Philadelphia-born Alvin Sargent was in his mid-30s when he began his career as a screenwriter. He honed his craft penning teleplays for such early 1960s series as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". "Naked City", "Route 66" and "Ben Casey". Segueing to features in 1966, he shared screen credit on the Shirley MacLaine-Michael Caine vehicle "Gambit". Sargent went on to distinguish himself as a fine adapter of literary material. While his produced oeuvre is not terribly prolific, it has yielded a number of gems and the screenwriter has proven effective at finding a visual equivalent for the written
