Frank Pierson, Writer of 'Dog Day Afternoon,' 'Cool Hand Luke,' Dead at 87

Frank Pierson, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Dog Day Afternoon and Cool Hand Luke, has died at the age of 87, after a career that saw him working in television on shows like Mad Men and The Good Wife right up to the end of his life. Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke reports Pierson's agent confirmed his death, and she has a touching send-off that describes him as "gentlemanly yet ornery, meticulous yet creative." The Hollywood Reporter's Duane Byerge also has a good overview of Pierson's legendary career, which included Emmy awards for directing Conspiracy and Truman. as well as a stint as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 2001 to 2005. Pierson won his Oscar for best original screenplay for writing Dog Day Afternoon and was nominated for one for the screenplay adaptations of Cool Hand Luke and Cat Ballou, according to IMDB. Most impressively, he worked well into his 80s as a consulting producer on Mad Men and The Good Wife. Let's take a minute to remember one of the baddest lines in American cinema, delivered by the late Paul Newman, in 1968's Cool Hand Luke:

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