Alan Trustman, the Harvard-educated lawyer who pivoted to Hollywood and wrote the screenplays for the 1968 movies “Bullitt” and “The Thomas Crown Affair,” has died. He was 95.
Trustman died Feb. 5 at a nursing residence in Miami, his son John informed the New York Times.
Earlier than getting into the movie business, Trustman constructed a profession as a company legal professional in Boston. Born Dec. 16, 1930, in Brookline, Mass., he graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy earlier than incomes a historical past diploma from Harvard Faculty in 1952 and a legislation diploma from Harvard Legislation College in 1955. He later joined the Boston agency Nutter, McClennen & Fish, the place his father was a accomplice, ultimately rising to accomplice himself.
His path to Hollywood started virtually accidentally. Pissed off after watching what he thought of a poor movie at a drive-in, Trustman challenged himself to jot down a greater story. Engaged on weekends, he developed a script that turned “The Thomas Crown Affair,” the trendy heist movie directed by Norman Jewison and starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.
Trustman quickly wrote one other McQueen automobile, “Bullitt,” the San Francisco-set police thriller remembered for its well-known automobile chase by way of the town’s steep streets. The movie, based mostly on the novel “Mute Witness” by Robert L. Fish, helped cement McQueen’s cool, stoic display persona.
Trustman additionally wrote “They Name Me Mister Tibbs!,” a sequel to “Within the Warmth of the Evening” starring Sidney Poitier, in addition to later credit together with “Girl Ice” and “Hit!”
After a comparatively transient Hollywood run, Trustman later labored in enterprise ventures, together with playing operations in Miami and forex buying and selling in Switzerland. He additionally wrote the 1992 thriller novel “Father’s Day.”
He’s survived by his spouse, psychiatrist Dr. Barbara Buchwald, a son, a daughter and 11 grandchildren.
