Screenwriter Alan Trustman Passes On

Screenwriter and lawyer Alan Trustman, who wrote the screenplays for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968_ and Bullitt (1968), died on February 5, 2026, at the age of 95.

Alan Trustman was born on December 16, 1930, in Brookline, Massachusetts. He attended the Boston Latin School and The Phillips Exeter Academy. He was 15 years old when he got a job at the First National Bank of Boston. He attended Harvard University, graduating in 1952, and the Harvard Law School, graduating in 1955. His father, Benjamin A. Trustman, was a partner at the Boston law firm Nutter McClennen & Fish, and Alan Trustman went to work there. 

Familiar with the First National Bank of Boston from having worked there Alan Trustman had thought of how one would go about robbing that bank. The idea resulted in the screenplay for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). He had written the screenplay with Sean Connery in mind for the lead, but producer Walter Mirsch and director Noman Jewison cast Steve McQueen in the role instead. This resulted in Alan Trustman rewriting the screenplay to fit Steven McQueen more. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) would lead to Alan Trustman co-writing another Steve McQueen vehicle, Bullitt (1968). He also wrote They Call Me Mr. Tibbs (1970), Lacy Ice (1973), and Hit! (1973). He worked on the scripts for Ace Up My Sleeve (1975) and The Next Man (1976). His last work as a writer as an episode of Fallen Angels in 1995.

His novel Father's Day was published  in 1992.