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Norman Wexler might be best known as the screenwriter for "Saturday Night Fever" (1977), although he was nominated for Oscars for his screenplays of the films "Serpico" (1973) and "Joe" (1971).

Suffering from manic depression, Wexler was arrested by the FBI in 1972 for saying that he was going to shoot then-President Richard M. Nixon.

Andy Kaufman's character, "Tony Clifton," was partially based on Wexler, after Kaufman heard stories of Wexler's eccentric behavior from Bob Zmuda (Kaufman's friend, his comedy writer and the founder of Comic Relief).

Wexler was the also the mysterious "Mr. X" referred to in Zmuda's biography of Kaufman, entitled "Andy Kaufman Revealed." He died on August 23, 1999, seven days after his 73rd birthday (heart attack).

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16y ago

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