart attack, Washington DC. Link to Wikipedia biography