'Casablanca' Scribe Dies

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/07/1997 at 12:00 AM EDT

Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein, 91, who co-wrote the screenplay to one of Hollywood's most beloved classics, "Casablanca," died Saturday in Los Angeles. Epstein, his twin brother Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch shared the 1943 best-screenplay Oscar for what was then a contemporary romance, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. The movie was based on an unproduced play called "Everybody Comes to Rick's." Other screenplays by Epstein included 1983's wry and literate "Reuben, Reuben," starring Tom Conti as a Dylan Thomas-esque writer.