Bregman was born in New York City to Leon and Ida Bregman. He was Jewish and grew up in the Bronx. As a child, he suffered from polio. He began his career selling insurance and first got into the entertainment business as a night club agent.
Career
Building relationships with investors such as New Yorkreal estate magnateLewis Rudin, Bregman moved successfully into personal management, eventually representing such stars as Al Pacino, Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Alan Alda and Bette Midler. Bregman discovered Pacino in an Off Broadway play, and helped to support the actor as he built his stage and then film career, among other things working to land Pacino the actor's first film role in 1971's Panic in Needle Park, winning out over then unknown actor Robert De Niro. Bregman ventured into film producing in 1973, building projects around Pacino, initially with the Sidney Lumet directed Serpico. The film's acclaim set the path for many more highly acclaimed collaborations with Pacino, including 1975's Dog Day Afternoon, 1983's Scarface, 1989's Sea of Love and 1993's Carlito's Way. Beginning in 1979 with The Seduction of Joe Tynan, and for most of the 1980s, Bregman enjoyed a successful run of films with writer/director Alan Alda. Their creative and business partnership yielded such well received films as The Four Seasons in 1981, Sweet Liberty in 1986, A New Life in 1988 and Betsy's Wedding, in 1990. Other films include 1999's The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and 2002's The Adventures of Pluto Nash, starring Eddie Murphy, one of the producer's rare box-office failures. Bregman also produced two short-lived television shows, 1980's S*H*E and 1984's The Four Seasons, with Alda, based on the films.
Personal life
Bregman lived in New York City and had two sons with former wife Elizabeth Driscoll, Christopher and film producer Michael, and a daughter, singer Marissa Bregman, with another wife, actress Cornelia Bregman . He died from a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 92, on June 16, 2018.
Filmography
All films, he was producer unless otherwise noted.
