Oscar-winning screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who helped bring Spider-Man to the screen, dies at 92

The Oscar-winning screenwriter Alvin Sargent has passed away at from natural causes at his home in Seattle at the age of 92. The news came courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.

It was at the twilight of his career that Sargent took to comic book movies. He started with an uncredited re-write on Sam Raimi's 2002 blockbuster Spider-Man, and went on to write the screenplay for 2004's Spider-Man 2, which single-handedly helped elevate the superhero genre as nuanced, thoughtful cinema.

He also co-wrote its sequel, Spider-Man 3, with Sam and Ivan Raimi. Then, in 2012 he co-wrote The Amazing Spider-Man reboot with James Vanderbilt and Steve Cloves. They'd end up being the final four films of a long and impressive career.

Born in Philadelphia in 1927, Sargent moved to Los Angeles after WWII and started working odd jobs. He worked primarily as a salesman while writing teleplays in his spare time throughout the mid-50s. His early credits include episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Naked City, and the courtroom drama For the People, which starred a young William Shatner. 

Later, Sargent became known as a writer who could adapt a book or a play into a dynamite script, such as 1973's Paper Moon, which earned him his first Oscar nomination. He'd go on to win a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Julia in 1978, and again for Ordinary People in 1981. 

 Sargent is survived by his two daughters, Amanda and Jennifer, his stepdaughter, Julia; grandchildren Anna, Olivia, Lillian and Oliver; and a great-grandson, Lawrence.